MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. Servicemen who arrived directly from the combat zone in Donbass are taking part in the Victory Parade on Moscow’s Red Square, Russian President Vladimir Putin said ahead of the military parade on Monday.
"Now soldiers and officers from many regions of our big country, including those who arrived directly from Donbass, directly from the combat zone, are now standing shoulder to shoulder on Red Square here," Putin said.
"We remember how enemies of Russia tried to use gangs of international terrorists against us, sought to incite national and religious strife to weaken and split us from inside. But these attempts failed," the Russian president stressed.
Now, Russian servicemen of various nationalities are shielding each other from bullets and shell fragments in combat like bothers, Putin said.
"And this represents the strength of Russia, the great and unbreakable strength of our unified multinational people. Today you are defending what our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers fought for. The well-being and security of the Motherland had always been the highest meaning of life for them. And for us, their heirs, devotion to the Fatherland is the main value, a reliable backbone of Russia’s independence," he pointed out.
"Those who crushed Nazism during the years of the Great Patriotic War showed us an example of heroism for all times. This is the generation of victors and we will always follow their example," the head of state emphasized.