Remarks for the 110th Anniversary of Our Revolution

We are gathered here in this historic hall, the birthplace of our Revolution. These were the words spoken by Vladimir Putin when he addressed the crowd on October 25th, 2017 in commemoration of Russia’s Revolution Day. The speech was given at an event organized to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Russia’s 1905 Revolution.

The event commemorating the 1905 Revolution was organized on Palace Square Krasnaya Ploschad, seen in the photo above, which is located at the very heart of St. Petersburg and only a few steps away from the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin. The choice to hold such an event here was quite symbolic as it took place next to the quadriga that once topped the spire of the Alexander Column.

The event was attended by a multitude of high-ranking officials, including Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who were seen in the photo below, as well as other ministers from his cabinet.

In addition to these men, the event was also attended by members of the Russian Federal Assembly, who were seen in the photo below. Among them, there were former leaders of Russia such as Valentina Matvienko and Sergey Mironov, both once part of Vladimir Putin’s administration before serving out their respective terms as heads of State or Federal Councilors Viktor Zvagelsky, who is Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly of Russia is also seen in the photo.

Beyond these men, members of the Presidential Administration were also present. The head of Putin’s administration, Sergey Ivanov, and his deputy Vyacheslav Volodin were both seen in this photo below taken during one part of Putin’s speech commemorating the Revolution.

Sergey Bragin, Chairman of the Russian Committee for Cooperation with Religious Associations was also present at the event. He is seen in the photo below with Valentina Matvienko who can be seen raising her arm to speak with him. She was at this event as President of the Federal Council the upper house of the Russian Federal Assembly.

Other personalities who were present included the Chairman of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin and several deputies from both the Council of Federation and the Duma including Vladimir Vasilyev, Igor Morozov, Vadim Dengan, Nikolay Parikov, Dmitriy Savelyev, Nikolay Ryzhak, Nikolay Kovalev, and Dmitry Belik.

Of course, former leaders of Russia did not attend this event alone, as a multitude of high-ranking officials from the Kremlin did also come to commemorate Russia’s Revolution Day. The most important of these officials was Anatoly Serdyukov, seen in the photo below speaking with Sergey Ivanov and Sergey Naryshkin as well as three members of the Federation Council: Viktor Kalyuzhny, Andrey Kleshas, and Dmitry Trenin.

The event also included a parade of military vehicles which went on for more than an hour after Putin’s speech had finished. This parade took place on Ploschad Aleksandra Newsky, located on one corner of Palace Square. Seen in the photo below is a truck transporting two BTR-82A Armored Personnel Carriers.

Beyond these events, tensions are rising with Putin’s sworn enemy NATO as well as the United States itself after President Donald Trump has recently begun implementing sweeping military reforms at home to strengthen America’s armed forces. At the same time, Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s new military doctrine which has taken NATO by surprise as it includes several changes to Russian military strategy.