Putin also said during his short speech that Russia is currently fighting “for its historical territory” in Ukraine.
The event at the stadium is attended by tens of thousands of people who wave Russian flags, world news agencies reported. In this context, The Moscow Times wrote that Russian government institutions forced 70 percent of their employees to attend today’s concert. Among other things, they promised them hot food and a ration of Russian flags.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a patriotic rally at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium
Russia’s attack on Ukraine last February 24 unleashed the worst land conflict in Europe since the end of World War II, which is estimated to have claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides and driven millions from their homes.
🤦 The commander of the reconnaissance unit Nikolay Romanenko performed his own composition
Here is a part of the verse from his song: “I’m not afraid to get my hands bloody. It’s war and we didn’t start it, but we’ll finish it. The bright red flag will fly over Berlin.” pic.twitter.com/I7VM17yDe9
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 22, 2023
Moscow officially reports its invasion as a special military operation and claims that it wants to “denazify” and “demilitarize” the neighboring state, from which it has tried to annex four other regions, similar to how it annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in the spring of 2014, in violation of international law. Kiev and the West talk about unprovoked Russian aggression. Kiev set the liberation of the occupied territories as a war goal.
A number of key figures did not show up for Putin’s speech, they note in Russia
The war in Ukraine
