President Vladimir Putin congratulated all Russians on Russia Day, emphasizing that the country's history, filled with great glory, was being created in the vast expanses from Kaliningrad to the Kuril Islands, from the North to the Crimea.
On Friday, the head of state took part in the ceremony of raising the Russian flag on Poklonnaya hill, after which he awarded the Heroes of Labor. He began his speech at the ceremony by congratulating all Russian citizens and compatriots abroad, "all for whom this day [June 12] is filled with holy meaning."
"For each of us, the Motherland is a family and a father's home, a native land from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, from the Northern Arctic seas to Sevastopol and the Crimea. Our thousand-year history was built on these vast expanses, filled with pages of great glory and pride, the unsurpassed courage of our ancestors, their faith and love for the Fatherland," Putin said.
According to him, the sense of homeland has always helped the people of Russia to go through adversity, to withstand and save themselves in severe challenges, to respond to them.
Russia Day is a public holiday celebrated annually on June 12. On this day in 1990, the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Russia, which affirmed equal legal opportunities for all citizens, political parties and public organizations; the principle of separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers; the need to significantly expand the rights of the autonomous republics, regions, districts, territories of Russia.
According to TASS \ RIA Novosti
Photo: official website of the President of Russia