Flowers to the memorial were laid by President Aslan Bzhaniya, Speaker of the Parliament Valery Kvarchiya, MPs, members of the Government, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to RA Alexey Dvinyanin, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of South Ossetia to Abkhazia Oleg Botsiev, representatives of the public.

Aslan Bzhaniya also laid flowers at the Memorial to the first President of the Republic Vladislav Ardzinba in Nizhnyaya Eshera village and at the grave of the second president Sergey Bagapsh in Dzhgarda.

Today is the 12th anniversary of Russia's recognition of independence and state sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russian Federation officially recognized the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia on August 26, 2008, by decree of President Dmitry Medvedev.