At a military parade on Sunday, Putin applauded those who served in World War II and said the country would once again rise to the challenge if it needed to defend itself.
advised potential aggressors on Sunday, the nation won't hesitate to defend itself again, and the army stands more than ready to serve.
"The war brought upon us so many unbearable ordeals, grief and tears that it is impossible to forget. Those who are plotting new aggressions cannot be forgiven or justified," Putin said on Sunday. For years, the Russian president has attempted to distance the Soviet Union's actions during World War II from those of the Nazi regime. He signed a law in 2014 making distorting the country's role in World War II a criminal offense, and last week legislators introduced a bill that would ban people from equating Soviet actions with Nazi behavior.