As Russia marked the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germanyin World War II, President Vladimir Putin led a pared-down Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square due to what Russia called "security considerations".
In his speech, Putin wielded the historical significance of the day to justify his invasion of Ukraine, while levelling accusations against the "Western globalist elites" for inciting conflicts.
Addressing the troops fighting in Ukraine, he claimed a "real war" had been "unleashed" against Russia.
The typically lengthy parade was shortened, and the customary military flypast was omitted. No modern tanks, a usual highlight of the event, were showcased. Instead, the solitary tank was the vintage T-34, a symbol of World War II. For the first time since 2020, the event was attended by a handful of international leaders.
Below is the full text transcript in English of his speech independently translated from the original speech in Russian (In Russia they refer to the Russia-Ukraine War as a special military operation):
Vladimir Putin: Dear citizens of Russia!
Dear veterans!
Comrade soldiers and sailors, sergeants and foremen, midshipmen and ensigns!
Comrade officers, generals and admirals!
Fighters and commanders are participants in a special military operation!
I congratulate you on Victory Day!
Happy holiday - in honor of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who glorified and immortalized their names, having defended the Fatherland. At the cost of immeasurable courage and huge sacrifices, they saved humanity from Nazism.
Today, civilization is once again at a decisive, turning point. A real war has once again been unleashed against our Motherland, but we have repulsed international terrorism, we will also protect the inhabitants of Donbass, and ensure our security.
For us, for Russia, there are no unfriendly, hostile peoples either in the West or in the East. Like the vast majority of people on the planet, we want to see a future of peace, freedom and stability.
We believe that any ideology of superiority is inherently disgusting, criminal and deadly. However, the Western globalist elites still talk about their exclusivity, pit people and split societies, provoke bloody conflicts and upheavals, sow hatred, Russophobia, aggressive nationalism, and destroy family, traditional values that make a person a person. And all in order to continue to dictate, to impose on the peoples their will, their rights, rules, and in fact, a system of robbery, violence and suppression.
They seem to have forgotten what the insane claims of the Nazis for world domination led to. They forgot who defeated this monstrous, total evil, who stood up as a wall for their native land and did not spare their lives for the sake of the liberation of the peoples of Europe.
We see how, in a number of countries, memorials to Soviet soldiers are ruthlessly and cold-bloodedly destroyed, monuments to great commanders are being demolished, a real cult of the Nazis and their accomplices is being created, and the memory of true heroes is being erased and slandered. Such desecration of the feat and victims of the victorious generation is also a crime, an outright revanchism of those who cynically and openly prepared a new campaign against Russia, who gathered neo-Nazi scum from all over the world for this.
Their goal - and there is nothing new here - is to achieve the collapse and destruction of our country, cross out the results of the Second World War, finally break the system of global security and international law, and strangle any sovereign centers of development.
Exorbitant ambitions, arrogance and permissiveness inevitably turn into tragedies. This is precisely the reason for the catastrophe that the Ukrainian people are now experiencing. He became a hostage of the coup d'état and the criminal regime of his Western masters that had developed on its basis, a bargaining chip in the implementation of their cruel, selfish plans.
For us in Russia, the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland is sacred, we keep it in our hearts. We pay tribute to the members of the Resistance who bravely fought against Nazism, to the soldiers of the allied armies of the USA, Great Britain and other states. We remember and honor the feat of Chinese soldiers in the battle against Japanese militarism.
I am convinced that the experience of solidarity and partnership during the years of fighting a common threat is our invaluable heritage. A strong support right now, when an irreversible movement towards a more just multipolar world based on the principles of trust and indivisible security, equal opportunities for the original and free development of all countries and peoples is gaining momentum.
It is very important that the leaders of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States have gathered here in Moscow today. I see in this a grateful attitude to the feat of our ancestors: they fought together and won together - all the peoples of the USSR contributed to the common Victory.
We will always remember this. We bow our heads before the bright memory of all whose lives were taken by the war, before the memory of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends.
A moment of silence is announced.
(Moment of silence.)
Dear citizens of Russia!
The battles that decide the fate of our Motherland have always become domestic, popular and sacred. We are faithful to the precepts of our ancestors, deeply and clearly understand what it means to be worthy of the height of their military, labor and moral achievements.
We are proud of the participants in the special military operation, everyone who fights on the front line, who provides the front under fire, and rescues the wounded. There is no more important thing now than your combat work. The security of the country rests on you today, the future of our statehood and our people depends on you. You are honorably fulfilling your military duty, fighting for Russia. Behind you are your families, children, friends. They are waiting for you. I am sure you feel their boundless love.
The whole country rallied to support our heroes. Everyone is ready to help, pray for you.
Comrades! Friends! Dear veterans!
Today, in each of our families, participants in the Great Patriotic War are honored, their relatives, their heroes are remembered, and flowers are laid at military memorials.
We are standing on Red Square, on the land that remembers the combatants of Yuri Dolgoruky and Dmitry Donskoy, the militiamen of Minin and Pozharsky, the soldiers of Peter the Great and Kutuzov, the parades of 1941 and 1945.
Today, participants in a special military operation here are regular servicemen and those who joined the ranks of the Armed Forces during partial mobilization, these are fighters from the Luhansk and Donetsk corps, many volunteer combat formations, employees of the National Guard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and other special services and departments.
Greetings, friends! I greet everyone who is fighting for Russia on the battlefield, who is now on a combat post.
During the Great Patriotic War, our heroic ancestors proved that there is nothing stronger, more powerful and more reliable than our unity. There is nothing in the world stronger than our love for the Motherland.
For Russia! For our valiant Armed Forces! For victory!
Hooray!
