- Title: Russia's Lavrov in Norway for anniversary of WW2 liberation of Kirkenes
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: KIRKENES, NORWAY (OCTOBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV BEING GREETED BY NORWEGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER INE ERIKSEN SOEREIDE AND ENTERING BUILDING SCULPTURE KIRKENES, NORWAY (OCTOBER 24, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TOWN LANDSCAPE BAY AND BUILDINGS IN TOWN BUILDINGS IN TOWN BAY PERSON WALKING IN STREET BORDER MARKERS USED AS DECORATION IN TOWN VARIOUS OF MARKERS OUTSIDE AIRPORT MAYOR OF SOER-VARANGER MUNICIPALITY, WHICH INCLUDES KIRKENES, RUNE RAFAELSEN, LOOKING AT SEA (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYOR OF SOER-VARANGER MUNICIPALITY, WHICH INCLUDES KIRKENES, RUNE RAFAELSEN, SAYING: "It's extremely important because Kirkenes was one of the most bombed towns in all of Europe during World War Two. The people here had German soldiers here for four years and they were by far outnumbering the Norwegians. It was a very big presence. The bombing. So when the Red Army came here on 25th of October 1944, it was a release, but also what happened here was that everything here was burnt down it was really a war crime that was committed by the Nazis. So that the Red Army they gave their lives for liberating this part of Norway. It's extremely important to remember." VARIOUS OF SEA
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 09:56
- Keywords: WW2 liberation Red Army Soviet Union Nazi-occupation King Harald Sergei Lavrov
- Location: KIRKENES, NORWAY
- City: KIRKENES, NORWAY
- Country: Norway
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2LHCUF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Kirkenes in northern Norway on Friday (October 25) to take part in a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Red Army's liberation of the town. Kirkenes was the first Norwegian town to be freed from Nazi occupation during WW Two.
The ceremony will take place at Kirkenes Square with Norway's King Harald and Lavrov placing wreaths at the Monument to Wartime Mothers.
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 WW2, and the Red Army withdrew its soldiers from the area in 1945.
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