Concert at Luzhniki on 18 March 2022
In the midst of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, on 18 March 2022, a concert was held in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium, during which the Russians timed their occupation of Ukrainian Crimea.
More than 200,000 Russians were driven to the stadium in honour of such an event, of which about 100,000 remained next to it, as they could not fit inside. Moreover, they “drove” in the literal sense of the word. After all, Russian teaching staff were forced to come to the concert, take a picture there and be sure to post the photo on social networks. Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and students were also forcibly present at the event. The latter ones were promised they would pass a test in physical education for this.
The event was broadcast on all TV channels. Russian flags were distributed to the participants, and the presenters conducted the concert with symbols of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – the letter Z in the colour of the St. George’s ribbon – pinned to their chests.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Russian singers Nikaloy Baskov, Oleg Gazmanov, Natalia Podolska, TV presenters Tina Kandelaki and Dmytro Guberniev, press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova spoke at the event. Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan and other propagandists also gave a speech on stage.
At the same time, to the songs of the Russian singer and political and public figure Denis Maidanov, Russians were shown a clip in the stadium in which Ukrainian flags were torn down and thrown to the ground.
