MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia on Friday kicked off its annual St. George Ribbon campaign on the Far East island of Sakhalin in honor of those who fought in World War II.

This is the fifth year of the international campaign, started by RIA Novosti and the Student Community youth organization, with more than 45 million ribbons distributed throughout the world, including in Ukraine, Estonia, Germany, Britain, the United States and China.

The St. George Ribbon campaign has become a symbol of people's memory about Russia's heroic past. On the eve of Victory Day, May 9, people attach ribbons with black and orange stripes to their car antennas, jackets, backpacks, or beds in hospitals for veterans. Many people do not remove the ribbon for the entire year.

Orange and black are the traditional colors of Soviet and Russian awards for achievements in combat. The black and orange stripes symbolize smoke and fire.

By displaying the ribbons, the Russian people express their gratitude to those who fought for the independence of their state and saved it from Nazism - the alive and the dead, the known and the unknown.