Might we someday see Czar Putin the Terrible? Russians appear to regressing:
Russia Marks Independence From Soviets
Saturday, 12-Jun-2004 Story from AP
Performers dressed in historical march in a parade marking the Day of Russia on Red Square with St. Basil Cathedral in the background, in Moscow, Saturday, June 12, 2004. Formerly known as Independence Day, the holiday marks the Russian parliament's June 12, 1990, declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) [Photo copyright 2004 by AP]
Associated Press/AP Online
MOSCOW - Dancers twirled and soldiers in period uniforms stomped through Red Square under a massive two-headed eagle - the revived czarist national symbol - as the country celebrated itself Saturday with an elaborate parade marking the Day of Russia.
An audience - including Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first post-Soviet president - watched as young men and women carrying white, red and blue banners spread out in the sun-drenched square outside the Kremlin, forming two giant Russian flags.
Performers in colorful local costumes representing the Russian Federation's 89 regions danced and bowed before the grandstand where Yeltsin's successor, President Vladimir Putin, declared the multitude of nationalities unified behind the Kremlin leadership.
"We together are responsible for the fate of Russia, and hand in hand are building a free and democratic power," Putin said. "Together we want to see our country as an influential and advanced world state."
Formerly known as Independence Day, the holiday marks the Russian parliament's June 12, 1990, declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union. Yeltsin, who led Russia's independence drive and was elected president on the same day in 1991, created the holiday 11 years ago.
But Russia's independence meant the breakup of the Soviet Union - an event most Russians regret and Putin recently called an enormous national tragedy. Thus, the holiday has been renamed and transformed into a celebration of Russia itself and the fragile unity of the huge, ethnically diverse country.
As the show started at noon under an almost cloudless sky, an announcer on state-run Rossiya television, which broadcast it live, said the day celebrated Russia as a "unified, multiethnic, unitary state."
Putin invoked the "thousand-year unity of the peoples of Russia" - a country still marred by war against separatists in Chechnya - and boasted of improvements in the nation's economy and international standing.
"We have united and strengthened the country, raised its economic potential and strengthened the international position of our state," said Putin, re-elected in March to a second four-year term.
Echoing statements he has made in other recent speeches, Putin stressed the need for a "strong and influential civil society," saying that "we have chosen the values of patriotism, freedom and democracy" and that "the better the rights of citizens are protected, the stronger Russia's statehood will be."
The popular leader's critics say he has strengthened state control over society, stifling dissent and presiding during a series of biased election campaigns that have set back democracy.
After the costumed troupes from the far-flung regions of Russia performed ethnic dances, soldiers in uniforms from several periods of Russia's war-filled history - from Czar Peter the Great to the present day - paraded on the square. "Let's remember the great history of the Russian army," the announcer said.
While the symbols were Russian - the two-headed eagle, the tricolor flag, the celebration was in the grandiose style of Soviet holidays, when huge parades pass through Red Square in front of the leaders of the country.
On the grandstands and viewing areas in front of the mausoleum where Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's body still lies on display, Russian officials sat with leading cultural and sports figures. Security was tight, with a large area surrounding the Kremlin and Red Square cordoned off to all but participants and invited guests. |
