Moscow’s first May Day parade since Soviet-era lauds Putin
2 May 2014 11:30 PM GMT
Thousands of trade unionists marched with Russian flags and flags of Putin’s ruling United Russia party onto the giant square beneath the Kremlin walls, past the red granite mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin.
Many banners displayed traditional slogans for the annual workers’ holiday, like: ‘Peace, Labour, May’. But others were more directly political, alluding to the crisis in neighbouring former Soviet republic Ukraine, where Russian troops seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula in March, precipitating the biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War. ‘I am proud of my country,’ read one. ‘Putin is right,’ said another.
Unlike Kremlin leaders in Soviet times, Putin did not personally preside at the parade from atop the mausoleum. But he carried out another Soviet-era tradition by awarding ‘Hero of Labour’ medals to five workers at a ceremony in the Kremlin. He revived the Stalin-era award a year ago. Putin has described the breakup of the Soviet Union as a tragedy and overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy in March by declaring Russia’s right to intervene in former Soviet countries to protect Russian speakers.
Laws have been changed to make it easier for Russia to annex territory from other former Soviet states and for inhabitants of other parts of the old Soviet Union to get Russian citizenship. Since the annexation of Crimea, pro-Moscow gunmen have seized territory in eastern Ukraine and Putin has massed tens of thousands of troops on the frontier. He denies he is planning an invasion but proclaims the right to launch one if necessary to defend Russian speakers.
May Day, always an important date in the Soviet calendar and still a major holiday for Russians, has been marked by rallies in other parts of Moscow since the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991, but until now parades were kept off Red Square.
PATRIOTIC UPLIFT
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin told Rossiya 24 TV from Red Square that more than 100,000 people had marched through it. ‘This is not by chance, because there is a patriotic uplift and a good mood in the country,’ he said. Russian television also showed footage of a May Day parade in Crimea’s capital Simferopol, with Russian flags and banners reading ‘Crimea is Russia. Welcome home.’
‘We are sure that the current patriotic uplift in Crimea will spill over into the whole Russian Federation,’ Interfax news agency quoted Crimea’s pro-Moscow leader Sergei Aksyonov as telling journalists. Russia seized the peninsula last month after a pro-Russian Ukrainian president was toppled in February. The United States and European Union accuse Moscow of directing the uprising in south-eastern parts of Ukraine and have imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and companies.
The sanctions, while not hitting Russia’s industry directly, have hurt the economy by scaring investors into pulling out capital.
Many banners displayed traditional slogans for the annual workers’ holiday, like: ‘Peace, Labour, May’. But others were more directly political, alluding to the crisis in neighbouring former Soviet republic Ukraine, where Russian troops seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula in March, precipitating the biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War. ‘I am proud of my country,’ read one. ‘Putin is right,’ said another.
Unlike Kremlin leaders in Soviet times, Putin did not personally preside at the parade from atop the mausoleum. But he carried out another Soviet-era tradition by awarding ‘Hero of Labour’ medals to five workers at a ceremony in the Kremlin. He revived the Stalin-era award a year ago. Putin has described the breakup of the Soviet Union as a tragedy and overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy in March by declaring Russia’s right to intervene in former Soviet countries to protect Russian speakers.
Laws have been changed to make it easier for Russia to annex territory from other former Soviet states and for inhabitants of other parts of the old Soviet Union to get Russian citizenship. Since the annexation of Crimea, pro-Moscow gunmen have seized territory in eastern Ukraine and Putin has massed tens of thousands of troops on the frontier. He denies he is planning an invasion but proclaims the right to launch one if necessary to defend Russian speakers.
May Day, always an important date in the Soviet calendar and still a major holiday for Russians, has been marked by rallies in other parts of Moscow since the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991, but until now parades were kept off Red Square.
PATRIOTIC UPLIFT
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin told Rossiya 24 TV from Red Square that more than 100,000 people had marched through it. ‘This is not by chance, because there is a patriotic uplift and a good mood in the country,’ he said. Russian television also showed footage of a May Day parade in Crimea’s capital Simferopol, with Russian flags and banners reading ‘Crimea is Russia. Welcome home.’
‘We are sure that the current patriotic uplift in Crimea will spill over into the whole Russian Federation,’ Interfax news agency quoted Crimea’s pro-Moscow leader Sergei Aksyonov as telling journalists. Russia seized the peninsula last month after a pro-Russian Ukrainian president was toppled in February. The United States and European Union accuse Moscow of directing the uprising in south-eastern parts of Ukraine and have imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and companies.
The sanctions, while not hitting Russia’s industry directly, have hurt the economy by scaring investors into pulling out capital.
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