Solemn Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery

On April 25, 2013 a wreath-laying ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery at the memorial “The Spirit of Elba”, established in 1995 to commemorate the historic meeting of the allied Soviet and American armies by Elba river in Germany in April 1945.

Russian Embassy staff, diplomats from other CIS countries’ missions to US, State Department officials, and members of the Joint Russian-U.S. Commission On POW/MIA, as well as the veterans of World War II, participants of that historic event as well as students of the Russian Embassy school took part in the solemn ceremony.
The Ambassador of the Russian Federation Sergei Kislyak noted that “the present ceremony gives both Russians and Americans a unique possibility to remember that we once were fighting against a common enemy”. “We are also very glad that our friends from CIS countries are here, because it was a corporate victory of a single country and of a single nation”, - underlined the Ambassador.
The ceremony was followed by a reception at the Russian Embassy.

For pictures from the ceremony please click here