Putin Makes Another Nuclear Threat at Moscow Victory Day Parade

Russia’s nuclear forces are “always combat ready”, President Vladimir Putin said at the nation’s annual Victory Day parade in Moscow, accusing the West of warmongering while insisting his own nation is trying to keep the peace.

President Vladimir Putin addressed a military parade in Red Square at the Kremlin, Moscow on Thursday morning as the country commemorates the anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. Russia’s role in fighting Nazi Germany has been central to its self-identity for decades but the annual commemoration has taken on even greater importance in the Putin era, a change underlined by his own remark to the crowd that the day is: “our main and truly national, sacred holiday!”.

Like last year the military parade that follows the leaders’ speech was remarkable due to its brevity, lasting just six minutes from the first vehicle rolling across Red Square to the flypast. Only one tank took part, a heritage Second World War-era T-34, which was followed by a group of light armoured vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, and 15 missile launch vehicles.

In recent years — before Putin decided to invade Ukraine — the parade was several times larger, including quantities of main battle tanks, and even a considerably larger display of vintage vehicles.

While military equipment seemed to be again severely lacking, Russia still managed to put on a display of people, with Moscow claiming 9,000 troops on parade in tyhe unseasonable snow, including troops who have fought in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian strongman — sworn in this week for his fifth term as President after again running essentially unopposed — used the occasion of the parade and commemorations of Russia’s role in defeating fascism in Europe in 1945 to lash out against Ukraine’s Western allies and again invoke the threat of nuclear war.

Sticking to the standard Moscow position that Russia is not the aggressor by invading Ukraine, and that Western states are simply escalating a “special military operation” by helping Kyiv to resist, Putin said the public should “feel confident that together we will ensure a free and secure future of Russia”.

Reading a laundry list of criticisms against Western states, Putin accused them of revanchism, mocking history, justifying neo-nazism, causing new wars, causing ethnic conflict, causing religious conflict, and of having designs on sovereign states.

Casting himself as the peacemaker — despite everything — while warning of nuclear retribution if the West continues to interfere in Russian business, Putin continued: “Russia will do everything to avert a global confrontation. At the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always combat ready”. Strategic forces is shorthand for the long-range nuclear weapons used to obliterate cities or centres of industry, opposed to tactical forces which use smaller nuclear weapons on the battlefield to devastate whole armies and major fortifications.

Russia has already sabre-rattled over the use of tactical forces just this week, announcing a nuclear drill on Monday and stating this is in response to provocations and “inflammatory statements… by some Western officials”.

In separate comments by Vladimir Putin to military officials released today by Kremlin state media, the Russian President claimed the country stands for “values of freedom and justice… strict compliance with international law” and accused Western states of dreaming of “Russia no longer existing in its current form”. Speaking of the progress of his war against Ukraine, Putin told the military commanders there was “every opportunity – absolutely every opportunity – to ensure that all our tasks are fully realized”.

Putin also made reference to one of the key features of the war so far, drone warfare, insisting an answer to Ukraine’s dogged use of the weapon against Russian infantry and armour was shortly forthcoming. “We know how difficult it is for our fighters, who are faced with the fact that enemy drones are flying overhead like flies, we all know this. We are working on this, and I am sure we will see results”, he claimed.