Officials in Tiraspol as well as ordinary people participated on June 19 in a flower laying ceremony at the Glory Memorial to remember the people killed 17 year ago in the hostilities near Bender town during the armed conflict on the Nistru, Info-Prim Neo's correspondent reported from Tiraspol. “Hundreds of people were killed in that conflict and thousands were crippled. Approximately 100,000 civilians fled to Ukraine to find refuge. Financial losses amounted to 10 billion rubles”, declared the separatist leader Igor Smirnov during the ceremony. Visiting Tiraspol on June 18, Russian Ambassador to Moldova Valeri Kuzmin stated: “the tragic events in Bender must be a lesson to the young democrats who think that aspects related to human rights can be settled through violence and obtrusion”.