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Putin Responds to Media Hype Around Russian Navy Parade in St. Petersburg

© Sputnik / Grigoriy Sisoev / Go to the mediabankPyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered cruiser
Pyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered cruiser - Sputnik International
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A large-scale naval parade to be held in St. Petersburg in July is not a saber-rattling move but simply a revival of old naval traditions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

SAVONLINNA (Sputnik) — To get to the Baltic Sea for a Navy Day parade in St. Petersburg, Russia’s heavy nuclear battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky and the nuclear-powered submarine Dmitriy Donskoi will have to sail through international waters.

This simple fact gave Germany’s NRD TV and Bild magazine enough reason to call this a PR-stunt and a "demonstration of force."

"We have decided to revive the main naval parade, which will be held in St. Petersburg.  I assure you this is not saber-rattling, it is the restoration, the revival of traditions that are more than 100 years old," Putin said at a joint press conference following talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

Pyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered cruiser - Sputnik International
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Putin also invited all interested countries to attend the July 30 parade, which is expected to involve some 40 warships and submarines, as well as naval aviation from three Russian fleets and the Caspian Flotilla.

"We are ready to invite regional partners to take part in the event," Putin said.

The main parade in St. Petersburg and the smaller ones in the cities of Vladivostok, Severomorsk, Sevastopol, Baltiysk, and Astrakhan, are timed to the celebrations of Navy Day, which is on the last Sunday of July.

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