The laying wreaths ceremony was attended by the city's mayor and a representative of the US Orthodox church, as well as by Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Petr Iliichev and a representative of Virginia state senator Richard Black.
The commemoration event took place near the Tear of Grief, a monument by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli, which was presented by the Russian government to the United States as an official gift after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
On December 25, 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry's Tu-154 plane heading from Moscow to Syria crashed shortly after refueling and take-off from the Russian southern city of Adler, near Sochi. The plane was carrying 92 people, including eight crew members, 64 musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble, nine journalists, head of Spravedlivaya Pomoshch (Fair Aid) charity Elizaveta Glinka, and two federal civil servants. None of them survived the crash.
