We publish Vladimir Putin’s full speech at the military parade on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the victory in World War II.
*****
Dear citizens of Russia!
Dear veterans!
Comrades soldiers and sailors, sergeants and non-commissioned officers, men of the ensign!
Comrades officers, generals and admirals!
I congratulate you on the Great Victory Day!
Defending the homeland, when his destiny was being decided, has always been sacred. With a great sense of genuine patriotism the militiamen of Minin and Pozharsky fought for the Motherland, attacked in Borodino, challenged the enemy near Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk, Stalingrad and Kursk, Sevastopol and Kharkov.
And so now, these days, you are fighting for our people in Donbas. For the safety of our homeland, Russia.
May 9, 1945 was forever inscribed in world history as a triumph of our united Soviet people, their unity and spiritual power, an unparalleled feat on the front and on the home front.
Victory Day is near and dear to each of us. There is no family in Russia that has not been touched by the Great Patriotic War. The memory never fades. On this day children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War are in the endless march of the “Immortal Regiment”. They carry pictures of their relatives, fallen soldiers who have remained young forever and veterans who have already left us.
We are proud of the generation of winners: never defeated and valiant, we are their heirs, and it is our duty to remember those who crushed Nazism and who bequeathed us the task of being vigilant and doing everything because the horror of war global does not repeat itself.
And that is why, despite all the disagreements in international relations, Russia has always been in favor of creating an equal and indivisible security system, a system that is vital for the entire world community.
Last December we proposed to conclude a treaty on security guarantees. Russia urged the West to engage in honest dialogue, to seek reasonable and compromise solutions and to take mutual interests into account. All in vain. The NATO countries did not want to listen to us, which means they actually had completely different plans. And we have seen it.
Preparations were openly underway for another punitive operation in Donbas and an invasion of our historic lands, including Crimea. Kiev was announcing the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons. The NATO bloc has begun active military development in the territories adjacent to ours.
In this way, a completely unacceptable threat to us has been created systematically and directly along our borders. Everything suggested that a clash with the neo-Nazis, the Banderists, on which the United States and its minor comrades had focused, would be inevitable.
Again, we have seen how the military infrastructure has unfolded, how hundreds of foreign advisors have begun to work for them, along with the regular delivery of the most modern weapons by NATO countries. The danger grew day by day.
Russia has given a preemptive response to the aggression. It was a forced, timely decision and the only right one. The decision of a sovereign, strong and independent country.
The United States, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, started talking about their exceptionalism, humiliating not only the world, but also its satellites, who have to pretend not to notice and swallow it all with deference.
But we are a different country. Russia has a different character. We will never give up our love for the homeland, our faith and our traditional values, our ancestral customs, our respect for all peoples and cultures.
And in the West these millennial values seem to have decided to cancel them. This moral degradation became the basis for the cynical falsification of the history of the Second World War, fomenting russophobia, the glorification of traitors, the mockery of the memory of their victims, erasing the courage of those who obtained and suffered Victory.
We know that American veterans who wanted to come to the Moscow parade were effectively prevented from doing so. But I want them to know that we are proud of your achievements, of your contribution to our common victory.
We honor all the soldiers of the allied armies – the Americans, the British, the French – the participants in the Resistance, the brave soldiers and partisans of China, all those who defeated Nazism and militarism.
Dear comrades!
Today the Donbas militias and the soldiers of the Russian army are fighting in their own land where the vigilantes of Svyatoslav and Vladimir Monomakh, the soldiers of Rumyantsev and Potemkin, Suvorov and Brusilov, the heroes of the Great Patriotic War Nikolay Vatutin, Sidor Kovpak and Lyudmila Pavlichenko fought to the death.
I now turn to our armed forces and the Donbas militia. You are fighting for the motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the Second World War. So that there is no place in the world for the executioners, the punishers and the Nazis.
Today we bow our heads before the memory of all those who lost their lives during the Great Patriotic War, our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandparents, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends.
Let us bow our heads before the memory of the martyrs of Odessa, burned alive in the Chamber of Trade Unions in May 2014. Before the memory of the elderly, women and children of Donbass, the civilians who died in the merciless bombings, the barbaric attacks of the neo-Nazis. We bow our heads before our comrades in arms, who died to the death of the brave in a just battle – for Russia.
(Moment of silence.)
The death of each of our soldiers and officers is a pain to us all and an irreparable loss to family and friends. The state, regions, businesses, public organizations will do everything to take care of these families and help them. We will give special support to the children of dead and wounded comrades. I signed the Presidential Decree on the matter today.
I wish a speedy recovery to the wounded soldiers and officers. And I thank the doctors, the paramedics, the nurses, the medical staff of the military hospitals for their selfless work. A deep bow to you for fighting for all your life – often at gunpoint, on the front lines, without sparing you.
Dear comrades!
Now here, on Red Square, soldiers and officers from many regions of our vast homeland stand shoulder to shoulder, including those who have come directly from Donbas, directly from the combat zone.
We remember how the enemies of Russia tried to use bands of international terrorists against us, they tried to sow national and religious enmity to weaken and divide us from within. None of this has succeeded.
Today, our fighters of different nationalities are together in battle, covering each other with bullets and shrapnel like brothers.
And this is the strength of Russia, the great, indestructible strength of our united and multinational people.
Today stand up for what your fathers, your grandparents, your great-grandparents fought for. For them, the highest meaning of life has always been the well-being and security of the homeland. And for us, their heirs, devotion to the Fatherland is the main value, a reliable support for the independence of Russia.
Those who crushed Nazism during the Great Patriotic War have shown us an example of heroism for all time. This is a generation of winners, and we will always admire them.
Glory to our valiant Armed Forces!
For Russia! For victory!
Start a new Thread