OREANDA-NEWS A solemn Victory Day rally was held in Sydney on Tuesday. Russian diplomats, compatriots and veterans of the Great Patriotic War living on the continent took part in the wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial plate to the Soviet soldiers-liberators in Waverley Park.

"On the day of the Great Victory, we pay tribute to the heroism and dedication of our soldiers and honor the memory of the great feat of our people. As long as this memory lives in the hearts of people, despite all attempts to blur, slander, silence and destroy it, we have hope that the dream of those who gave their lives for their homeland, for its happiness and the right to live, for our world to be just, will come true," the ambassador said. Russia in Australia Alexey Pavlovsky. He recalled that today the true ideals for which our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought and died were again under threat.

Together with Russian diplomats, Russian compatriots living in Australia and representatives of public organizations came to pay tribute to the memory of those who died in the fight against fascism in World War II. "This holiday, Victory Day, is of great importance for all Russian people, wherever they live today, because the Great Patriotic War affected us all without exception, and there is no family that has not lost someone on the battlefields. In order not to repeat the horror in which millions died, we must keep the memory of what happened," the participants of the event said.

In Waverley Park there is a monument to Australian soldiers who participated in the First World War. In 2008, a bronze memorial plaque to Soviet soldiers who died in World War II was installed on its pedestal. This is the only memorial to fallen Soviet soldiers in Australia, and it is here that immigrants from Russia and other former Soviet republics come every year on May 9 to celebrate Victory Day. Traditionally, the ceremonies begin with a minute of silence in memory of those who fell on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and Jewish clergy also constantly take part in them.