Zakharova called Victory Day sacred for her family

Maria Zakharova, an official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on May 9 that she and her family consider Victory Day sacred because their grandfathers were at the front and their grandmothers worked in the rear.

"This is an absolutely sacred day. Because it's a public holiday, because it's the story of a family, a country, and a people. This day is the page of our history, which is probably the pivotal one, which gathers generations, which is the point of transmission of knowledge about the heroism of our ancestors to future generations," she said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The diplomat stressed that the special significance of the holiday for her family is connected with the personal contribution of relatives to the victory. Both of her maternal and paternal grandfathers fought at the front, and her grandmothers worked in the rear. Yuri Zakharov served in the tank forces, and Vladislav Machulko was part of an auto company and an intelligence unit.

"My grandmother worked alone, she was a home front worker at a factory that produced parts for aircraft components, and before that there was a furniture factory, but in the first months of the war she retrained and then worked for the defense industry. And the second grandmother was a student, but she still worked at the factory in the evenings," the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared.

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On May 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the leaders and citizens of foreign countries on the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The Head of State noted that this day is a day of gratitude to the fathers and grandfathers who fought together on the fields of the Second World War, bringing the long-awaited victory over Nazism closer. The Russian leader also conveyed words of gratitude and congratulations to veterans and home front workers who live in foreign countries.