- Title: Norway and Russia mark 75th anniversary of liberation of Kirkenes
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: KIRKENES, NORWAY (OCTOBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS) NORWAY'S KING HARALD AND DIGNITARIES INSPECTING WREATH AT THE MONUMENT TO WARTIME MOTHERS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIA FOREIGN MINISTER, SERGEI LAVROV, SAYING: "This date we celebrate together is special for Russia and Norway, as 75 years ago the Red Army liberated the territory of Eastern Finnmark from the Nazi occupants." VARIOUS OF MONUMENT TO WARTIME MOTHERS (SOUNDBITE) (Norwegian) KING HARALD OF NORWAY, SAYING: "Here in the north, the war had set deep tracks, deeper than in any other place in the country. East Finnmark was heavily bombed. Two-thirds of the people were evacuated by force." SOLDIER WITH NORWEGIAN FLAG AT THE MONUMENT TO THE UNKNOWN SOVIET SOLDIER (SOUNDBITE) (Norwegian) KING HARALD OF NORWAY, SAYING: "The people must be honoured for reconstructing East Finnmark after its total destruction." DIGNITARIES INSPECTING WREATHS PLACED AT THE MONUMENT TO THE UNKNOWN SOVIET SOLDIER VISITING RUSSIAN SOLDIERS SALUTING AT THE MONUMENT FLOWERS BEING PLACED AT THE MONUMENT
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 16:01
- Keywords: Norway's King Harald Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov 75th anniversary of the Red Army's liberation of Kirkenes in northern Norway Nazi-occupation during WW2
- Location: KIRKENES, NORWAY
- City: KIRKENES, NORWAY
- Country: Norway
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2LJUX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Norway's King Harald and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov marked the 75th anniversary of the Red Army's liberation of Kirkenes in northern Norway on Friday (October 25). It was the first Norwegian town to be freed from Nazi occupation during WW Two.
The ceremony took place at Kirkenes Square with King Harald and Lavrov placing wreaths at the Monument to Wartime Mothers, and more tributes placed at the Monument To The Unknown Soviet Soldier.
Seventy-five years have passed since Soviet forces drove the German occupying power out of the areas surrounding Kirkenes which is situated well above the Arctic Circle, near the Russian border.
Kirkenes had served as a base for the German War Navy and Luftwaffe and was their main base for supplies to the Murmansk front.
The liberation took place in October 1944, six months before the end of WW Two, and the Red Army withdrew its soldiers from the area in 1945.
(Production: Maxim Shemetov, Philip O'Connor) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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