Putin seeks reflected glory of Russian tsars as he unveils statue in Crimea

Vladimir Putin unveils a monument to Alexander III in Crimea on Saturday. - TASS
Vladimir Putin unveils a monument to Alexander III in Crimea on Saturday. - TASS

Vladimir Putin has unveiled a giant statue of Alexander III in Crimea with a speech drawing parallels between the rule of the conservative tsar and his own 18 years in power.  

The decision to commemorate the quiet reign of Alexander III, who was the brother-in-law of Britain's Queen Alexandra, comes after the Kremlin ignored the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution this month. 

An announcer on Saturday praised the “ruler who brought peace, glory, development and stability” as Mr Putin stood at attention and an honour guard pulled back an ochre covering from the looming bronze statue, which depicts the burly, bearded emperor sitting with his hands on a sword.  Officials have frequently stressed the “stability” that Mr Putin's presidency brought after the chaotic 1990s. 

Mr Putin discusses a bronze relief of Alexander III's ostensible achievements, some of which did not actually occur during the emperor's reign, Internet users pointed out.  - Credit: Alexei Druzhinin/TASS via Getty Images
Mr Putin discusses a bronze relief of Alexander III's ostensible achievements, some of which did not actually occur during the emperor's reign, Internet users pointed out. Credit: Alexei Druzhinin/TASS via Getty Images

The president is also feted for his aggressive foreign policy, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014, which he alluded to in a speech.

Mr Putin said that while Alexander III was often called the “peacemaker” because he waged no large-scale wars while leading the empire from 1881-1894, he “gave Russia 13 years of peace not by yielding but by a fair and unwavering firmness”.

He added that the emperor had modernised the military and begun construction of the Trans-Siberian railway. 

The monument bears a saying popularly attributed to Alexander III and often quoted by Mr Putin: “Russia has only two allies, her army and fleet”. 

A work removes an etching mistakenly showing a Nazi weapon on the monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov unveiled in Moscow in September. - Credit: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images
A work removes an etching mistakenly showing a Nazi weapon on the monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov unveiled in Moscow in September. Credit: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images

But Internet users were quick to mock a bronze relief of the emperor's alleged achievements. It shows the Tretyakov gallery and the historical museum in Moscow, which were founded years before Alexander III took the throne, as well as novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who was already dead.

The inaccuracies echoed a mistake in a monument to rifle-maker Mikhail Kalashnikov unveiled in Moscow in September: An etching showed the schematics of the StG 44 rifle used by the Nazis.