MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Russia’s military and law enforcement agencies took crucial streps to protect the people's safety at the time of an attempted armed insurgency and effectively saved the country from civil war, Russian President Vladimir Putin told soldiers and other law enforcement personnel who played a key role in recent events.
"You have protected the constitutional order, the lives, the security and freedom of our citizens. You saved our homeland from turmoil, and actually stopped civil war. In a dramatic situation you acted clearly and coherently, proved your loyalty to the people of Russia and the military oath and displayed responsibility for the fate of the Motherland and its future," Putin said.
In the historic Cathedral Square of Moscow’s Kremlin, he stressed, there have gathered servicemen of Russia’s Armed Forces, Rosgvardiya, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Interior Ministry, the Federal Guard Service, soldiers and officers, "real defenders of the Fatherland, who, at a difficult moment for the country, together with their comrades-in-arms stood in the way of disorder, which would have inevitably led to chaos."
The president drew attention to the fact these units of the Defense Ministry, the Russian national guard Rosgvardiya, and officers of the Interior Ministry and special services "ensured the reliable operation of the most important control centers, strategic facilities, including defense facilities, the security of border regions, the strength of the rear of the armed forces and all combat units, which continued to fight heroically at the frontline."
"We did not have to relocate combat units from the special operation zone," Putin stressed.