The headline of the rally in celebration of the annexation of Crimea, which was held last Friday at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech.
The two elements of Putin’s address to draw the international media’s attention were the Russian president’s appearance — he was wearing a Loro Piana jacket worth $14,000 — and a glitch in the broadcast by state television which saw the channel cut Putin’s speech short before abruptly switching to highlights of patriotic songs performed earlier in the day. The Kremlin called the incident a “technical failure.”
It is a shame that most of the journalists reporting on this ceremony have completely ignored what the Russian leader was conveying to millions of viewers tuning in across Russia, as well as to the audience in the stadium itself.
The most important moment in his speech turned out to be the use of a passage from the Gospel of St. John, which Putin appropriated as an excuse and justification for his country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Putin believes that Russian soldiers are doing just that by following the orders during their “special” mission to Ukraine.
Frankly, it would be difficult to find a better example of utter travesty. Using the Christ’s teachings in the Bible to justify the brutal and unprovoked aggression of a neighbor country; the bombing of civilian facilities: hospitals, schools, orphanages; the mass murder of unarmed children, women and the elderly.
Those acts have been compared to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and all the other martyrs, who gave their lives for their friends. The Kremlin criminal equated a genocide with the greatest act of love one could ever give or receive, and the masses gathered in the stadium showed their support and applauded him as he did it.
The devil portrayed in the Bible is very well-educated and uses his knowledge to tempt Jesus while he is in the desert. However, even he would be ashamed to listen to Vladimir Putin telling lies to trick others during the speech in Luzhniki Stadium.
