By Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of risking a global conflict and emphasized that no one would be allowed to threaten the world’s biggest nuclear power.
Putin made the statement while addressing the nation on Thursday, as Russia marked the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Putin accused “arrogant” Western elites of forgetting the crucial role the Soviet Union played in defeating Nazi Germany and of stoking conflicts around the world as Russian troops advanced against Ukraine’s Western-backed forces.
Speaking on Red Square after Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reviewed troops lined up in a rare May blizzard, Putin declared, “We know what the exorbitance of such ambitions leads to. Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash.” He added, “But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in a state of combat readiness.”
Putin, who sent his army into Ukraine in 2022, portrays the war as part of a struggle with the West, which he claims humiliated Russia after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence.
Russia currently controls about 18% of Ukraine, including Crimea and parts of four regions in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine and the West maintain that Putin is engaging in an imperial-style land grab and have vowed to defeat Russia.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II, including many millions in Ukraine, but ultimately pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide and the red Soviet Victory Banner was raised over the Reichstag in 1945.
Putin accused the West of wanting to forget the lessons of the Second World War, stating that Russia honored all the allies involved in the defeat of Nazi Germany, including the Chinese people’s fight against Japanese militarism.
In a much-reduced parade indicating the strains of war, Russia showcased just one T-34 tank, while fighters flew past, streaming the Russian tricolor.
The parade also featured Russia’s Yars intercontinental strategic missile, which a TV announcer said has “a guaranteed capability to strike a target at any point on the globe.”
No leaders from the West were present at the event, with only the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Laos, and Guinea-Bissau in attendance.
Russian officials warn that the Ukraine war is entering its most dangerous phase to date, with Putin repeatedly warning of the risk of a much broader war involving the world’s biggest nuclear powers.
The crisis has deepened in recent weeks, with President Joe Biden signing off on $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, Britain stating that Ukraine had the right to strike Russia with British weapons, and French President Emmanuel Macron refusing to rule out sending French troops to fight Russian forces.
In response to what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain, and the United States, Russia announced on Monday that it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise.
As tensions continue to escalate, the world watches with bated breath as the conflict in Ukraine threatens to spill over into a global confrontation.
