OREANDA-NEWS. May 22, 2008. This is Dmitry Medvedev's first international visit as President of Russia. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev met the Russian head of state at the airport.

The President of Russia traveled to the centre of Astana directly from the airport and laid flowers at the Defenders of the Fatherland memorial.

The memorial was established in 2001 in honour of the memory of the 1,300,000 residents of Kazakhstan who participated in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. At the foot of the Mother Homeland monument, the central figure of the memorial, burns an eternal flame.