Russia has been trying to obtain a deserving place in the international arena, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"Today we keep trying so that Russia would take a place in the international affairs which belongs to it rightly," Lavrov said during a wreath-laying ceremony to mark the upcoming Victory Day, which Russians celebrate on May 9.

Moscow considers it unacceptable to rewrite the history of World War II, he said, stressing that Russians should keep the memory of the Great Patriotic War.

"The memory about that victory will not leave us. We should do our best so that the memory about the warriors of the Great Patriotic War could be preserved by our children and grandchildren," he said.

The memory is a great "spiritual force" for Russia and a guarantee of the country's power, Lavrov added.

On Tuesday, a rehearsal of the Victory Day Parade took place in Moscow. Visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived here earlier in the day, witnessed the event.

Later Tuesday, Kerry laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier and Eternal Flame near the Kremlin.