Putin Praises Armed Forces and Appears in Olympic Stadium

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appeared at the Olympic Luzhniki Stadium in southwestern Moscow to praise the armed forces for their “special military operation” in Ukraine.

He appeared at a concert being held at the stadium to celebrate the eighth anniversary of what Russians call the reunification of Crimea with Russia.

The stadium, then called Lenin Stadium, was built for the 1980 Olympics. The Russian government celebrates every year the capture of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014.

State television appeared to cut Putin’s speech, and cameras suddenly turned back on performers.