Posted on 06/12/2004 7:32:32 PM PDT by Destro
Russia Marks Independence From Soviets
Sat Jun 12,11:42 AM ET
By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press Writer
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 (news - web sites), 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 (news - web sites) — 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.
Russia Day : Russian bikers celebrate the Russia Day in Moscow's bike club. (AFP/Denis Sinyakov) 
An honor guard soldier marches during celebrations marking the Day of Russia on Dvortsovaya Square in St.Petersburg, Russia, 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/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) speaks during festivities in Red Square in Moscow, June 12, 2004. The holiday, mostly commonly known among Russians as 'Independence Day' marks the adoption by the parliament in 1990 of the declaration of Russia's sovereignty and the affirmation that its laws took precedence over those of the Soviet Union. Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
Performers dressed in historical costumes seen during a parade marking the Day of Russia on Red Square with a coat of arms depicting Russia's two-headed eagle symbol 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)
President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) heads to his place to watch celebrations marking the Day of Russia on Red Square 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)
President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) greets former President Boris Yeltsin, right, and his wife Naina, center, during celebrations marking the Day of Russia on Red Square with Kremlin's Spassky Tower 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. Yeltsin, who led Russia's independence drive and was elected president in June 1991, created the holiday the following year. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
A very momentous date, June 12th -- President Reagan's makes his historic "Tear Down that Wall" speech in Berlin, and Russia separates from the old Soviet Union three years to the day thereafter.
Unlike Gorbachev's recent take on the end of the Cold War, it seems more likely to have been a win-win situation for all of Europe...
declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union. What the hell kind of revisionist history is this? Russia was the head of the Soviet Union no? The occupied satellites left the Soviet Union in droves and Russia is what's left of it all if my memory serves me correctly.
"On the grandstands and viewing areas in front of the mausoleum where Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's body still lies on display,..."
Mr. Putin, bury that body. Mr. Putin, build a monument to the murdered Czar Nicholas Romanov and his entire innocent, brutally butchered family.
Mr. Putin, work with America to destroy a common menace and threat - International Islamofascism and make Russia a great nation again.
Memory does not serve you correctly. An analogous situation in the United States would be if all fifty of the states seceded from the federal government. The latter body could still meet in Washington DC, but would be powerless. In 1990, the nation of Russia declared that it was no longer part of the "Soviet Union" which had its seat at Moscow. As Russia was by far the biggest and most important member of that Union, it was a fatal blow. The Soviet Union dissolved its sovereign existence at the end of 1991. Russia is not "what's left" of the Soviet Union; you're confusing the modern nation of Russia with the Russian Empire as it existed before 1917.
You did not know that the USSR's leaders were not always Russian? Stalin was a Georgian after all.
Putin said that no one with a heart could be happy about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
And Khruschev was Ukrainian.
A statement you take out of context.
There was never a separate Russian Communist Party. Russians were dominant in the Soviet Union but they resented the drain the empire had on them. Much of the nostalgia for the Soviet Union in present-day Russia is less an affection for Communism than a sense of loss of the country's former superpower status.
Oh, and admit that they stole extremely sensitive information from the British Ministry of Silly Walks during the Cold War.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
