Russian TV cuts off Vladimir Putin mid-speech during major Moscow rally

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Reports in Russian media suggested that thousands of people had been bused in to attend the last-minute concert at the Luzhniki stadium.

State TV showed rapturous crowds chanting “Russia! Russia!” and waving Russian flags.

The event was in support of the Russian army in Ukraine and to mark the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 through a hastily held referendum.

In his speech, Putind Crimeans for choosing Russia and said the war in Ukraine was to protect Russian speakers in the country’s east, which has been mired in a Moscow-fuelled separatist insurgency for the past eight years.

“To free people from that suffering, from that genocide – that was the main reason, the main motive and goal of the military operation that we launched in the Donbass and Ukraine.”

He added: “We know what we need to do, how to do it and at what cost. And we will absolutely accomplish all of our plans.”

He said the soldiers fighting in what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine had illustrated the unity of Russia.

“Shoulder to shoulder, they help each other, support each other and when needed they shield each other from bullets with their bodies like brothers. Such unity we have not had for a long time,” he said.

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