Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the Victory Parade on Red Square. TASS publishes the full text of his speech.
Dear citizens of Russia!
Dear veterans!
Comrades soldiers and sailors, sergeants and petty officers, midshipmen and warrant officers!
Comrades officers, generals and admirals!
I congratulate you on the Great Victory Day!
Defense of the Motherland when its destiny was being decided has always been sacred. With such a sense of genuine patriotism the workers of Minin and Pozharsky's militia went up for the Motherland, fought the enemy at Borodino, near Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk, Stalingrad and Kursk, Sevastopol and Kharkov.
And so now, these days, you are fighting for our people in Donbass. For the safety of our homeland - Russia.
May 9, 1945, is forever inscribed in world history as the triumph of our united Soviet people, their unity and spiritual power, unparalleled exploits on the front and in the rear.
Victory Day is near and dear to all of us. In Russia there is no family which was not scorched by the Great Patriotic War. The memory of it does not fade. On this day in the endless stream of "Immortal Regiment" there are children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. They carry photographs of their relatives, fallen soldiers who remained forever young and veterans who have already left us.
We are proud of the unconquerable and valiant generation of the victors, we are their heirs, and our duty is to keep the memory of those who crushed the Nazis, who bequeathed us to be vigilant and to do everything to prevent a repetition of the horror of the global war.
And this is why, despite all the disagreements in international relations, Russia has always advocated the creation of a system of equal and indivisible security, a system which is vital for the entire world community.
Last December we proposed concluding a treaty on security guarantees. Russia urged the West to engage in honest dialogue, to seek sensible, compromise solutions and to take account of each other's interests. All in vain. The NATO countries did not want to hear us, which means that in fact they had completely different plans. And we saw it.
Preparations were openly underway for another punitive operation in Donbas, for an invasion of our historic lands, including Crimea. Kiev was announcing the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons. The NATO bloc began the active military development of the territories adjacent to ours.
Thus, an absolutely unacceptable threat to us was being systematically created, right on our borders. Everything said that a clash with the neo-Nazis, the Banderites, on whom the US and its junior companions had staked, would be inevitable.
Again, we saw the military infrastructure unfolding, hundreds of foreign advisers starting to work, and regular deliveries of the most advanced weapons from NATO countries. The danger was growing by the day.
Russia gave a preemptive response to the aggression. It was a forced, timely and the only correct decision. The decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country.
The United States, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, started talking about its exceptionalism, humiliating not only the rest of the world, but also its satellites, who pretended not to notice anything and accepted it all obediently.
But we are a different country. Russia has a different character. We will never give up our love of our homeland, our faith and traditional values, the customs of our ancestors, our respect for all peoples and cultures.
And in the West, it appears that they have decided to abolish these millennial values. Such moral degradation became the basis for cynical falsifications of the history of World War II, inciting Russophobia, praising traitors, mocking the memory of their victims, crossing out the courage of those who gained and suffered the Victory.
We know that American veterans who wanted to come to the parade in Moscow were actually prohibited from doing so. But I want them to know that we are proud of your exploits, your contribution to the common victory.
We honor all the soldiers of the Allied armies - Americans, British, French - participants in the Resistance, brave soldiers and partisans of China - all who defeated Nazism and militarism.
Dear comrades!
Today the Donbass militia, together with the soldiers of the Russian Army, are fighting on their land, where Sviatoslav and Vladimir Monomakh, Rumyantsev and Potemkin soldiers, Suvorov and Brusilov soldiers, where the heroes of the Great Patriotic War - Nikolay Vatutin, Sidor Kovpak and Lyudmila Pavlichenko stood to the death, defeated the enemy.
I now address our Armed Forces and the Donbass militia. You are fighting for the Motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the World War II. So that there is no place in the world for executioners, punishers and Nazis.
Today we bow our heads before the memory of all those who lost their lives in the Great Patriotic War, our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends.
We bow our heads to the memory of the martyrs of Odessa, who were burned alive in a Trade Union House in May 2014. We bow to the memory of the elderly, women and children of Donbass, civilians who died from ruthless shelling and barbaric strikes by neo-Nazis. We bow our heads to our comrades-in-arms, who died the death of the brave in a righteous battle - for Russia.
A moment of silence is declared.
The death of each of our soldiers and officers is a grief for all of us and an irreplaceable loss for relatives and friends. The state, regions, enterprises and public organizations will do everything to surround such families with care and help them. We shall give special support to the children of fallen and wounded comrades-in-arms. A presidential decree to that effect has been signed today.
I wish the wounded soldiers and officers a speedy recovery. And I thank doctors, paramedics, nurses and medical staff at military hospitals for their selfless work. We bow down before you for fighting for every life - often under fire, at the front line, not sparing yourselves.
Dear comrades!
Now here on Red Square, soldiers and officers from many regions of our vast Motherland, including those who came directly from Donbass, directly from the combat zone, are standing shoulder to shoulder.
We remember how Russia's enemies tried to use gangs of international terrorists against us, sought to sow national and religious enmity in order to weaken and split us from within. Nothing worked.
Today our fighters of different nationalities are together in battle, covering each other from bullets and shrapnel like brothers.
And this is the strength of Russia, the great, indestructible strength of our united multinational people.
Today, you defend what your fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought for. The highest meaning of their lives has always been the well-being and security of our homeland. And for us, their heirs, devotion to the Fatherland is the principal value, the reliable pillar of Russia's independence.
Those who crushed Nazism during the Great Patriotic War, showed us an example of heroism for all time. This is the generation of winners, and we shall always look up to them.
Glory to our valiant Armed Forces!
For Russia! For Victory!
Hoorah!
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS