Penza, 2 August 2013. PenzaNews. Celebrations in honor of the Day of the Airborne Forces were held in Penza on Friday, August 2.

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The festive events opened with a meeting at the memorial “Torn Star.”

Welcoming the troopers, the deputy chairman of the government of the Penza region Valery Savin said that serving in the Airborne Troops of the Russian Federation is very prestigious.

“Over the 80-year history of the Airborne Forces, you proved that in any conflict you ended up being the winners,” he said.

In turn, the chairman of the Union of paratroopers of the Penza region, Oleg Shibaev read a greeting of the Airborne Troops Commander Vladimir Shamanov.

“Today the Airborne Forces are genuinely the troops of the first line. They appear there where there is a need to protect our national interests. For over 80 years, paratroopers have made thousands of deeds for the glory of Russia and the Airborne Forces, thus proving professional reliability, loyalty to traditions and ideals of our country and the army. The courage and heroism — these are the qualities which are inherent to the paratroopers,” the message read.

The celebrations continued with laying flowers to the monument of military and labor glory of Penza residents, and a meeting at the memorial “Afghan gates.”

The celebrations finished with laying flowers on the graves of soldiers in Penza cemeteries.