Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday appeared at a rally in Moscow to lavish praise on Russian forces.
Putin addressed the packed Luzhniki Stadium, saying the troops had fought “shoulder to shoulder” and supported each other.
“We have not had unity like this for a long time,” he told the cheering crowd.
Photo: AFP
The invasion of Ukraine has touched off a burst of anti-war protests inside Russia, and the rally was surrounded by suspicions that it was a Kremlin-manufactured display of patriotism. The event happened as Russia is facing heavier-than-expected losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home.
Police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the stadium for the event, which included patriotic songs such as Made in the USSR, referring to a shorthand for the Soviet Union, with the opening lines: “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, it’s all my country.”
Several Telegram channels critical of the Kremlin reported that students and employees of state institutions in a number of regions were ordered by their superiors to attend rallies and concerts marking the eighth anniversary of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine.
Seeking to portray the war as just, Putin paraphrased the Bible to say of Russia’s troops: “There is no greater love than giving up one’s soul for one’s friends.”
Taking to the stage where a sign read “For a world without Nazism,” he railed against his foes in Ukraine with a baseless claim that they are “neo-Nazis.”
Putin said the actions he ordered were necessary to prevent “genocide” — an idea flatly rejected by leaders around the globe.
Video feeds of the event cut out at times, but showed a loudly cheering crowd.
Putin’s appearance marked a change from his relative isolation of the past few weeks, when he has been shown meeting with world leaders and his staff either at extraordinarily long tables or via videoconference.
In the wake of the invasion, the Kremlin instituted tough prison sentences for what is deemed to be false reporting on the war, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation.”
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