Russian nuclear weapons ‘always on alert’. Putin accuses the West of risking world war

While Russian forces remain in Ukraine, maintaining the so-called special military operation, Putin accuses “Western elites” of being “arrogant”of forgetting the decisive role of the Soviet Union in the defeat of Nazi Germany and of, now, fuel conflicts around the world.

“We know where the exorbitance of such ambitions leads”, Putin began by declaring, this Thursday.

“Russia will do everything to avoid a global conflict. But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces [nucleares] are always on alert”he declared in the speech given in Red Square, at the annual military parade that marks 79 years after the capitulation of the Nazi Germany regime, in 1945.In a clear reference to the United States and NATO, Russia’s head of state, who took office again this week, stressed that Moscow rejects the pretensions “of any country or alliance”.

“We will not allow anyone to threaten us”he highlighted, and then ordered a minute of silence to be observed for those killed in the Second World War, in which the former Soviet Union lost more than 26 million people, civilians and soldiers, between 1941 and 1945.

The Victory Day celebrations take place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and take place in the same week in which he took office for his fifth term as head of state. On Tuesday, when he reinforced his commitments as president in the Kremlin, Putin announced that he will order “nuclear military maneuvers” in the “near future”.

Evgueni Mouravitch – RTP correspondent in Moscow

“There is nothing unusual here, this is planned work”Putin also said about nuclear weapons exercises.

In this morning’s speech, accused “Western elites” of “revanchism” and criticized what he considered “attempts by Western colonialists” who “distort” the truth about the Second World War by dismantling monuments to Soviet soldiers and placing Hitler’s “traitors and accomplices” on a pedestal.

However, he stressed that Russia never underestimated the importance of the role of Western allies in defeating Nazism and also recalled China’s struggle against Japanese imperialism in the 1930s and 1940s.

“We will never forget our common struggle and inspiring traditions of alliance”he emphasized.