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SV Soviet Defence Minister Dmitri Ustinov and military leaders lay wreath at grave of Unknown Soldier, Moscow
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SV Military leaders marching slowly ZOOM OUT
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Celebrations of the 32nd anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany were held throughout the Soviet Union on Monday (9 May).

Germany's act of surrender was signed on 7 May, 1945, becoming effective at midnight on 8-9 May. The act was ratified at Berlin on the night of May 9. May 9 is therefore recognised as "Victory Day".

SYNOPSIS: Soviet Defence Minister Dmitri Ustinov and prominent military leaders placed a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.

A one minute silence was observed in honour of the millions who died in the struggle against the Nazis. An estimated 20 million Soviet lives were lost in World War Two, of which seven and a half million were military personnel, representing one in every 22 of the country's 1940 population.

Reunions of war veterans were held on Monday (9 May) in a number of cities honoured for their war-time heroism. They included Moscow, Leningrad, Volgograd and Kiev.

There was a change in mood with the triumphant march-past in Moscow, where the same day a Moscow Defence Memorial was unveiled. Fighting near Moscow in 1941 shattered the myth of the invincibility of Hitler's armies, and laid the foundations for their final defeat.