Russian President Vladimir Putin will lead the celebrations for the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany on Monday, will warn the West of the "end" of the world, showing off Russia's overwhelming firepower at the same time its army is fighting in Ukraine.
Putin, who has come face to face with the deep isolation the West has imposed on him since he ordered Russia's invasion of its neighbour, will speak in Red Square before the parade of troops, tanks, rockets and intercontinental ballistic missiles begins.
Supersonic fighters, Tu-160 strategic bombers and, for the first time since 2010, the Il-80 aircraft, intended to transport the military high command in the event of a nuclear war, will fly over St. Basil's Cathedral, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The significance of the Il-80 aircraft
According to this scenario, the Il-80 aircraft is designed to become a command center for the Russian president. It is equipped with a host of technologies but the specific details are still Russia's state secrets.
The 69-year-old Kremlin leader has repeatedly linked the war in Ukraine to the challenge the Soviet Union faced when Nazi Adolf Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in 1941.
"The attempt to appease the aggressor on the eve of the Great Patriotic War turned out to be a mistake that cost our people dearly," Putin said on February 24, when he announced what he called the "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"We will not make such a mistake a second time, we have no right."
Putin presents the war in Ukraine as a battle to protect Russian-speakers living there from Nazi persecution and to shield them from what he defines as an American threat to Russia stemming from NATO expansion. Ukraine and the West dismiss claims of fascism as nonsense and say Putin is waging an unprovoked war of aggression.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II, more than any other country. Putin has railed against the West in recent years, as Moscow believes the West is trying to revise the history of the war to downplay the Soviet victory.
Apart from the defeat suffered by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812, the defeat of Nazi Germany is the most revered Russian military triumph, although the two disastrous invasions by the West made Russia particularly sensitive about its borders.
Ukraine's shadow
Ukraine's war will largely overshadow Victory Day.
The Russian invasion resulted in thousands of people being killed, while some 10 million Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes. It also led Russia into the grip of harsh Western sanctions and reinforced fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States, the world's largest nuclear powers.
Although the 11.000 soldiers marching in Red Square along with 131 items of weapons and military equipment as announced by the Defense Ministry will put on a grand spectacle, the conflict in Ukraine has shown the weakness of the Russian armed forces despite Putin's efforts during his 20-year tenure to halt the weakening after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pressured by sanctions
The Kremlin has not achieved a quick victory in Ukraine and the Russian economy - hard-pressed by sanctions - is facing its worst contraction since the years following the fall of the Soviet Union.
US President George W. Bush Jr. less than two decades ago attended the May 9 celebrations as a guest of President Putin. This year, foreign leaders have not been invited, the Kremlin said.
The United States and its allies have boosted arms supplies to Ukraine and Putin is being urged by some Russian military officials to unleash more firepower on Ukraine , two sources close to the armed forces told Reuters. Moscow has told the West that it considers the weapons it sends to Ukraine as legitimate targets.
Ahead of May 9, rumors are circulating in Moscow and Western capitals that Putin is preparing to make a brief announcement specifically about Ukraine, perhaps an explicit declaration of war or even a general draft.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed such speculation on Wednesday, calling it "nonsense."
The Kremlin did not respond when asked what Putin will say in his speech, which he will deliver from the podium in Red Square in front of Lenin's Mausoleum.
Last year in his speech Putin spoke out against the selectivity of the West, and against the tendencies of the rise of neo-Nazism and Russophobia, which he returns to again and again when referring to the issue of Ukraine.
Source: APE-MPA
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
