Russia celebrates Victory Day as it prepares for joint nuclear drills with Belarus | DW News

Russia celebrates Victory Day as it prepares for joint nuclear drills with Belarus | DW News

to some other news now Russia has celebrated the Soviet Union’s victory in the second world war with its annual Red Square military parade in Moscow President Vladimir Putin used the occasion to lash out at Western Powers warning them that Moscow would not be threatened the parade comes just days after Russia announced new Tactical exercises with neighboring bellarus involving the practice deployment of tactical nuclear weapons a sea of uniformed bodies all way in for one man to arrive Vladimir Putin freshly sworn in for a record-breaking fifth term as Russia’s president after watching soldiers parade through the unseasonal May snow on moscow’s Red Square Putin returned to familiar territory warning the West that Russia was ready for conflict and even nuclear war Russia will do everything to prevent Global confrontation but at the same time we will not allow anyone to threaten us our strategic forces are always on alert once again he also used the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany to justify his current war in Ukraine Putin has repeatedly baselessly accused the Ukrainian government of being run by neo-nazis some watching in the crowd were clearly in agreement with their longtime leader we’re striving now for victory against fascism and we are directly involved in this and we have been we must always learn from the past and remember what a grandfathers did for us and that we must do the same now the fruits of Putin’s efforts to twist the past in his favor were also on display at the end of the parade where once he was joined by German chancellors and un secretaries General this year no Western leader came to lay flowers alongside Russia’s president our correspondent fny FAA joins us from Ria what else did Putin have to say I think it’s very important to point out first of all that it is a very emotional day for millions of Russians for millions of ukrainians who lost their relatives in that war when they were fighting side by side against Nazi Germany and now Russia’s President Putin is actually using those emotions to paint a picture that history is repeating itself allegedly being under attack allegedly by the West he went on to say quote that the his the truth about World War II is being distorted by the west and he also said that the future of quot the motherland depends on us depends on Russia very similar remarks we made actually two days ago during his inauguration speech when he spoke about quote historic land that needs to be protected so it’s basically repeating over and over again this very same narrative or this very same propaganda that is uh trying to uh sell this war if if you like the ongoing war in Ukraine as something that has to be done in order to make sure that Russia is defending itself against what he calls is an alleged attack by the West now what I find quite interesting that he didn’t talk about mobilization he didn’t talk about further mobilization among amongst the Russian society and certainly he didn’t say anything about just how long the war in Ukraine is going to continue U talking about repeats last year’s parade came amid big losses for Russia in the battlefield what’s the situation now definitely there was a symbolic Victory taking in aiva and donet region this year in February which used to be a town of more than 30,000 people before the war and they’re trying to really incircle chivar another important strategically important Town basically not much exists anymore in chiva used to be also a town about 13,000 people before the war so they’re trying to gain momentum here and obviously they’ve been using the time while Ukraine was waiting and has been waiting for weapons and military gear from the Western allies using this time to make some gains but overall if you look at the map now about 18% of Ukrainian territory is being controlled by Russia and that number really didn’t really change much so we’re speaking about 1if of Ukrainian territory being under control by Russian forces the question is from now on as this is the third year of the war how things are going to change on the ground as soon as the weapons arrive and uh also if you listen to what Putin actually said right after the speech uh that uh these nuclear drills are going to continue uh the question is just about further escalation and what Russia has learned during these past uh uh two years from the war in Ukraine how they going to change tactics we do not know but what’s for sure certain and unfortunately also for the millions of ordinary citizens who are bearing the brand in Ukraine that the war is going going to continue for quite some time and uh something else that hasn’t changed Western leaders staying away from those Victory Day Celebrations yet again exactly in fact the foreign Ministry of of Russia made clear that those so-called quote unfriendly states are not welcome and what I found quite uh uh um bizarre here actually that the so-called friendly countries I’m speaking about former Soviet uh States for example like Armenia and aaban they were invited but their leaders didn’t come prime minister pashinyan the Prime Minister of Armenia and we just recently came back from Armenia actually criticized Russia’s President Putin over failing to protect ethnic Armenians in Naro kabak so even though the war is continuing in Ukraine that does mean that geopolitical interests and strategies on the ground do not change for example in the South caucuses you heard it from our very own Fanny FAA all right we’re want to pull in now our Russia analyst Constantine AER constan it’s good to see you you know these military parades they can be almost like performative art if you will and I’m wondering do events like these do they still bolster support for the war among Russians look BR it’s difficult to say uh of course people like these shows they remind the majority of Russians that uh there is is still a great country it is all designed to inspire pred although Frankly Speaking uh some of the weapons that were shown especially aircraft uh were old even when I served in the Army in the late 80s uh but this whole thing is not the point of so much inspiring uh the population which is largely indifferent or rather tries to keep its own councel it is a way of also uh impacting the outside world and that’s quite interesting uh for example uh one of the independent Russian websites investigative websites uh discovered and it’s been out now on Russian social media in the last few hour is that the three officers that we see sitting behind Putin are those that took part in assault on Kev in 2022 and one of them definitely belongs to uh a unit that has been already accused of war crimes so uh read the symbolism uh we are not going to surrender we’re going to do whatever we feel we want want to do uh and um in this respect it is very much an in yourface show Defiance all this parade and all this symbolism that that is attached to it want to ask you too about the the the connection with bellarus tonight um Vladimir Putin says that there’s nothing unusual about nuclear drills taking place with bellus he he announced that earlier this week what’s your take on that well of course it is unusual it’s not every day or even every year that you have drills that involve uh the use of nuclear weapons and here it’s very specific tactical nuclear weapons I.E uh those that are not allegedly going to start World War II but just something that’s going to uh tickle the nerves in Lithuania Poland latva maybe Finland um it is of course one of those threats that Putin is using recently because Frank speaking his situation is not great uh the US approved uh a massive Aid to Ukraine the West seems to be intent in outperforming him in the arms race so he resorts to his usual tactics that is nuclear blackmail yeah nuclear blackmail that certainly gets the West’s attention that’s for sure DW’s Constantine ards Constantine as always thank you thank you well Russians living here in Berlin they also celebrate May 9th as victory over Nazi Germany day remembrance events are held across the German Capital but this year police were out in forc to prevent the spread of any propaganda backing the war in Ukraine sharing the same ground but far apart in ideology ceremonies in Berlin marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany have become more political than ever since Russia invaded Ukraine we’re in Germany and we think the instrumentalization of this historical remembrance for today’s war against Ukraine is wrong Russian symbols were banned around the commemoration and yet somewhere on display it’s my country’s flag I was born there I was raised there this flag is a symbol for Liberation from fascism also present diplomats including the ambassadors from Russia and its Ally bellarus as well as Russian Orthodox priests around 900 police were on hand to ensure Public Safety with only a few minor scaffolds marrying the commemoration

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at Western powers, as he presided over the Victory Day parade. Putin has turned the celebration of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany into a pillar of his two and a half decades in power. Russians living in Berlin also celebrate May 9th as ‘Victory over Nazi Gemany’ day. Remembrance events are held across the German capital. But this year police were out in force to prevent the spread of any propaganda backing the war in Ukraine.

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