On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine in front of a raucous soccer stadium, but his statement on national television was abruptly cut short due to a technical issue with a server, according to the Kremlin.
Putin promised tens of thousands of people waving Russian flags and screaming “Russia, Russia, Russia” on a stage in the heart of Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium that the Kremlin’s goals will be realised.
“We understand what we need to do, how to do it, and how much it will cost. “And we will undoubtedly carry out all of our objectives,” Putin, 69, said from a stage adorned with banners such as “For a world without Nazism” and “For our President.”.
Many of the Russian rally slogans included the “Z” sign, which Russian soldiers have employed in Ukraine as a motif. “Za Putina” – “for Putin” – was written on one of the signs.
Putin, dressed in a turtleneck and a coat, said the soldiers fighting in Ukraine’s “special military operation” have proved Russia’s unity.
“They stand shoulder to shoulder, helping, supporting, and shielding each other from bullets with their bodies, as if they were brothers. We haven’t seen such unity in a long time “Putin stated the following.
State television moved away from his statement in the middle of a sentence to display earlier pre-recorded video of patriotic music, although he eventually returned on state television.
According to the RIA news agency, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said state television abruptly broke away from Putin due to a technical failure on a server.
Thunderstorms
Putin claims that the operation in Ukraine was vital because the US was using Ukraine to threaten Russia, and Russia needed to defend itself against Ukraine’s “genocide” of Russian-speaking people.
Ukraine believes it is battling for its survival and dismisses Putin’s charges of genocide. Claims that the West wants to pull Russia apart are false, according to the West.
Before Putin spoke, the powerful national song of Russia, with the lines “Russia is our holy state,” blared from the stands of the 2018 Soccer World Cup stadium, along with more modern musical favourites like “Made in the Soviet Union.”
Lyube, Putin’s favourite Russian band, sang patriotic songs about combat, sacrifice, and the honour of Russian soldiers.
Fyodor Tyutchev’s Pan-Slavist poetry was read, with poems warning Russians that they will always be considered Enlightenment slaves by Europeans.
Russia no longer has any illusions about ever relying on the West, and Moscow will never accept an international system dominated by the US, which is acting like a sheriff trying to call all the shots in a saloon bar, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Putin invoked Russia’s 18th century naval captain Fyodor Ushakov as US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the Ukraine crisis.
“He once said that these thunderstorms will bring Russia glory,” Putin said. “That is the way it was then, that is the way it is now and it will always be that way.”
