The Ambassadors of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan gathered at the Kazakhstan Embassy in Riyadh on Monday to mark the 70th anniversary of their collective victory during the “Great Patriotic War.”

The diplomatic missions jointly organized the event, ‘Victory Day’, to display their solidarity and honor the sacrifices of each country.

More than 300 guests, including Saudi officials and representatives of the diplomatic corps, were present. The envoys paid tribute to those who laid down their lives to win the war.

Kazakh Ambassador Bakyt Batyrshayev said that his country’s brave soldiers played a great role in a battle in which 1.5 million Kazakhs took part, with half of them never returning from the battlefields.

In a joint statement, the participants described the meeting as a tribute to the Soviet soldiers and officers who fought against “Fascist Germany” for peace and freedom, and to those who fell victim to Hitler’s aggression.

“During the years of the Great Patriotic War, the troops of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan laid down their lives on the frontline in order to forge victory on the home front,” the statement said.

Russian Ambassador Oleg Ozerov said: “There is no sense in talking about victims as they are innumerable and every family suffered a loss of human life.” He added that the coalition built a new system of international relations during the war, which until now has managed to prevent another nightmare like the Second World War, and the associated loss of more than 50 million human lives.