(7 May 2005)
1. Mid shot guard officers on Poklonnaya Hill
2. Mid shot Russian President Vladimir Putin greeting the officers
3. Wide shot Poklonnaya Hill
4. Mid shot Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov
5. Soldiers on Poklonnaya Hill
6. Zoom out Vladimir Putin listening to state anthem
7. Close up sign on the monument "The 4th Ukrainian front, commander Marshall Yeremenko"
8. Mid shot Sergei Ivanov and Vladimir Putin
9. Press
10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:
"Our people defended not only their Motherland but also freed 11 European countries. On the fields of battles from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus the military machine of Nazism was broken."
11. Soldiers on Poklonnaya Hill
12. Wide shot soldiers laying flowers to the WW2 monuments
13. Close-up soldier with flowers passing Vladimir Putin
14. Wide shot soldiers laying flowers to the WW2 monument
15. Press
16. Putin watching the soldiers' parade
17. Close-up soldiers marching
18. Mid shot Vladimir Putin and Sergei Ivanov leaving
STORYLINE:
Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a giant memorial on a hill in southwest Moscow on Saturday to commemorate the victory in World War II.
He praised the heroism of Soviet citizens, saying the Soviet war effort had liberated Europe from Nazi Germany.
On Monday more than 50 world leaders will be in Moscow for commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, an event that will pay tribute to the huge human sacrifice paid by the Soviet Union.
Almost 27 million Soviet citizens, soldiers and civilians, died in the war.
"Our people defended not only their Motherland but also freed 11 European countries. On the fields of battles from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus the military machine of Nazism was broken," the Russian leader said.
Because of the 1939 non-aggression pact with Hitler, the Soviet Union didn't come into the war until 1941, nearly two years after it began with the German invasion of Poland.
Once involved, the Soviet Union suffered the most casualties and the Red Army fought most of the epic battles that turned its tide Stalingrad, Kursk, and the battle of Berlin that sealed Hitler's doom.
The new monument, unveiled by Putin and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov on Poklonnaya Hill, honours the heroism of Soviet Red
Army soldiers, officers, sailors, partisans and workers behind the front.
It features 15 giant bronze columns, including 10 columns dedicated to Red Army fronts, which stand in the order of how representatives of those fronts marched at the Victory parade in 1945, three columns to Soviet fleets, one to partisans, and one to workers behind the front.
Each of the columns, which are similar to each other, is wrapped by a glory wreath at the bottom and topped with bronze Red Army flags.
They all stand in one row along the territory of Poklonnaya Hill.
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