Russian President Vladimir Putin used his Victory Day speech on Tuesday to claim the West was "waging a real war" against Russia, in an attempt to justify his country's invasion of Ukraine while drawing on comparisons to the Second World War.
"Today, civilisation is again at a decisive, turning point...We are proud of the participants of the special military operation. The future of our people depends on you," he said. "Here is to our victory!" Putin exclaimed at the end of his speech.
In a particularly ominous turn of phrase, the 70-year-old leader claimed that a "real war has been unleashed" against Russia by Western leaders. He reiterated his false allegation that NATO allies had fomented "a cult of Nazis" in former Soviet countries: one of the main pretexts for launching his country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
As he did in last year's speech, Putin justified the aggression in Ukraine by claiming, with little evidence, that Western allies were seeking to invade Russia: "The goal of our enemies, and there is nothing new here, is to achieve the disintegration and destruction of our country," he said on Tuesday.
Putin also accused the West for "destroying traditional values" and promoting a "system of robbery and violence, accusing them of "splitting societies, provoking bloody conflicts and coups, sowing hatred, Russophobia, aggressive nationalism, and destroying family and traditional values."
Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a more conciliatory tone when he paid tribute to American and British soldiers who died fighting Nazi Germany in World War Two and explicitly denied that Russian and Western citizens are enemies.
"We pay tribute to the Resistance members who bravely fought against Nazism, the soldiers of the allied armies of the United States, Great Britain, and other States... I am convinced that the experience of solidarity and partnership in the years of struggle against a common threat is our priceless heritage," he added.
Approximately 14 million Russians died during World War Two, as well as roughly 450,000 British citizens and 420,000 Americans.
Zelenskyy hits back
In a speech delivered on his country's Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that it is in fact Russia which is the closest contemporary equivalent to Nazi Germany.
"All those old evils that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated," said Zelenskyy, who was joined in Kyiv on Tuesday morning by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to celebrate Europe Day. "Now, as 80 years ago, Ukraine is fighting against total evil."
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In another speech delivered in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that the true purpose of Russia's Victory Day celebration is to "intimidate" the West.
"In Moscow, 2,200 kilometres northeast from here, Putin is parading his soldiers, tanks and rockets," Scholz said. "Let us not be intimidated by such a show of force."
