"We are proud of you and are grateful to you for your feats, self-sacrifice and courage. These qualities helped you defend the honor of our Motherland, save Europe and the world from Nazism, restore the country in the post-war years and make it a great power," the head of state said.
"This is a great honor for me to hand the deserved military awards to the veterans," Mr. Putin stressed. "For different reasons you failed to get these orders and medals during the war and today after 60 years and so many events you recollect those times, your friends and difficult youth," the President noted.
"The awarding papers [of the veterans] are official and laconic and contain no detailed stories of what you had to endure and overcome but these pages of your biographies became a part of the chronicle of the Great Patriotic War which is full of valor and will-power," Vladimir Putin continued.
According to him, "not only personal courage but also the firm belief in the right cause" helped the veterans during the war. "Not only weapons but also firmness of spirit and character helped you win the victory," the President stressed.
"In three months the Russian people and all the mankind will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Victory," he said. "We know the price our country and your generation had to pay for this victory," he concluded.
