MOSCOW (Realist English). The Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin attended a military parade in honor of the 77th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Realist English publishes the text of the speech of the Russian leader at the Victory Day Parade
“Dear citizens of Russia! Dear veterans! Fellow soldiers and sailors, sergeants and petty officers, midshipmen and ensigns! Fellow officers, generals and admirals!
I congratulate you on the Great Victory Day!
The defense of the Motherland, when her fate was decided, has always been sacred. With such feelings of genuine patriotism, the militia of Minin and Pozharsky rose up for the Fatherland, went on the attack on the Borodino field, fought against the enemy near Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk, Stalingrad and Kursk, Sevastopol and Kharkov.
And now, these days, you are fighting for our people in the Donbas. For the security of our Homeland — Russia.
May 9, 1945 is forever inscribed in the world history as the triumph of our united Soviet people, of its unity and spiritual power, of its unprecedented feat at the frontline and in the rear.
The Victory Day is close and dear to each of us. There is no family in Russia that would not have been scorched by the Great Patriotic War. Its memory does not fade. On this day, children, grandchildren and great—grandchildren of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War are in the endless stream of the “Immortal Regiment”. They carry photos of their relatives, fallen soldiers who have remained young forever, and veterans who have already left us.
We are proud of the unconquered, valiant generation victors, that we are their heirs, and it is our duty to preserve the memory of those who crushed Nazism, who bequeathed us to be vigilant and do everything so that the horror of the global war does not repeat itself.
And therefore, despite all the differences in international relations, Russia has always advocated the creation of a system of equal and indivisible security, a system that is vital to the entire world community.
In December of last year, we proposed to conclude an agreement on security guarantees. Russia called on the West to have an honest dialogue, to search for reasonable, compromise solutions, to take into account each other’s interests. All in vain. The NATO countries did not want to hear us, which means that in fact they had completely different plans. And we saw it.
Preparations were openly underway for another punitive operation in the Donbas, for an invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea. In Kiev, they announced the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons. The NATO bloc has begun active military development of the territories adjacent to us.
Thus, an absolutely unacceptable threat was systematically created for us, and directly at our borders. Everything said that a clash with neo-Nazis, Banderites, on whom the United States and their junior partners had bet, would be inevitable.
I repeat, we have seen how the military infrastructure is unfolding, how hundreds of foreign advisers have started working, and regular deliveries of the most modern weapons from NATO countries were underway. The danger was growing every day.
Russia has given a preemptive rebuff to aggression. It was a forced, timely and the only right decision. The decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country.
The United States of America, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, started talking about their exclusiveness, thereby humiliating not only the whole world, but also their satellites, who have to pretend that they do not notice anything, and submissively swallow it all.
But we are a different country. Russia has a different character. We will never give up our love for the Motherland, our faith and traditional values, the customs of our ancestors, and respect for all peoples and cultures.
And in the West, they decided to cancel these millennial values, apparently. Such moral degradation became the basis of cynical falsifications of the history of the Second World War, inciting Russophobia, praising traitors, mocking the memory of their victims, crossing out the courage of those who won and earned the Victory.
We know that the American veterans who wanted to come to the parade in Moscow were actually banned from doing so. But I want them to know: We are proud of your exploits, your contribution to the common Victory.
We honor all the soldiers of the Allied armies — Americans, British, French Resistance members, brave soldiers and guerrillas of China — all who defeated Nazism and militarism.
Dear Comrades!
Today, the Donbass militia, together with the soldiers of the Russian Army, are fighting on their own land, where the vigilantes of Svyatoslav and Vladimir Monomakh, the soldiers of Rumyantsev and Potemkin, Suvorov and Brusilov, where the heroes of the Great Patriotic War — Nikolai Vatutin, Sidor Kovpak, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, stood to death.
I am now addressing our Armed Forces and the Donbass militia. You are fighting for the Motherland, for her future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the Second World War. So that there is no place for executioners, punishers and Nazis in the world.
Today we bow our heads before the bright memory of all those whose lives were taken away by the Great Patriotic War, before the memory of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends.
We bow our heads before the memory of the martyrs of Odessa, burned alive in the House of Trade Unions in May 2014. In front of the memory of the elderly, women and children of Donbass, civilians who died from ruthless shelling, barbaric strikes of neo-Nazis. We bow our heads to our comrades—in-arms, who fell to the death of the brave in a righteous battle – for Russia.
A minute of silence is announced.
The death of each of our soldiers and officers is a grief for all of us and an irreparable loss for relatives and friends. The state, regions, enterprises, public organizations will do everything to take care of such families and help them. We will provide special support to the children of the dead and wounded comrades. The presidential decree on this was signed today.
I wish a speedy recovery to the wounded soldiers and officers. And I thank the doctors, paramedics, nurses, medical staff of military hospitals for their selfless work. I bow low to you for fighting for every life — often under fire, on the front line, not sparing yourself.
Dear Comrades!
Now here, on the Red Square, soldiers and officers from many regions of our vast Homeland stand shoulder to shoulder, including those who came directly from Donbass, directly from the combat zone.
We remember how Russia’s enemies tried to use gangs of international terrorists against us, sought to sow national and religious enmity in order to weaken and split us from within. It didn’t work out.
Today, our fighters of different ethnic background are fighting together, covering each other from bullets and shrapnel as brothers.
And herein is the strength of Russia, the great, indestructible strength of our united multiethnic people.
Today, you are defending what fathers and grandfathers, great-grandfathers fought for. For them, the highest meaning of life has always been the well-being and security of the Motherland. And for us, their heirs, loyalty and devotion to the Motherland is the main value, a reliable support for Russia’s independence.
Those who crushed Nazism during the Great Patriotic War showed us an example of heroism for all time. This is a generation of winners, and we will always look up to them.
Glory to our valiant Armed Forces! To Russia! To the Victory! Hurrah!”
