FRENCH CITIZENS PAY TRIBUTE TO WW2 SOVIET SOLDIERS MEMORY

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
May 8, 2007 Tuesday

Residents of Noyers-Saint-Martin located 100 kilometres from Paris
have paid tribute to the memory of Soviet soldiers fallen in the
French territory during the Second World War. The remains of over
4,500 USSR citizens lie here.

Russian Ambassador to France Alexander Avdeyev, Russian Permanent
Representative to UNESCO Vladimir Kalamanov, Air Force Attache of the
Russian embassy Colonel Vladimir Sukharev, Russian Trade Representative
Ivan Prostakov, the ambassadors of Belarus and Kazakhstan, consul of
the Armenian embassy, members of the Association of French Resistance
Veterans, as well as representatives of the city authorities, press
and public laid wreaths at the local WW2 memorial to the sounds of
the Russian and French anthems playing.

"We are sincerely happy that the memory of the martyrs is alive to
this day in France," the Russian ambassador stated. "We are grateful
to France for the preservation of the memory of the Soviet soldiers
that met their death on French soil," Avdeyev said in conclusion.

A wreath laying ceremony will be held on the occasion of the VE Day
celebration at the Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Paris where a monument
to 35,000 Soviet citizens that fought with the French Resistance was
installed two years ago.