Putin evokes Stalingrad to carry the invasion of Ukraine "to the end" | International

The tenacious fight of the Soviet Union against the Nazi invader and its satellite countries 80 years ago has become the moral argument of Russian President Vladimir Putin to demand that his people not cease their offensive on Ukraine almost a year after send your troops. "The firmness of the defenders of Stalingrad is for the Russian army, for all of us, the most important moral and ethical guideline, and our soldiers and officers are faithful to it," the president said this Thursday at the 80th anniversary events of the victory that changed the course of World War II. His Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, has also added to this warning, who has stressed in an interview that it does not matter how long the fighting lasts, but that Ukraine continues to be part of the “Russian world”. In addition, the head of Russian diplomacy has launched another threat: Moldova is now "the new Ukraine".

Putin traveled to the city of Volgograd, renamed these days Stalingrad, to attend various events and lay a bouquet of flowers at the war memorial on Mamayev Kurgan hill, the scene of some of the bloodiest clashes in Russia. it is known as the Soviet Great Patriotic War. The president gave a speech during the tribute to the soldiers of the USSR in which he drew a parallel between today's Europe and Nazi Germany. And he hinted, without realizing his threat, that he has other cards to respond to the supply of Western tanks to kyiv.

The Russian leader spoke of the Third Reich "and its European vassals" 80 years ago to relate it to the present and justify his actions. “Nazi ideology”, Putin assured, “in its modern manifestation, again brings direct threats to the security of our country and we are forced to reject again and again the aggression of the Western collective”. The president evoked "the willingness for the good of the country, for the truth, to go to the end."

"Again, the offspring of Hitler"

Putin also equated the current supply of European tanks to Ukraine with the armored cars that Adolf Hitler's troops used for the destruction of the USSR almost a century ago. The Russian president once again mentioned Stepan Bandera (1909-1959), the Ukrainian independence leader who collaborated with the Germans against the Soviets, in his speech: “Incredible, but true: they threaten us again with German Leopard tanks. And again they are going to fight Russia on Ukrainian soil led by Hitler's offspring, at the hands of Bandera's followers."

The Russian president also warned Washington and Brussels of the risk of escalation. “We did not send our tanks to your borders, but we have something to respond with. And the use of armored vehicles will not end this matter, ”Putin stressed in his speech. The president has emphasized that he will not allow a peace achieved after the advance of the Ukrainian army: "Those who hope to achieve victory over Russia on the battlefield apparently do not understand that a modern war with Russia will be completely different for them."

Putin also visited the Stalingrad battle museum, where a new monument to Stalin has been erected. The figure of the Soviet dictator has been whitewashed by the Kremlin in the last two decades, despite the fact that his numerous crimes and his pact with Nazi Germany to divide up Poland were revealed by the Soviet authorities themselves a long time ago. For the Kremlin, that dictator is a symbol of Soviet victory and the need for a strong leader. For this reason, today, the new debate promoted by the authorities is to definitively rename Volgograd as Stalingrad despite the opposition of the majority of its citizens.

Moscow is not worried about the duration of the war

Minister Lavrov also spoke about the war in an interview with one of the Kremlin's propaganda chiefs, Dmitri Kiseliov. The head of Russian diplomacy confirmed that Moscow does not care about the duration of the conflict, but about Ukraine joining the Russki Mira broad concept of russian world which, for that country, extends beyond its borders.

Lavrov stated: “We all want this to end, but the important thing here is not the time factor, but the essential factor, the results that we are going to offer our people, those people who want to continue being part of Russian culture and to whom the kyiv junta has stripped everything Russian for many years at the encouragement of the West.”

The diplomat also mentioned other former Soviet republics that Moscow does not want to lose from its sphere of influence. On the one hand, he said that the West tries to make Georgia "a nuisance to Russia." He also predicted stormy times for another of the countries looking towards the European Union, Moldova, because according to him he warned, it could become "the new Ukraine".

Lavrov referred to Maia Sandu, the pro-European leader of Moldova who in her first two years in office has suffered coercion from Moscow through gas cuts, data thefts and other hostile actions: "(Western countries) put at the forefront of the country to a president with very specific methods, far from a free democracy, and is eager to join NATO. She [Maia Sandu] she has Romanian citizenship and is ready for integration in Romania and, in general, for almost anything.”

The prospect of a negotiation on Ukraine is practically nil, according to Lavrov's statements. Moscow assures that "there is no problem" in the annexation of four Ukrainian regions and is committed to military means. "At this stage we are acting in the same way that our Western colleagues promised: there must be a victory on the battlefield," stressed the Foreign Minister, citing the words pronounced last April by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell .

Lavrov was involved in a controversy in January when he asserted that the West persecutes his country and that there is "the Russian question" just as in the past there was "the Jewish question." The diplomat qualified that he was referring to the search "for a Russian strategic defeat."

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