An art performance at the ceremony (Photo: VNA)
Speaking at the event, Vice President of the association Do Van Tieu expressed his profound gratitude for the martyrs who sacrificed for the country's independence and unification.
He also congratulated all veterans who had participated in the struggle for the liberation of the South of Vietnam and national reunification as well as those joining the wars to safeguard the country.
Forty-six years since the reunification, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Vietnam has grown unceasingly, with its per capita income up 30-fold, and its prestige in the international arena improving, he stressed.
Vietnamese Defence Attaché in Russia Colonel Tran Tien Phuong congratulated the association on its fifth founding anniversary, hailing the veterans’ contributions to the sustainable development of the Overseas Vietnamese community in Russia as well as the national development.
Also on the occasion, former Russian military experts who helped Vietnam during the war, congratulated Vietnam on its great victory for national reunification on April 30, 1975 and highlighted the role of President Ho Chi Minh in this prolonged struggle.
In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Moscow, Nikolai Nikolaevicj Kolesnik, Chairman of the Association of Russian Veterans in Vietnam, said the April 30th triumph was a historic victory which reunified Vietnam. He expressed his pride that the Soviet Union made contribution to Vietnam's victory.
Major General Anatoly Pozdeev, Vice President of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association, said Vietnam’s great victory over the American imperialists and the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has great historical significance.
Colonel Alexey Skreblyukov, Chairman of the Russian War Veterans’ Association in Saint Petersburg said there are no words that can describe the great victory of Vietnam. He said many Russian war veterans wished to have a chance to visit Vietnam, which they consider their second Fatherland./.