MOSCOW - Russia's thundering Victory Day parade, a lengthy review of its newly refurbished military and of its most advanced hardware, rolled through Red Square in Moscow on Friday, the entire event under global scrutiny against the backdrop of the Kremlin's aggressive policy toward neighboring Ukraine.
Celebration of the March annexation of Crimea was not subtle, with the first armored personnel carrier entering the square flying a big Crimean flag. Some 11,000 soldiers and 150 military vehicles, from tanks to intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, rumbled through the square under cloudless blue skies. The flyover was to include 69 aircraft, marking the 69 years since the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
In brief opening remarks before the first soldiers marched, President Vladimir V. Putin said that the holiday represented all that makes Russia strong.
'This is the holiday when the invincible power of patriotism triumphs,' Mr. Putin said. 'When all of us particularly feel what it means to be faithful to the Motherland and how important it is to defend its interests.'
Mr. Putin's annual Victory Day speech is a combination of a national pep rally and a summary of the state of the Russian Federation, with the president using it as the most important platform of the year to outline what he wants for the country.
On Wednesday, Mr. Putin announced that he was pulling the Russian Army back from the border with Ukraine and that he wanted to pursue a mediated settlement there. He also urged separatists in Ukraine not to hold a referendum on sovereignty this Sunday.
But Western leaders were divided about whether his remarks were a real offer of a peaceful settlement or only a means of distancing himself from the vote in southeastern Ukraine and the spiraling violence there. Mr. Putin repeated Russia's demand that Ukraine undertake constitutional reforms that grant wide autonomy to the regions.
That is seen as an attempt to continue to influence the eastern portions of the country, or to destabilize it if necessary, to prevent Kiev from becoming too close to the European Union or to NATO.
Senior officials and state-run television have maintained a steady drumbeat since February that the rebellion that overthrew Ukraine's government was an attempt to revive Nazi fascism - thus linking Russian opposition to it to the World War II victory.
from Google News http://#
via IFTTT
0 Response to "Amid Tension in Ukraine, Russia Celebrates Victory Day"
Posting Komentar