MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the Russian people on Victory Day, celebrated on May 9.
"Dear citizens of Russia, dear war veterans, comrades soldiers and sailors, sergeants and warrant officers, midshipmen and sergeant majors, comrades officers, generals and admirals, I wish you a happy Victory Day!" he said in a speech ahead of a military parade on Moscow’s Red Square.
It will always be a sacred duty to defend the country when its future is at stake, the head of state pointed out. "True love for the country is what guided militiamen led by Minin and Pozharsky, those who attacked the enemy on the field of Borodino and fought the enemy on the outskirts of Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk, Stalingrad and Kursk, Sevastopol and Kharkov," Putin emphasized.