May 9 (BBC News Ukraine) President Vladimir Putin is making his first visit to Crimea since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in March. He told crowds marking the 1945 Soviet victory over the Nazis
that Crimea had shown loyalty to a "historical truth" in choosing to be
part of Russia.
In the Crimean port of Sevastopol, Mr Putin thanked the armed forces
for their role in World War Two and hailed the incorporation of the
peninsula into the Russian Federation. He watched a fly-by of Russian aircraft and addressed seamen
on naval vessels, as crowds gathered on cliffs overlooking the harbour. He said: "I am sure that 2014 will go into the annals of our
whole country as the year when the nations living here firmly decided to
be together with Russia, affirming fidelity to the historical truth and
the memory of our ancestors."
The BBC's Daniel Sandford in Sevastopol says Mr Putin was
treated as a conquering hero as he walked through the main square and
shook hands with Crimeans. Mr Putin earlier addressed thousands during a huge, hour-long
military parade in Moscow's Red Square, vowing to defend the
"motherland". He told the crowd that 9 May, known as Victory Day in Russia,
was a "day of grief and eternal memory" and stressed how the "iron will
of the Soviet people" had saved Europe from slavery.
0 comments:
Post a Comment