Present there on invitation were a vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, deputies to the State Duma, members of the Federation Council and officials of the government, political parties, organizations and institutions including the "United Russia" Party, "A Just Russia", the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Party for Peace and Unity, the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Minister of Interior, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Economy and Development, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Academy of Sciences, the Gazprom, the Russian Railways Company, the Moscow City Government, the Moscow City War Veterans Association and the Russian Association for Friendship and Cultural Cooperation with the DPRK.

The participants laid a floral basket and bouquets before the full-length picture of President Kim Il Sung standing together with Kim Jong Il before paying tribute to them.

Igor Morgulov, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in his speech said that 2011 was a year when the Korean people suffered a great loss. President Medvedev and officials of various strata of Russia expressed deep condolences over the demise of Kim Jong Il, he noted.

All this clearly proves what enormous and great feats he performed for developing the Russia-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations, he said.

His visit to the Siberian and Far East Regions and meeting and talks with Medvedev were distinguished and historic events which gave strong impetus to the development of the Russia-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations, he stressed.

Referring to the brisk cooperation between the two countries in the economic field, he highly estimated the principled stand of the DPRK on the six-party talks.

An art performance was given by the Academy Ensemble of the Interior Unit of the Russian Ministry of Interior at the reception.