The celebrations of the victory over Nazi Germany 77 years ago turned into a propaganda show for Putin’s war of aggression. May 9th in Russia at a glance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the war of aggression against Ukraine at a military parade in Moscow with a NATO threat. The Western military alliance has created an “absolutely unacceptable threat” to Russia over the years, he said on Monday in his eagerly awaited speech in Red Square marking the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. “The NATO bloc has begun active military development of the territories bordering our region,” Putin said. Russia had preemptively warded off aggression from the West. “It was the only right decision.”
Vladimir Putin justifies attack on Ukraine
On February 24, the head of the Kremlin ordered an invasion of Ukraine – partly on the grounds that the ex-Soviet republic, which was striving to join NATO, had to be “demilitarized”. Everything indicated that a confrontation with the “neo-Nazis” in Kyiv, on which the USA had counted, was inevitable, he said. Putin claimed a Ukrainian attack on pro-Russian separatist areas in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions was imminent, including on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
However, Ukraine, which is supported with weapons by the West, has always refused to use force to take back the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. The government in Kyiv accuses Putin of a war of annihilation; he wants to destroy Ukraine as a country.
In his speech, Putin again accused Ukraine of trying to regain nuclear weapons. With regard to NATO, the 69-year-old complained that in December Russia proposed to the West a treaty on security guarantees, dialogue and the mutual protection of interests. “All for nothing,” Putin said in front of thousands of soldiers in parade uniform. “The NATO states didn’t want to hear us. And that means that they had completely different plans,” he said.
Moscow sees itself at war with the West, which is trying to bring Russia to its knees with sanctions and arms deliveries. Contrary to what some Western observers feared, however, Putin did not order partial or general mobilization to give new impetus to what he called a “special military operation”. From Moscow’s point of view, there has not been satisfactory progress in the Russian advance for a long time.
In his speech, Putin paid tribute to the Russian soldiers in the Donbass who fought there for the country’s security. Some representatives of the armed forces also took part in the parade on Red Square. At the same time, Putin acknowledged losses and promised help to the families of the “dead and wounded”. Officially, there is talk of 1,351 soldiers killed. Western military experts, on the other hand, assume that several thousand Russian soldiers have died in the fighting in Ukraine.
At the commemoration of the Second World War, the President once again warned of a new world war. The struggle at that time meant not only the obligation to preserve the memory of those who had defeated Nazism. The task is “to be vigilant and to do everything possible so that the horrors of a global war are not repeated,” he said. He also chatted with WWII veterans on the sidelines of the parade, with whom he shook hands.
Putin commemorated the war dead in a minute’s silence on Red Square and later in the Alexander Garden at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He commemorated the victims of the World War with a wreath at the eternal flame – and laid carnations on memorial stones in the hero cities of the Soviet Union, including the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Central Moscow, secured by a large contingent of uniformed men, resembled a fortress. Tens of thousands of people gathered to watch the arms show associated with the military parade. According to the Ministry of Defense, the Iskander missiles used in Ukraine, main battle tanks such as the most modern type T-14, the air defense systems S-400, Buk-M3 and Tor-M2, combat robots of the Uranium-9 type and with nuclear warheads were also on display deployable ICBMs. A large-scale planned air show in Moscow was canceled at short notice – the official reason was bad weather.
The Latin letter “Z”, which has become the symbol of support for the Russian operation in Ukraine, was ubiquitous. Policemen protecting the parade wore the symbol on their uniforms. In Novosibirsk, which, like many Russian cities, was also hosting a military parade, the “Z” was painted on WWII tanks.
allegations against the West
On May 8, 1945, the Second World War in Europe came to an end with the surrender of the German Wehrmacht. Russia traditionally celebrates its most important holiday on May 9 with the “Day of Victory” over Nazi Germany. Parades commemorating the Soviet victory in World War II were held in a total of 28 Russian cities.
In Moscow, Putin also said that the victory was achieved jointly with the western allies. At the same time, however, he lamented the prevailing “Russophobia” among the political elite in the West. “We know that American veterans who wanted to come to the Moscow parade were effectively banned,” Putin claimed.
In his speech, Putin also put Ukrainian-born Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko and Ukrainian-Soviet partisan leader Sidor Kovpak alongside Russian military leaders. He also mentioned General Nikolai Vatutin, considered the liberator of Kiev, to whom a monument is dedicated not far from the Ukrainian Parliament and under whom he is buried. As a result of the Russian war of aggression, the demolition of the monument and a reburial of Vatutin in a military cemetery are under discussion. A commemorative plaque for Kowpak is also to be removed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he would organize a victory parade himself as soon as Russia was defeated as an enemy.