Putin praises Russians for patriotism

REUTERS

The Russian leader thanked the coalition of political organizations for their attention to problems of the inhabitants of the Crimea and Sevastopol, and for their assistance to refugees from Ukraine.

"Our people have shown an example of real civil participation, compassion, patriotism, and solidarity," Putin said, Russian news agency TASS reports.

"Today, we need to use our social energy and national recovery for the development of the country, for the upgrading of the economy, for improving the quality of spheres that are extremely important to every citizen: health, education and social support," Putin said.