Putin addresses thousands of flag-waving Russians at rally celebrating Ukraine invasion anniversary

Vladimir Putin addressed thousands of Russians today at a rally celebrating the anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine. 

Tens of thousands of Russians enthusiastically waved national flags in Moscow’s World Cup stadium and chanted ‘Russia’ in a patriotic display of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine as Putin spoke – or so he hoped it would seem. 

In reality, the Russian attendees complained they have been forced to attend the pro-war rally at the Luzhniki stadium, which has a capacity of 81,000, to celebrate the anniversary of Putin’s invasion. 

State government employees said they were forced to attend the rally and university students were told they wouldn’t have to attend lessons for the day if they went to the propaganda-filled show.

Putin attended the rally and made a speech to the crowd of ‘supporters’ – a year after he took to the same stage dressed in a £10,000 Loro Piana jacket to peddle debunked claims about why the war in Ukraine started.

Putin hailed Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine during a rally in Moscow on Wednesday, calling on the crowds to chant ‘Russia, Russia’ to show their support for those he said were defending the ‘fatherland’.

‘They fight heroically, courageously, bravely. We are proud of them,’ Putin said at the ‘Glory to Defenders of the Fatherland’ event, held on the eve of Russia’s February 23 holiday celebrating those who serve in the armed forces. 

Putin insisted the whole country stood behind the Russian soldiers waging the war – seemingly forgetting anti-war protests that his police officers have cracked down on. 

‘Today they are supported by the whole country,’ Putin said of Russian forces in Ukraine, adding he had just been updated by military chiefs on the situation at the front. ‘When we are together, we have no equal. To the unity of the Russian people.’   

He was met with chants of ‘Russia, Russia, Russia.’ 

The audience, waving Russian flags, braved cold winter temperatures of -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit), to come watch patriotic performances and speeches. 

The Russian leader continued to peddle a false narrative about how Russia was fighting for its ‘historical’ lands in Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, organisers brought on stage children from the Ukrainian Donbas, including from the port city of Mariupol, which was devastated by a long siege before Russia captured it.

Ukraine has accused Russia of kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children from territories it controls, something Moscow has denied, insisting it organised legal adoptions.

While Putin would have hoped the world would have believed that the tens of thousands of flag-bearing Russians had flocked to the stadium in genuine support for him – that was far from the truth.

Employees at a government building in Moscow said 70 per cent of them had been forced to attend the rally, according to internal correspondence seen by The Moscow Times. 

‘To be honest, I think it’s absurd. We have to go and there’s nothing we can do with it.

‘The authorities are using it as a propaganda tool to show off in the eyes of Z-patriots and those who watch TV. I wouldn’t go to the event voluntarily,’ a state employee told the newspaper.

Russians were also promised 500 roubles (£5.54) each if they attended Putin’s speech, according to flyers published on Telegram.

One flyer told students they would be given university credits and ‘free food and gifts’ if they attended, while another said they wouldn’t have to attend lessons for the whole day.

For those who did attend, they complained about how ‘bad’ the organisation process behind the event was.

‘I think that the organization is bad, they gave us a couple of buses, but there were a lot of people and we had to stay inside those buses. I had to get up at 5 a.m. to get to the stadium,’ a woman in her 50s from the Moscow region told The Moscow Times.

‘They mobilised 300,000 people, and they say 200,000 should be here, can you imagine?’ she added, while holding a banner with a photo of Putin on it. 

‘I didn’t really want to go to the concert, but at least I’ll visit the stadium, I’ve never been there,’ a man in his 50s said. 

Air defence systems were also set up set up above the stadium in the latest sign that Putin fears a direct strike from Ukraine.

The Pantsyr S-1 self-propelled system was placed on the Vorobyovy Hills observation point above the Luzhniki stadium and there was a heavy police presence on the ground.

Earlier, a grinning Putin today met with China’s top diplomat in Moscow as the pair vowed ‘other countries will not influence our relations’ in a jibe at the United States.

The Russian despot smiled as he shook hands with Wang Yi inside the Kremlin today during their impromptu meeting – proudly showcasing his deepening ties with China amid his barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

Putin told Wang, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official, that he looked forward to President Xi Jinping visiting him in Moscow. 

The Russian President said ties between Russia and Beijing are important to ‘stabilise the international situation’ amid crippling Western sanctions against Moscow in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago.

The pair insisted that relations between Russia and China could not be influenced by other countries in a two-fingered salute to the West and Ukrainians.