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From Crimea, Putin Trumpets Mother Russia

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia attended a parade on Friday in Crimea, a territory which came under his control in March.Credit...Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press

MOSCOW — Putting his personal seal on the annexation of Crimea, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia traveled on Friday to the naval port of Sevastopol, where he used the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany to assert that Moscow had the right to take over the Black Sea peninsula.

Over the past decade, Mr. Putin has gradually turned Victory Day into a celebration of resurgent Russian power and nationalism. The visit to Sevastopol, in southwestern Crimea, the historical home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was a potent manifestation of his goal of reviving Russia as a global power.

The West reacted to the annexation in March with sanctions against Mr. Putin’s closest circle of advisers and a few significant companies. By going to Sevastopol, the Russian president effectively told Western leaders that Moscow would do as it pleased.

Mr. Putin’s visit coincided with new clashes in eastern Ukraine. Victory Day celebrations there were marred by an attack by Ukrainian government forces on a police station in Mariupol, where at least seven people were killed. In his speech on a naval quay, Mr. Putin, as he did at a ceremony in Red Square earlier in the day, stuck to the patriotic themes of the day — strength, heroism, struggle and resilience.

Speaking for less than four minutes, he ran through Sevastopol’s history: its naming by Catherine the Great 230 years ago; a 250-day Nazi siege the city endured; and its vote to rejoin Russia in March.

“I think 2014 will also be an important year in the annals of Sevastopol and our whole country, as the year when people living here firmly decided to be together with Russia, and thus confirmed their faith in the historic truth and the memory of our forefathers,” Mr. Putin said in remarks broadcast nationwide.

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Residents of St. Petersburg carried portraits of their ancestors on Friday as Russia marked the 69th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.Credit...Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated Press

“There is a lot of work ahead, but we will overcome all the difficulties because we are together, and that means we have become even stronger,” he said.

The annexation provoked the greatest tensions between Russia and the West since the height of the Cold War. Mr. Putin has maintained that the territory had long belonged to Russia and that he was only righting a historical wrong. Separatists in Crimea, backed by the Russian military, organized a referendum in March in which an overwhelming majority of the residents, many of them ethnic Russians, chose to come under the control of Moscow.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine immediately issued a statement protesting Mr. Putin’s visit. It accused him of ignoring international law, the demands of the international community that Russia not occupy Crimea and a treaty between Russia and Ukraine that calls on both countries to respect their mutual borders.

“This provocation once again confirms that Russia deliberately chooses to escalate tensions in Russian-Ukrainian relations,” said the statement. “We urge the Russian side to return to civilized methods of interstate relations.”

The secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, condemned Mr. Putin’s visit as “inappropriate.” Speaking in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, Mr. Rasmussen said that NATO considered the annexation illegal, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Rasmussen also said that NATO still had “no visible evidence” that Russia was withdrawing its 40,000 troops from the border with Ukraine, as Mr. Putin had said it would on Wednesday.

In Sevastopol harbor, the backdrop for Mr. Putin’s speech, the naval version of the Victory Day parade unfolded with 10 gray warships lined up at anchor. Before Mr. Putin spoke, television images showed the Russian president riding in a modest white naval launch through the harbor.

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President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia traveled from Moscow to Sevastopol on Friday to commemorate Victory Day, in the process showcasing his nation’s military might.CreditCredit...Yuri Kochetkov/European Pressphoto Agency

As he drew along aside each warship, he yelled into a microphone, “Hello, comrades!” and the naval personnel, arrayed at least two deep on deck in their blue dress uniforms, shouted back a ritual greeting to their commander in chief, followed by a rousing “Hurrah!”

People jammed the shores of the harbor to watch. After seizing many ships from Ukraine, Russia complained that they had been neglected and were barely more than scrap. The Kremlin has allocated $5 billion to refurbish the fleet.

Mr. Putin’s visit came just hours after a thundering Victory Day parade in Moscow, a lengthy review of Russia’s refurbished military and advanced hardware as it rolled through Red Square. The annual event came under global scrutiny in light of the tension over the future of Ukraine.

In the parade, the tribute to Crimea was not subtle. The first vehicle to enter the square behind row after row of tightly choreographed marching soldiers was an armored personnel carrier from a Black Sea Marines brigade, flying a large Crimean flag.

Some 11,000 soldiers and 150 military vehicles, including tanks and intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, rumbled through the square. Through cloudless skies, a flyover included 69 aircraft, marking the 69 years since the victory over Nazi Germany. During the parade, military bands playing marches and patriotic songs maintained a steady, thumping background beat.

In brief opening remarks before the first soldiers marched, Mr. Putin said the celebration represented all that makes Russia strong.

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A war veteran saluted among the crowd at a Victory Day ceremony in Odessa, Ukraine. Authorities in the city feared that pro-Russian groups would use the day to stage an attack.Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

“This is the holiday when the invincible power of patriotism triumphs,” Mr. Putin said. “When all of us particularly feel what it means to be faithful to the Motherland and how important it is to defend its interests.”

Often, Mr. Putin’s annual Victory Day speech is both a national pep rally and a summary of the state of the Russian Federation, with the president using the address to emphasize important positions on foreign or domestic policy. This year, however, he adhered to the day’s theme of patriotism in the few minutes he spoke.

In Donetsk, a provincial capital that has fallen largely under the control of pro-Russian separatists, posters went up around the city showing red flags and Soviet military medals and praising “the heroes of Donbass,” as the region is known.

Outside the headquarters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the separatist political group there, a frank and unapologetic celebration of Stalin was taking place, an indication of how the current conflict reflects divisions over the legacy of World War II. A flag showing Stalin’s mustachioed face and the phrase “Death to fascists” flapped lazily in a morning breeze.

“Kiev doesn’t want us to celebrate this holiday because they are supported by neo-Nazis,” said Yevgeny Ivanov, 44, a supporter of the Donetsk People’s Republic, as he was interviewed in a city park.

Victory Day has always been a fraught holiday in Ukraine, even under ordinary circumstances, because Ukrainians fought on both sides. The Ukrainian Partisan Army, which at times was loosely allied with Nazi Germany — because it considered any opponent of the hated Soviet Union an ally, its defenders say — became an inspiration for nationalist groups that arose in the 1990s.

The interim government in Kiev has discouraged large marches this year because of concerns about an outbreak of violence.

In the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine, the city authorities feared that pro-Russian groups, which lost at least 40 supporters killed in street fighting and a fire last week, would use the day to regroup and stage a counterattack by seizing administrative buildings. The authorities decreed that the authorized celebration there should be confined to one park.

A correction was made on 
May 10, 2014

An earlier version of this article misstated the length of the Nazi siege of Sevastopol. It was 250 days, not 225.

How we handle corrections

Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Donetsk, Ukraine.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: From Crimea, Putin Trumpets Mother Russia. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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