International Desk : Russian President Vladimir Putin has started his Victory Day speech Vladimir Putin spoke to a huge military parade Vladimir in Moscow’s Red Square by telling Russian fighters they are fighting for the security of Russia now.
“You are fighting for your motherland, its future,” he says.
“The death of every soldier and officer is painful for us,” he said. “The state will do everything to take care of these families.”
Moscow’s Red Square: We are fighting for security of Russia, says Putin
Moscow’s Red Square: We are fighting for security of Russia, says Putin
He congratulates veterans on day of “great victory”. Victory Day celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
Putin says the West did not want to listen to Russia, and they had other plans.
The West, he said, without explaining what evidence he had, was preparing for the “invasion of our land, including Crimea”.
The Russian leader finished his speech at the Victory Day parade in Moscow with thousands of troops cheering in Red Square. Russia’s national anthem was played whilst cannons fired.
Moscow’s Red Square: We are fighting for security of Russia, says Putin
Moscow’s Red Square: We are fighting for security of Russia, says Putin
He called Nato “an obvious threat” to Russia and said his “special military operation” had been necessary and the “right decision”.
Putin also said the state would do “everything” to take care of families suffering bereavements caused by the Ukraine war.
“The death of every soldier and officer is painful for us,” he said.
He finished his speech to cheers from soldiers in Red Square, cannon fire and the Russian national anthem, BBC reports.
Putin continues his speech by saying Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine – what the Kremlin calls the invasion – was a necessary and “timely” measure.
He says it was the “right decision” of an independent, strong, sovereign country.
Moscow’s Red Square: We are fighting for security of Russia, says Putin
Moscow’s Red Square: We are fighting for security of Russia, says Putin
Katarzyna Zysk, a Russian military specialist, tells the BBC News Channel it was no surprise to hear Vladimir Putin linking the current war in Ukraine with World War Two, “glorifying the Soviet past and tapping into the Soviet nostalgia which is quite widespread in Russia and has been fuelled by the Russian authorities”.
She says he repeated false accusations against Nato that they planned a nuclear attack and talked of fighting “the invented Ukrainian Nazis”.
Zysk says this is part of a plan to portray Russia as a fortress under siege and to indicate any failure in Russia since the 1990s has been the West’s fault.
“He puts Russia into this victim role,” she says. “This is also in order to justify and make some sense of this war.”
She says she was surprised Putin did not mention pro-Western traitors in Russia to make anyone questioning the war a scapegoat.
And she says it was interesting he implied Russia was at war with Nato as well as Ukraine.
