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Putin, Georgian opposition leader open World War II memorial

© RIA Novosti . Alexey Nikolsky / Go to the mediabankRussian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and leading Georgian opposition figure Nino Burdzhanadze
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and leading Georgian opposition figure Nino Burdzhanadze - Sputnik International
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and leading Georgian opposition figure Nino Burdzhanadze unveiled a World War II memorial in Moscow on Tuesday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and leading Georgian opposition figure Nino Burdzhanadze unveiled a World War II memorial in Moscow on Tuesday.

The monument in west Moscow's Poklonnaya Gora memorial park replaces the 46-meter Soviet-era memorial blown up last year in Kutaisi, Georgia's second-largest city. Georgia said the monument was destroyed to make space for a new parliamentary building.

Russia denounced the demolition as an "act of vandalism" and accused Georgian authorities of a "symbolic attack" on the memory of Georgians who died during the war.

Putin raised hope that the new monument "will become a good symbolic move on the way of searching for a mutually beneficial decision normalizing bilateral intergovernmental relations."

Burdzhanadze participated in choosing the design of the monument. It features two Soviet soldiers, Georgian Meliton Kantaria and Russian Mikhail Yegorov, who hoisted a Soviet flag over the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin in May 1945.

The two bronze statues, with the flag in their arms, stand in front of a smaller replica of the Kutaisi monument.

Former Georgian parliament speaker Burdzhanadze said she wished the monument would usher in the era of "normalizing ties with due interest of both peoples." She branded the current relations between Russia and Georgia as "abnormal."

Russia and Georgia broke diplomatic ties following a five-day war over the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia in August 2008. Russia recognized South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, shortly after ceasefire.

Georgia claims Russia has occupied its territory.

MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti)

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