Members of Russia's Communist party carry banners and flags, including the
flag of the self-declared "People's Republic of Donetsk" (C), during a May Day
rally in Moscow May 1, 2014.
Posted on 05/01/2014 2:04:50 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era on Thursday, with workers holding banners proclaiming support for President Vladimir Putin after the seizure of territory from neighboring Ukraine.
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, such as "Peace, Labour, May". But others were more directly political, alluding to the crisis in neighboring former Soviet republic Ukraine, where Russian troops 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.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, where a number of government buildings in the east of the country have been seized by armed groups in favor of splitting from Ukraine to join Russia, the security situation deteriorated further.
Pro-Russian protesters stormed the prosecutor's office in the separatist-held city of Donetsk, lobbing stones and smashing windows after accusing the office of working for the Western-backed government in Kiev, which came to power in February when the previous Moscow-backed president was toppled after months of street protests.
Rebels in Donetsk, capital of a province of about 4 million people at the center of the uprising across Ukraine's industrial heartland, have declared a "People's Republic of Donetsk" and called a referendum on secession for May 11, undercutting a planned presidential election in Ukraine two weeks later.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.reuters.com ...
It’s surreal to watch it all happening again.
Imagine life on earth without vermin like Putin or Obama or the mindless zealots who fall for their tired old totalitarian game.
Throughout history its been shown that people are inspired by strong decisive leadership. One side, for better or worse, has such leadership, the other simply does not.
Yes, there are a lot of red flags, with just as many white blue and red flags.
Nice picture! I hope all the FReepers who’ve been supporting the Russian soldiers, er, ‘rebels’, in Eastern Ukraine are seeing the true colors of who they’ve been supporting!
“this appears to be mostly civilian and veteran participation.”
an article from a couple of month’s ago noted that thr Russian revival of May Day was going to be more like a Veterans Day, than a military day.
I Googled images for: “Russian 2014 May Day Parade” and researched all images of military hardware and troop formations. All were from 2007, 2006 and on down, except the tricolor flyover. Didn’t have time to do more.
Army and tanks couln’t march. They are all on the border with Ukaine. They plan to parade in Kiev in the future.
Russian flags and Communist flags go hand in hand.
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