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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visits an international motorcycle show in Novorossiisk

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Vladimir Putin arrived at the venue on a three-wheel Harley-Davidson, with about fifty bikers following in his wake. He came to see the final stage of the international bike rally. Ahead of the event, Night Wolves motorcycle club leader Alexander Zaldostanov, nicknamed the Surgeon, had told Mr Putin about the new features this year. "We should never repeat old things; we should keep moving forward," agreed the prime minister.

After greeting the bikers, Mr Putin said, "Shall we?" Everyone mounted their motorcycles and off they went.

The bike show was held in the square near the city's sea terminal. The ship Mikhkail Kutuzov – once the Soviet Union's largest cruiser, now a museum – was the show's central stage.

Vladimir Putin's remarks:

Hello, everyone!

Last year, we all met in Sevastopol, and this year we're holding the festival both there and here, in the holy city of Novorossiisk. Both these cities are places of glory for the Russian army and navy. Our fathers and grandfathers' blood was shed on this soil.

Let me express my thanks to the Night Wolves club. It's great that you host such events, guys. You don't just have fun riding your bikes – which is a good pastime by itself – you combine it with spectacular patriotic events, which the public needs very much.

Novorossiisk was liberated from the Nazi invaders almost 68 years ago. Those pages of the history of the Great Patriotic War are connected in a curious way with the history of motorcycles, as this proved the best vehicle for carrying children to safety. Kids were put into the passenger cars of motorcycles and evacuated to Sochi.

It's great that you don't forget the heroics and heroes of our past, because people of various ethnicities and religions take pride in our national heroes. Historical memory is a wonderful cement that binds together people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds into the united and indivisible Russian nation; it shapes and consolidates our united and indivisible Russia."

The paratroopers who liberated Novorossiisk 68 years ago had a nice motto, "Moving forward." I think that applies to all motorcycle fans today, and to our nation as a whole. Thank you and the best of luck.

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During the show, the prime minister spoke with veterans of the Great Patriotic War and bikers from Serbia, whom he had met previously in Belgrade.