President Vladimir Putin used the pomp and circumstance of Russia's World War II Victory Day military parade Tuesday in Red Square to warn neo-Nazis and other nationalist extremists that they faced a "dead end" and must not be tolerated in Russia.
"Those who are again trying to raise the defeated flags of Nazism, who sow ethnic hatred, extremism and xenophobia, are leading the world to a dead end, to thoughtless bloodshed and cruelty," Putin said in a brief speech at the start of the massive military parade. "For this reason, the defeat of fascism must be a lesson and a warning against the irreversibility of vengeance." Putin said solidarity of the peoples of the world in the face of today's threats to peace was a "decisive, priceless resource. A world of freedom and good-neighborliness among peoples is the stronghold of a just, democratic world order and of global security." |