Remembering together.

Dear friends,

Today we remember.

What for some generations might seem ancient history, others can remember, those that do are now in diminishing numbers.  We remember the great tragedy of the Second World War, your Great Patriotic War; we also celebrate victory against tyranny.

In these times it is easy to forget the great partnership, not only between three great nation states, the Soviet Union, The United States of America and Great Britain, but the many other nations that lost lives to the oppression and ultimate defeat of the Third Reich.

In the UK we do not forget the greatest numerical sacrifice of all, that of the Soviet Union.

History teaches us that without this partnership, the outcome in 1945 would have been less certain.   The number of lives lost tell one story, but at the individual level, each and every life lost was a sacrifice sadly necessary to return freedom. So today we again pray for peace.

As you celebrate the achievements of the Red Army, we stand beside you in that memory – may the long standing history of cooperation that brought Peter the Great shipbuilding skills and the Arctic Convoys that provided tanks, aeroplanes, equipment and ammunition to the Red Army return anew and refreshed.  Let us again work together in a spirit of cooperation for a better world.

I wish you and all former states of the Soviet Union well this day.

Keith