DUSHANBE, May 4, 2011, Asia-Plus — A ceremonial event dedicated to the 66th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 will take place at the Eternal Flame Memorial in Dushanbe’s Victory Park on May 9.
As usual, the event will involve war veterans, senior representatives from the Tajik government and diplomatic missions and international organizations active in the country.
Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD), says that after the ceremony of laying wreaths at the memorial servicemen of the MoD airborne company will demonstrate hand-to-hand combat techniques in the presence of Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev.
Besides, soldiers of the Defense Ministry Company of Guards of Honor will be on the parade on the occasion of the Victory Day, the spokesman added.
The Soviet Victory Day or May 9 marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and some post-Soviet states). It was first inaugurated in the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, following the signing of the surrender document late in the evening on May 8, 1945 (May 9 by Moscow Time). It happened after the original capitulation that Germany earlier agreed to the joint Allied forces of the Western Front. The Soviet government announced the victory early on May 9 after the signing ceremony in Berlin.