BAKU, August 19 Russian President Vladimir Putin laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame monument located on the Alley of Martyrs in Baku, a correspondent reports.
The Alley of Martyrs is a cemetery where the victims of the clashes between opposition circles of the Azerbaijan SSR and units of the Soviet army as a result of the January 1990 events and the Azerbaijanis who died in the First Karabakh War are buried. Currently, the Alley is the central memorial to all the victims who died for the independence of Azerbaijan.
In 1998, the Eternal Flame was opened on the Alley, the highest point in the city. The monument is a mausoleum standing on an eight-pointed star, topped with a glass dome. Along the entire path to the monument there is a wall with memorial slabs on which the names, years of life and photographs of the deceased are engraved.
The Russian President laid a wreath of red roses at the monument. During the ceremony, the Russian leader adjusted the ribbon in the form of the Russian tricolor on the wreath and then bowed.
Putin arrived in Baku on August 18 for a two-day state visit. Putin and Ilham Aliyev are scheduled to hold talks on Monday, following which a number of documents will be signed.