This is Russian
president Vladimir Putin posing
with women dressed in historic
Red Army uniforms ~ it is
very significant,
though we may not understand
it fully
as we
read more reports on
Western media on opposition to
Putin being on the rise
! –
whether one may like him or not, the World's most powerful person for four years
running, Russia's president
has exerted his country's influence in nearly every
corner of the globe;
from the motherland to Syria to the U.S. presidential
elections, Putin
continues to get what he wants. In 2016 Russian hackers were
accused of tapping into
email accounts owned by members of the U.S.
Democratic Party
in a bid to aid the campaign of Donald Trump, who has
regularly praised Putin's
leadership style. The Kremlin denies the charges, and
President-elect Trump
has also dismissed the possibility
of
outsiders tampering in the
election.
Now comes the news that Vladimir Putin visited an agricultural equipment
factory — and quipped that if he were to lose upcoming
elections, he might
choose a new career in farming.
The Russian president reportedly made the
comments while sitting in
a combine
harvester simulator at a Rostselmash
factory in Rostov-on-Don.
You
may not have heard
of ‘Volgograd’ ( an important industrial city
and
the administrative center
of
Volgograd Oblast,
Russia, situated
on the
western bank of the Volga
River, after which the city was named. You may recall it by
connecting to a battle
75 years ago ! a battle often regarded as the largest and
bloodiest battle in the history
of warfare.
The city’s
origin may date back to
1500s
~ over years much water
has flown
on the river Volga. The city
was renamed
Stalingrad after Joseph Stalin in 1925.
This was officially to recognize the city's and Stalin's role in its defense against the Whites between 1918 and 1920. Stalin
is no longer a much sought name !! In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev's administration changed the name of the city to
Volgograd ("Volga City")
as part of his programme of de-Stalinization following Stalin's death, as he was trying to reduce the "cult of personality". To recall,
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin [1878
– 1953]
was a
Soviet revolutionary and political leader of Georgian ethnicity. Governing
the Soviet
Union as its dictator from
the mid-1920s until his death in 1953, he served
as
General Secretary
of
the Central
Committee of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union
from 1922
to 1952
and as
Premier of the Soviet
Union from 1941 to 1953.
The
Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) was a major
confrontation of World
War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in Southern
Russia. Marked by fierce
close quarters combat and direct
assaults on civilians in air
raids, it is often regarded as the single largest (nearly 2.2 million personnel)
and bloodiest (1.7–2 million
killed, wounded or captured) battles
in the
history of warfare. It was an
extremely costly defeat for German
forces, and the Army High
Command had to withdraw vast military
forces from the West to replace their
losses.
The German
offensive to capture Stalingrad began
in August
1942, using the 6th Army and elements
of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by
intensive Luftwaffe bombing
that reduced much of the city to rubble. The
fighting degenerated into house-to-house fighting; both sides poured reinforcements into the city. By mid-November 1942, the Germans had pushed the
Soviet defenders back at great
cost into
narrow zones along the west
bank of the Volga River. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in
Stalingrad had exhausted their
ammunition and food. The remaining
units of the Army surrendered bringing to a close the battle that had lasted more than 5 months.
News from Russia
state that
Russia marked the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Battle of Stalingrad which ended in 1943. The battle lasted 200 days and became a turning point during World War II as the Nazis were defeated.
President Vladimir
Putin attended several ceremonies in Volgograd .. .. the German
defeat in the 200-day long
battle was a pivotal moment
in the
war and
is glorified by Russia as the event that saved Europe from Adolf Hitler and as a symbol
of the
country's resilience.
Putin flew to Volgograd, the
current name of the city,
where he laid flowers and
a wreath at the city's
war memorial Mamayev Kurgan, as well as posed with a group of young women dressed in historic World War II-era
uniforms. He posed for a picture alongside women dressed in historic Red Army uniforms during
commemorations of the 75th anniversary
of the Battle of Stalingrad. He also
attended a military parade
in Volgograd, involving about 1,500 troops,
armoured vehicles and jets flying
over a crowd of spectators bundled up to protect
against the sub-zero temperatures. 'There was no other
such battle
in the
history of mankind,' Putin
told a crowd of veterans he met at the Volgograd
philharmonic for a concert
commemorating the event.
Soviet victory and sacrifice in
the war
has been
increasingly upheld by Moscow in
recent years to stoke patriotism, which 'has practically become a state
ideology,' said a political analyst. He further added
that Moscow
needs positive symbols while
ties with the West are at a post-Cold War low, so dates like war victory anniversaries are used to 'promote the image of a country capable of
accomplishments and defeating all
of its
enemies.'
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
2nd Feb 2018.
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