Veterans in London awarded Russian medals

The ceremony of awarding jubilee medals - The 50th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 - to the veterans who participated in the "Arctic convoys" took place on Thursday in the Russian Embassy in London.

The ceremony was attended by seventeen participants in those heroic days when the necessary cargoes from Britain were being brought through northern seas to the Soviet Union which waged a war against fascism.

The British veterans have been awarded as a sign of the recognition of their contribution to the fight against fascism during the Great Patriotic War.

As Russian Ambassador to Great Britain Grigory Karasin stated, "that was a heroic period, and all the veterans, participants in those events, displayed heroism and, thanks to the joint efforts, won victory over fascism for the sake of the future generations." According to the ambassador, since 1997, more than 2,500 British veterans who took part in the "Arctic convoys" had received such jubilee medals.

As a token of gratitude, one of the veterans presented the ambassador with haggis, a national Scottish dish which was glorified by great poet Robert Burns in one of his odes.

Some of the veterans came to this ceremony with their wives, close relatives, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.