The Draft Inter-State Program For Marking 60th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War Is Being Finalized in Minsk

The conference of plenipotentiary representatives and experts from the member-countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on finalizing the draft inter-state program for marking the 60th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany (1941-1945) will take place in Minsk on January 27-28.

As RIA Novosti was told by deputy director of the security department of the CIS Executive Committee Oleg Putintsev, the conference participants will also discuss the draft decision of the Council of the CIS Heads of State on the memorable medal "Sixty Years of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." The draft program for celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Victory provides for a number of events, including a parade of war veterans. It is also planned to organize conferences and meetings of war veterans in CIS cities, visits to burial places, cultural events, including exhibitions and arts festivals.

Oleg Putintsev said that the memorable medal "Sixty Years of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" will be awarded to servicemen who took part in military actions and to partisans for the victory over Germany and Japan. Apart from that, it will also be given to the people who worked in the rear and to the former under-age prisoners of concentration camps.

The medal has been worked out and approved by the Council of the CIS Defense Ministers.

The front side of the medal depicts a soldier-liberator against the background of the holiday fireworks, and the reverse side bears the inscription: "Sixty Years of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."