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