Outgoing Slovenian Economy Minister Metod Dragonja, the honorary patron of the ceremony, said the Russian Chapel had become a symbol of friendship between the Slovenian and Russian nations, while the traditional meetings held there annually had assumed different meanings.

"They are a tribute to the tragic accident in which the Russian PWOs died under a snow avalanche while building a road to the Vršič mountain pass. They are a warning about the absurdity of war, including the first world war of the 20th century which has changed the European map."

"And they are a building block of excellent relations and friendship between two states, the Russian Federation and Slovenia," said Dragonja, who spent several years in Moscow as head of the bank NLB's branch office there.

That the Russian Chapel has become a symbol of Slovenian-Russian friendship was echoed by Vice-Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Jury Vorobyov and president of the Slovenia Russia Association Vasja Klavora.

Vorobyov said the two nations were being united by a desire to preserve the truth about the historical events of the 20th century and would not like to see the Nazi ideology get revived. "The horrors of world wars must be remembered so that such tragedies would never repeat," said Vorobyov.

He announced that Russia was getting ready to mark 100 years of the Russian Chapel in two years' time, when a monument to all Soviet and Russian soldiers who died on Slovenian territory in both world wars will be erected in cooperation with Slovenia.

A documentary film on the Russian prisoners of war from the First World War in Slovenia will also be made to mark the centenary, said the Russian official.

A piece "Missa pro pace" (Mass for Peace), written especially for the occasion by Slovenian composer Ambrož Čopi, was performed at the event, with excerpts from letters written by Slovenian and Russian solders from the front being read in between. The event concluded with Mass.

As has become custom over the past few years, the event has attracted a number of top officials from both countries, including Slovenian President Borut Pahor, Speaker Janko Veber, President of the National Council Mitja Bervar and outgoing Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec.

The Russian delegation meanwhile featured Minister for Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov as well as representatives of the lower and upper chambers of parliament and the Russian Orthodox Church.

The event pays tribute to several hundred Russian prisoners of war who were killed in a snow avalanche in 1916 while building the road to the Vršič pass in the Julian Alps (NW). The chapel was erected on the site by the prisoners who survived the accident.