Russia commemorates start of Great Patriotic War

Nazi Germany and its allies attacked the country's west, delivering massive air strikes on key air, railroad and military facilities and advancing 250-300 km deep into Soviet territory on June 22, 1941.

The war, planned to be a matter of months, lasted for four years and became the world's bloodiest conflict in history. At least 26.5 million Soviet civilians and soldiers died during the conflict, according to official statistics.

Veterans, survivors, officials, and scores of younger people are visiting war memorials in Russia's major cities. In Moscow, people have been laying flowers and lighting candles in Victory Park, the center of annual Victory Day celebrations.

President Dmitry Medvedev, along with visiting Moldovan leader Vladimir Voronin and other top officials, has laid a wreath of flowers at the symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall.

The war started with Russia badly disadvantaged as the Red Army was poorly armed, and most of its professional commanders had been executed or imprisoned during the 1937-1938 Stalinist reprisals. Stalin, who was caught unaware despite repeated intelligence warnings, only made his first address to the nation almost two weeks after the war was unleashed.

The anniversary of the attack was not officially marked until the 1990s. It is now officially named the Day of Memory and Sorrow. National flags are flown half mast in Russia and other former Soviet states on this day and light entertainment programs are forbidden; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.