Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the opening of a monument to World War I in Moscow on Friday (August 1).
The ceremony was one of the main events dedicated to the hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I.
A total of three sculptures were opened across Russia.
Campaigners have said they are trying to restore World War I to its rightful place in the country’s history.
Under Soviet rule the conflict was underplayed and referred to as the War of the Imperialists.
A recreation of a battle between Russia and Germany in 1915 also took place at the ceremony.
Vladislav Sereda, a member of the Russian Military Historical Society, said: “The hundredth anniversary of the war is a very important date.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t talked about for many years and there wasn’t a single memorial dedicated to the First World War.”
Almost two million Russian soldiers and one million civilians died in World War I.
