They gathered under a light snow on Thursday — tens of thousands of factory workers, milkmen, engineers and nurses filling a central Moscow stadium to declare their love for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Love isn’t what Putin was looking for, though, what he needed was troops.
Addressing what appeared to be the largest crowd yet to turn out in support of his bid to return to the presidency, Putin mustered the full force of militaristic rhetoric in urging Russians to come to his side as he faces growing protests in opposition to his rule.
“We are all ready to work for the good of our great motherland — not only to work, but to protect her,” Putin said, his taut face peeking out from a white polo-neck jumper. “We are a victorious people ... it’s in our genes, in our genetic code, passed down from generation to generation.”
One reference to the Napoleonic War later and Putin ended his speech by saying: “The battle for Russia continues. We will be victorious.”
Who the enemy is did not need to be spoken — those Russians who have turned out by the thousands since early December to protest against Putin’s expected return in the 4 March presidential vote. The long-time leader, himself, has accused the US Department of State of orchestrating the protests.
“We won’t let anyone meddle in our domestic affairs,” he told the crowd, before demanding: “Don’t cheat on your motherland.”
It was a gathering reminiscent of a Soviet spectacle both in rhetoric and style. Thousands of workers from the provinces were brought by bus or rushed on to trains to attend the event.
Tatyana Leshova, 53, and Valery Mikhailov, 57, stood amid a crowd raising blue flags emblazoned with the words “Russian Milk.” Based in Ruza, 110km outside Moscow, the dairy’s board of directors arranged for 2,500 of its 8,000 employees to attend the rally, they said.
“We want stability in our country,” the firm’s financial director Leshova said. “Putin will help us develop our industry and agriculture, so we can eat our own potatoes, eat our own apples, drink our own milk.”
Her colleague jumped in to add: “Putin tried our milk. He liked it.”
Putin has worked hard to build a cult of personality that equates his leadership with the continuing existence of Russia. Yet just as some of his stunts have proved to be fake — his spokesman recently admitted that he did not in fact stumble upon a centuries-old Greek amphora during a scuba dive — so has much of his support, at least in Moscow.
Galina, a 50-year-old nurse who was leaving the rally just minutes after it began, hushed a friend who admitted to a reporter that the small group had been “invited” to attend by their municipal hospital.
“We came of our own will to watch the concert, eat pancakes,” she said, as her friend shook her head.
Their colleague Sergei, a 41-year-old doctor, admitted he had no plans to even vote for Putin, as he prefered far-right leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
The crowd, 130,000 strong according to police, consisted mainly of great groups of employees somehow linked to the state. Most signs were neatly typed and homogenous, implying careful planning: “Putin is stability,” and “Putin’s plan is our victory.”
Oleg Gultyayev, a 32-year-old real-estate worker, was one of the few who crafted his own sign. It read: “For the motherland. For Stalin. For Putin.” “Stalin and Putin both do everything they do for ordinary people,” he said.
The opposition is due to hold an unsanctioned protest tomorrow.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in