They laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin walls following the annual parade which was scaled back this time around, reflecting Russia’s continuing war on Ukraine.
Parades in several other Russian cities were canceled and the traditional "Immortal Regiment" processions, where people carry portraits of relatives who fought against the Nazis, also were scrapped.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly likened the war in Ukraine to the challenge Moscow faced when Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
Russia - The leaders of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan take part in a flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the Victory Day Parade in Moscow, May 9, 2023.
Addressing thousands of soldiers and spectators at the start of the parade in Red Square, Putin accused "Western globalist elites" of seeking to carve up Russia and “sowing hatred, Russophobia, aggressive nationalism.”
The anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe has remained a public holiday, officially called Victory and Peace Day, in Armenia since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Some 320,000 residents of Soviet Armenia, then a republic of just 1.3 million people, were drafted to the Red Army during the bloodiest conflict in the history of humankind. The total number of its ethnic Armenian participants from various Soviet republics is estimated at more than 500,000. About half of them were killed in action.
Armenia - Armenian veterans of World War Two attend Victory Day celebrations in Yerevan, May 9, 2023.
In a statement issued on the occasion, Pashinian again praised Armenians’ “invaluable” contribution to the defeat of “one of the greatest evils: fascism.”
“About 107 Armenians were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and many Armenians received high awards from the USSR and allied countries, ensuring the Armenian people's honorable place in the fight against fascism,” he said.
Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturian led a wreath-laying ceremony at a World War II memorial located in Yerevan’s Victory Park. Armenian and Russian soldiers marched past its eternal fire during the ceremony.
Thousands of people, among them elderly war veterans, visited the memorial in the following hours.