Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the battle of Stalingrad into an opportunity to attack Ukraine and its Western allies — just as expected. The Kremlin chief visited the city, the scene of the bloodiest dispute of World War II and now called Volgograd, and reiterated his speech that his offensive in the neighboring country would be part of a renewed fight against neo-Nazi groups.
“Again and again we have to repel aggression from the West. It’s incredible but it’s a fact: we are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks with crosses on them,” Putin told an audience of army officials and members of groups local patriots. The Russian leader makes double reference: to the armored vehicles announced by NATO members as a reinforcement to the Kiev arsenal and to the symbols used by Ukrainian forces that bear similarities with Nazi insignia.
“Unfortunately, we see that the ideology of Nazism in its modern form and manifestation again directly threatens the security of our country,” Putin continued in his speech. It is not the first time that the Russian or high-ranking members of the Kremlin have associated Ukraine with neo-Nazism, but this time, the location of the statements could not be more suggestive.
When Putin employs arguments linking Volodymyr Zelensky and his government to Nazism, however, he uses a definition that is slightly different from the one most common in the West. It would be, according to specialists, a Stalinist perspective that labels as Nazi something that wants to destroy the Soviet Union – or, now, what is left of it.
The association with Nazism is rejected by Zelensky, who is Jewish, and is not taken seriously by any country in the West, which, on the contrary, understands that Russia is the aggressor this time. In World War II, incidentally, Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union and suffered some of the devastation perpetrated by the German armies.
Stalingrad was the turning point of World War II. It was from this victory that the Soviet Union of Josef Stalin (1878-1953) began to advance over Adolf Hitler’s Germany (1889-1945), almost a year and a half before D-Day (June 6, 1944), when the Allies invaded occupied France.
The battle, which killed more than 1 million people, began on July 17, 1942 and ended on February 2, 1943, with the capitulation of Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus, head of the German 6th Army.
In the 80th anniversary celebrations, there was a victory parade, with modern and 1940s tanks, while planes flew over the city. In addition, a bronze bust of Stalin was unveiled, and city arrival signs were temporarily replaced from Volgograd to Stalingrad.
In the impassioned speech, Putin evoked the spirit of Stalingrad supporters by saying the battle was a symbol of the “indestructible nature” of the Russian people and again saying he was ready to draw on Russia’s entire arsenal, which includes nuclear weapons.
“Those who lure European countries, including Germany, into a new war and hope to win a victory over Russia on the battlefield, apparently do not understand that a modern war with Russia will be quite different for them,” Putin said, in a tone. threat, reiterating that Moscow has the means to respond to potential Western attacks.
Putin attended the anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad several times. In other years, members of the German Parliament also participated in the commemorative events. This time, of course, they weren’t invited.
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