Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Friday held a huge rally to celebrate and drum more support for his invasion of Ukraine in front of thousands of ‘Z’ flag-waving citizens crammed into Moscow’s Luzhniki World Cup stadium.
According to Daily Mail, the pro-war event, which was quickly likened to rallies held by former US President, Donald Trump, was held to mark the eighth anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and saw the Russian strongman talk about the success of his ‘special operation’ in Ukraine.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in an alleged effort to degrade the military capability of its Southern neighbour and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
The white ‘Z’ has become a symbol of pro-Russian nationalism since Putin launched his brutal invasion of his neighbour as it is painted on many of Moscow’s military vehicles.
As his bombs continued to fall just hundreds of miles away in Ukraine, Putin boasted of Russia and Crimea’s ‘shared destiny’, and praised the peninsula’s people for voting in a referendum to be part of Russia – which was held while it was still occupied by Russian troops.
“We are united by the same destiny,” he said of the people of Russia and Crimea. “This is how the people thought and that’s what they were guided by when they had the referendum in Sevastopol.
“They want to share their historical destiny with their motherland Russia – let us congratulate them on this occasion, it is their occasion. Congratulations,” he said to huge cheers.
Putin repeated false claims about neo-Nazis in Ukraine, a line he has used repeatedly in an attempt to justify his invasion – despite Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky being Jewish, and far-right parties enjoying almost no political support in the country.
On the war in Ukraine, Putin praised the Russian troops taking part in his ‘special operation’, who he said are fighting for the ‘universal values’ of all Russians.
“The best confirmation is how our guys are fighting during this operation, shoulder to shoulder, helping each other. When it is necessary, they cover each other as if it is their own brother from bullets. We haven’t had such unity in a long time,” he said.
Putin went on to liken himself to Russian hero Admiral Fyodor Ushakov (1745-1817), who famously never lost a battle – despite the nightmare now unfolding in Ukraine.
Discussion about this post