Moscow - A sea of Russian flags, pro-Kremlin pop stars, and state television unexpectedly cutting President Vladimir Putin mid-speech: Moscow on Friday marked eight years since its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, as its troops advanced further into the country.
Tens of thousands took part in an ultra-patriotic rally at Moscow’s main Luzhniki stadium. Many wore a ribbon with the letter Z, which has become a symbol of support for the Russian army in Ukraine.
The event was heavily anti-Western and filled with Soviet nostalgia, as Russian authorities ramp up patriotism in response to being hit by massive international sanctions for Putin’s Ukraine campaign.
A stage at the centre of the stadium had a banner that read “For a world without Nazism” -- a reference to Putin saying he sent troops to Ukraine to “de-Nazify” the country.
The Russian leader took to the stage to chants of “Russia! Russia! Russia!”. He said Moscow did the right thing in 2014 by “pulling Crimea out of the humiliating state it was in when it was part of another state.”
He claimed Russia had vastly improved the infrastructure of the peninsula -- which has been isolated since the annexation.
Russian troops have entered Ukraine from several directions since Putin sent them in last month, including from Crimea. Putin said that Moscow now aimed to “rid people from their suffering and genocide”.
He invoked the Bible as he praised Russian soldiers, which he said were “heroically” fighting “shoulder to shoulder” in Ukraine.
Then Russian TV cut Putin mid-sentence, switching to showing a clip of patriotic music.
The Kremlin later said it was a technical glitch, and state television proceeded to show Putin’s speech in full and him walking off stage about ten minutes later.
Russian state television is tightly controlled and such interruptions are highly unusual.
Pro-Kremlin pop stars
Patriotic pop stars and the face of Russia’s RT state television channel -- Margarita Simonyan -- took to the stage one by one to back Putin’s actions in Ukraine.