UPDATE 10:32 a.m.: The annual Victory Day parade is underway in Moscow. Military equipment and 9,000 soldiers parade in Red Square in front of President Vladimir Putin. In his speech, the Kremlin leader said Russia’s strategic forces are always ready for battle and accused the West of trying to distort the truth about World War II, Russian state news agencies TASS and Interfax reported.
“Today we see how they try to distort the truth about World War II. This interferes with those who are used to building their essentially colonial policy on hypocrisy and lies,” Putin said.
“We will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always on high alert,” Vladimir Putin said, adding that Russia will not allow the global clash that the Western elites are striving for.
“We reject the claim of any state or alliance to exclusivity. We know what the exorbitance of such ambitions leads to. Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash,” Putin said.
The leader from Moscow also said that “revanchism, the mockery of history and the desire to justify the current followers of the Nazis” are part of the general policy of the Western elites to incite new regional conflicts, inter-ethnic and inter-religious hostility.
Vladimir Putin also stated that Russia is going through a difficult period, and its fate depends on each citizen, stating that the current generations must follow the example of the winners of the Great War for the Defense of the Fatherland.
“Russia is now going through a difficult, milestone period, the fate of the Motherland, its future depends on each of us. (…) Today, on Victory Day, we realize this even more acutely and clearly, and we invariably look at the generation of winners – brave, noble, wise, for their ability to value friendship and steadfastly endure adversity, to always be confident in themselves and their country, to sincerely and selflessly love the Motherland,” Putin continued.
“Victory Day unites all generations. We are moving forward, relying on our millennial traditions, and we are confident that together we will ensure a free and secure future for Russia, for our united people,” said the Russian president.
Along with Vladimir Putin, the parade in Red Square was attended by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, the President of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, the president of Guinea-Bissau, Oumarou Sissokou Embalo, and the president of Laos, Thongloun Sisoulith.
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Initial news: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who came to power eight years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, will deliver a speech at the Red Square parade.
The parade, scheduled at 10 local time (same time in Romania), will include RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile systems and a flyover with the Russian tricolor flag. According to the state-run Izvestia newspaper, there will be no tanks and fewer aircraft and military equipment than in parades before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russian Defense Minister Serghei Șoigu recently announced that, “in total, about 150,000 people and 2,500 weapons and combat vehicles will participate in the Victory Day demonstrations.”
“More than 9,000 people and 70 combat vehicles will participate in the main parade in Red Square,” added the Russian official.
Ambassadors of “unfriendly” countries were not invited to the parade – as happened in the last two years in the context of the war in Ukraine -, said the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in a statement to the news agency state press TASS.
These countries had “aggressive policies” towards Russia, added Zakharova.
Incidentally, many Western ambassadors were also absent from the May 7 ceremony at the Kremlin, when Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a fifth term as president of Russia.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II, including many millions in Ukraine, but eventually pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin. The unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany took effect at 11.01pm on 8 May 1945, marked as “Victory in Europe Day” by France, Britain and the United States. It was already May 9 in Moscow, which became the Soviet Union’s “Victory Day” in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Russia advances in Ukraine
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin also promised victory in the more than two-year war in Ukraine. Russian forces continue to advance on the frontline, and Ukraine is trying to hold out pending American aid recently approved by Congress.
Ukraine and the West say Putin is engaged in an imperial-style land grab and have vowed to defeat Russia, which currently controls about 18 percent of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, and parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. Russia says that these territories, which were part of the Russian Empire, are once again part of its territory.
The crisis has deepened in recent weeks as US President Joe Biden signed $61 billion in aid to Kiev, Britain said Ukraine had the right to strike Russia with British weapons, and French President Emmanuel Macron did not ruled out sending French troops to fight Russian forces.
Earlier this week, Moscow responded to “provocative statements” from the West by announcing it would practice deploying tactical nuclear weapons in a military exercise.
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