President Putin Vows on Victory Day to Continue Fighting Nazism
Presidents Xi Jinping (L) and Vladimir Putin (R), May 9, 2025. Moscow. X/ @th_conversation
May 9, 2025 Hour: 11:17 am
Russia was and will remain an insurmountable barrier to Nazism, Russophobia, and antisemitism, he stressed.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to continue fighting Nazism, including in Ukraine, during the military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory in World War II.
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“Russia was and will remain an insurmountable barrier to Nazism, Russophobia, and antisemitism, and will combat the brutality of those promoting such aggressive and destructive ideas,” Putin said during his address from a tribune set up in Red Square in front of Lenin’s Mausoleum.
Putin declared that his country would never forget the lessons of the WW2, in which the USSR— which did not engage in the war until Germany invaded Soviet territory in 1941— lost 26 million people, including eight million soldiers.
Although Kyiv did not officially join the three-day unilateral truce declared by Putin, Ukrainian drones did not spoil the Kremlin’s celebration, and none had flown over Russian territory since the day before.
Putin and Xi, Inseparable
A smiling Putin appeared on the tribune between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the 100-year-old Soviet veteran Ivan Martinushkin, the last living witness who participated in the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland by the Red Army on January 27, 1945.
Putin did not part from Xi for a single moment, constantly making comments to him about the units and military equipment parading over the cobblestones of the square. Not even when they later laid a floral offering at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In addition to Russian troops, military detachments from thirteen countries marched, including an honor guard from China’s People’s Liberation Army. Not far from Putin sat invited leaders such as Lula da Silva (Brazil), Nicolas Maduro (Venezuela), Miguel Diaz-Canel (Cuba), Teodoro Obiang (Equatorial Guinea), and Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus).
Also invited to the tribune were American and Israeli war veterans, but notably absent were representatives from the Soviet Union’s World War II allies, who did attend the 50th and 60th anniversaries in 1995 and 2005.
Nazism Is Still Alive
Putin, who requested a moment of silence in memory of the fallen, asserted that “truth and justice” are on Russia’s side in fighting the rehabilitation of Nazism, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—who is of Jewish descent—of doing just that.
He emphasized that the ancestors of the Russian people “entrusted” their descendants to “firmly defend national interests, their millennia-old history, culture, traditional values, and everything that is valuable and sacred to us,” clearly alluding to the Russian language and Orthodox religion in Ukraine.
“The entire country, society, and people support the participants in the special military operation. We are proud of their bravery and determination, that strength of spirit which has always and only brought us victory,” he said and paid tribute to the role played by the Allied countries in defeating Hitler’s forces.
“We will always remember that the opening of a second front in Europe after the decisive battles on Soviet territory brought the victory closer… Russia highly values the contribution to our shared victory made by the soldiers of the Allied armies, resistance fighters, the brave Chinese people, and all those who fought for a peaceful future,” Putin stated.
“The complete defeat of Nazi Germany, militarist Japan, and their satellites in various parts of the world was achieved thanks to joint efforts,” he insisted.
Intercontinental Missiles and Assault Drones
During the parade itself, around 130 war machines rolled through, including the legendary Soviet T-34 tanks and SU-100 self-propelled artillery units, both used during WW2. One of the stars of the parade was the imposing Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles, which have a range of up to 7,500 miles.
Also on display were T-90M Proryv tanks—the first Russian tank with an automatic transmission; the 152mm Malva artillery piece mounted on an eight-wheeled BAZ chassis; Iskander ballistic missiles; and the new Kurganets-25 armored personnel carrier.
But the real novelty was the drones, which have proven highly effective in Ukraine. Specifically, the parade featured Geran-2 drones, widely believed to be copies of Iranian Shahed drones; Orlan reconnaissance drones; and Lancet kamikaze drones, all transported on Kamaz off-road trucks.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
