A representative from Russia lays flowers at the grave. Photo: Courtesy of Russian Cultural Centre in Beijing

Officials from the Russian Embassy in China paid tribute to Soviet and Mongolian soldiers who died in August 1945 during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) at a memorial event on Saturday at a martyrs' cemetery in Zhangbei county of Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province. 

Marking a moment of silence, the officials laid flowers at the grave of the Soviet and Mongolian soldiers who died during the war against Japanese invaders in Northeast China. Representatives from the People's Government of Zhangbei county were also present at the event. 

Andrei Kisenko, Counselor of the Russian Embassy in China, said at the ceremony that today the defenders of our motherland - participants of the special military operation - remain true to the traditions of their fathers and grandfathers, demonstrating selfless courage and genuine heroism when fulfilling their sacred duty to the motherland.

The cemetery in Zhangbei county was originally built in 1945 where soldiers of the Soviet-Mongolian Cavalry-Mechanized Group (CMG), under the command of Lieutenant General Issa Alexandrovich Pliyev, were buried. 

A monument was erected at the cemetery in October 1957. The names of 69 Soviet and 56 Mongolian soldiers of the CMG are engraved on the monument in Chinese, Russian, and Mongolian languages.