Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West today of risking a global conflict and renewed nuclear warnings, stressing that Russia will not allow anyone to threaten it.

In his speech in Red Square on the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and addressing Russian officers, Putin said: “Russia will do everything to prevent a world conflict. But at the same time we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our army is always ready.”

Putin accused “arrogant” Western elites of forgetting the decisive role the Soviet Union played in defeating Nazi Germany and fueling conflicts around the world.

“We know where such excessive ambitions lead. Russia will do everything to prevent a global conflict,” he said after the defense minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the troops lined up in a rare snowstorm in May.

“But at the same time we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in combat mode,” he said.

Putin, who sent his army into Ukraine in 2022, sees the war as part of a struggle with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by encroaching on what he sees as its sphere of influence. of Moscow.

Ukraine and the West accuse Putin of a land grab and have vowed to defeat Russia, which controls about 18 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea, and parts of four regions in eastern Ukraine.

“In the West, they would like to forget the lessons of World War II,” Putin continued, adding that Russia honored all allies who participated in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

The unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany took effect at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, designated as “Victory in Europe Day” by France, Britain and the United States. In Moscow it was already May 9, which became the Soviet Union’s “Victory Day” in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45.

The parade also featured a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile, which a TV announcer said has a “guaranteed ability to hit a target anywhere on the planet.”

There were no Western leaders at the ceremony. The leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Laos and Guinea-Bissau were present.

Russian officials warn the war in Ukraine is entering its most dangerous phase yet – Putin has repeatedly warned of the risk of a much wider war involving the world’s biggest nuclear powers.

The crisis has intensified in recent weeks: Joe Biden signed off on $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, Britain said Ukraine had the right to hit Russia with British weapons, and Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out sending French troops soldiers to fight the Russian forces.

Russia responded on Monday by announcing it would practice developing tactical nuclear weapons at military training schools after what Moscow described as threats from France, Britain and the United States.

The Russian president said today that there is nothing unusual about these high schools.

“There is nothing unusual here, this is planned work,” Putin said, according to Russian news agencies. He met with officers involved in what the Kremlin calls its special military operation in Ukraine the day before yesterday, May 7.