Russian President Vladimir Putin, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, participated in the military parade on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Altogether, 11.000 staff members and 131 units of military equipment were engaged in the parade.
Russian Fellow Citizens, Dear Veterans, Comrade Soldiers and Sailors, Sergeants and Sergeants Major, Ensigns and Warrant Officers, Comrade Officers, Generals and Admirals, I congratulate you on the Great Victory Day! The defense of our homeland when her destiny was at stake has always been sacred. It was the feeling of true patriotism that Minin and Pozharsky's militia lined up for the Fatherland, the soldiers went on the offensive at the Borodino camp and fought the enemy outside Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk, Stalingrad and Kursk, Sevastopol and Kharkov.
Today, as in the past, you are fighting for our people in Donbass, for the security of our homeland, for Russia. May 9, 1945 was forever enshrined in world history as a triumph of the united Soviet people, their cohesion and spiritual power, an unprecedented feat on the front line and on the home front.
Victory Day is intimately dear to us all. There is no family in Russia that has not been touched by the Great Patriotic War. Her memory never fades. On this day, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the heroes march in our immortal regiment.
They carry photos of their family members, fallen soldiers who have remained young forever and veterans who have already left. We are proud of the brave invincible generation of victors, we are proud to be their successors and it is our duty to preserve the memory of those who defeated Nazism and entrusted us with vigilance and do everything possible to counter the horror of another war. global.
Therefore, despite all the controversies in international relations, Russia has always advocated the establishment of an equal and indivisible security system which is absolutely necessary for the entire international community.
Last December we proposed to sign a treaty on security guarantees. Russia urged the West to hold an honest dialogue in search of meaningful solutions and to take mutual interests into account. All in vain. The NATO countries did not want to listen to us, which means they had completely different plans. And we have seen it.
Another punitive operation in the Donbass, an invasion of our historic lands, including Crimea, was openly underway. Kiev said it could get nuclear weapons.
The NATO bloc has launched a military build-up in our neighboring territories. Therefore, an absolutely unacceptable threat to us was constantly being created right on our borders. There were all indications that a confrontation with neo-Nazis and US-backed bandits and their minions was inevitable. Let me repeat, we have seen the construction of the military infrastructure, hundreds of foreign consultants starting work, and the initiation of regular supplies of state-of-the-art weapons delivered by NATO countries. The threat grew every day. Russia launched a preemptive strike against aggression. It was a forced, timely decision and the only correct one. A decision of a sovereign, strong and independent country.
The United States began to claim its exceptionalism, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, thus denigrating not only the whole world but also its satellites, who must pretend to see nothing and endure with obedience.
But we are a different country. Russia has a different character. We will never give up our love for our homeland, our faith and traditional values, the customs of our ancestors and respect for all peoples and cultures. Meanwhile, the West appears to be ready to erase these millennial values. This moral degradation underlies the cynical falsifications of World War II history, the escalation of russophobia, praising the traitors, mocking the memory of their victims and erasing the courage of those who have won victory through suffering.
We know that US veterans who wanted to participate in the Moscow parade were effectively banned. But I want them to know: we are proud of your actions and your contribution to our common victory. We honor all the soldiers of the allied armies - American, British, French, Resistance fighters, brave soldiers and partisans in China - all those who have defeated Nazism and militarism.
Comrades, the Donbass militia together with the Russian army are fighting in their land today, where the servants of the princes Svyatoslav and Vladimir Monomakh, soldiers under the command of Rumyantsev and Potemkin, Suvorov and Brusilov crushed their enemies, where the heroes of the Great Patriotic War Nikolai Vatutin, Sidor Kovpak and Lyudmila Pavlichenko resisted to the end.
I appeal to our armed forces and the Donbass militia. You are fighting for our homeland, its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of World War II, so that there is no place in the world for torturers, death squads and Nazis. Today we bow our heads to the sacred memory of all those who lost their lives in the Great Patriotic War, the memories of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandparents, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends. We bow our heads to the memory of the martyrs of Odessa, burned alive in the Chamber of Trade Unions in May 2014, to the memory of the elderly, women and children of Donbass killed in atrocious and barbaric bombings by neo-Nazis.
We bow our heads to our fellow combatants who died a brave death in the just battle for Russia.
I declare a minute of silence. (A minute of silence.)
The loss of every officer and soldier is painful for all of us and an irremediable loss for families and friends. The government, regional authorities, businesses and public organizations will do everything to help these families.
Special support will be given to the children of killed and wounded comrades in arms. The presidential executive order to that effect was signed today. I wish a speedy recovery to the wounded soldiers and officers and I thank the doctors, paramedics, nurses and personnel of military hospitals for their selfless work.
Our deepest gratitude goes to you for saving every life, often regardless of yourself under the bombing on the front lines. Comrades, Soldiers and Officers from many regions of our immense Homeland, including those who came directly from the Donbass, from the combat area, are now shoulder to shoulder here on Red Square. We remember how the enemies of Russia tried to use international terrorist gangs against us, how they tried to sow inter-ethnic and religious conflicts in order to weaken us from within and divide us. They have failed completely.
Today, our armed soldiers of different ethnicities fight together, protecting each other from bullets and shrapnel, like brothers. This is where the power of Russia resides, a great invincible power of our united and multi-ethnic nation.
Today stand up for what your fathers, grandparents, and great-grandparents fought for. The well-being and safety of their homeland was their top priority in life. Loyalty to our homeland is the main value and a reliable basis of Russia's independence for us and their successors as well. Those who crushed Nazism during the Great Patriotic War showed us an example of heroism for all ages. This is the generation of winners, and we will admire them forever.
Glory to our heroic Armed Forces! For Russia! For victory