By Charlie Carmichael
President Vladimir Putin on Monday tried to defend Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in his annual “Victory Day” speech, urging his forces on to victory while evoking Russia’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Speaking ahead of a massive parade of troops, tanks and military hardware in Moscow, Putin claimed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been necessary because the West was “preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea” .
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Defending the Motherland when its fate is being decided has always been sacred,” he said. “Today you are fighting for our people in Donbas, for the security of Russia, our homeland.”
There had been expectations that the Russian dictator would use the speech to announce an escalation of the war, but no such rhetoric was made by Putin.
Putin referred to the Donbas numerous times throughout the speech, appearing to double down on Russia’s new strategy of focusing on the “liberation” of Donetsk and Luhansk.
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The region has been home to some of the most intense fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, including a number of likely war crimes, such as the shelling of a theatre in Mariupol, where civilians were sheltering, killing hundreds of people.
Prior to the invasion, Russia had amassed almost 200,000 troops along its border with Ukraine — whilst insisting all along that it had no intention of invading. Russia is notorious for deceptive public claims, and has often denied the obvious.
Putin’s remarks came as Russia commemorates one of the most important events on its national calendar — Victory Day — marking the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to international condemnation , with a range of economic sanctions on the country’s key sectors, companies and individuals connected to the Kremlin.
Russian oligarchs have been sanctioned since Ukraine was invaded.
Nations around the world have levied sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs in his close circle as the war between Russia and Ukraine rages on.
The sanctions are designed to punish the kleptocracy behind the two-month war by cutting off access to wealth, property and luxury hiding places. But the families of Putin’s closest allies have also felt the heat as the lifestyles of the “Kremlin kids,” or the children of the elites, are revealed to the public. The phrase was used by analysts Agnieszka Legucka and Bartosz Bieliszczuk of the Polish Institute of International Affairs to describe the second generation of Kremlin-connected oligarchs.
There has also been sanctions against oil imports from Russia.
Opinion polls generally show that the majority of Russian citizens support Russian military actions in Ukraine.
However, social scientists have criticised these polls as unreliable because of the source of the polls.
The scientists , largely drawn from a pool of objective intellectuals, point out, out that many of these surveys are run by polling companies loyal to the Russian state; that respondents in authoritarian regimes tend to choose answers that emphasise their loyal attitude towards the authorities; and that all polling companies, including independent organisations, face a high number of rejections when asking people to participate, which again biases the results towards respondents who support government policy.
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