Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a 10 minute speech in Moscow's Red Square to mark Victory Day today 9 May. Victory Day celebrates the anniversary of Russia's victory over Nazi Germany.
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Putin used the occasion to peddle the same story he has used as justification for his invasion of Ukraine, which is a 'grotesque perversion of and distortion of history', according to Sky News international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn.
Vladimir Putin's Victory Day speech
In his speech, Putin said that Victory Day honours 'our father's grandfathers' who 'fought for the motherland'. He continued:
Through sacrifice and heroic acts they saved the world from Nazism. And today the world is on the cards again
Putin claimed that Western elites and globalists are 'provoking conflicts...encouraging Russophobia and nationalism'.
He said Western countries have 'forgotten who destroyed that evil, who defended their motherland, who liberated the people of Europe'.
Putin then claimed other nations are attempting to 'delete the memory of real heroes' and are 'creating a real cult of Nazism'. He said:
They were trying to to cancel the results of the Second World War and destabilise the system of international security and international law
He said that the ambitions of the West have taken Ukrainian people hostage. Putin added:
We are honouring those who fought against the Nazis, those who fought as allies in the US and and Britain and also honour the contribution of China.
Read more ⋙ Vladimir Putin's latest speech could be proof of growing backlash against war in Russia
Russia's alleged use of 'Nazi-style' filtration camps
Putin's claims that it is the West who is 'creating a real cult of Nazism' while Russia is fighting against Nazis is seemingly contradicted by a report by the global open-source intelligence community, Molfar.
It claims Russia has been keeping Ukrainians in horrific 'Nazi-style' filtration camps. In these camps, which have been compared to the Jewish ghettos of WWII, Ukrainians are allegedly 'forced to work or fight on the frontline' and the 'sick are left to die'.
Ukrainian Ombudsman for Human Rights in Lyudmyla Denisov said a network of these camps has been established throughout Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine to 'filter' civilians.
Photos from inside the camps show overcrowded tents and buildings, with people reportedly only fed one meal per day. It is also claimed that Tuberculosis is rife. At one camp, those who contracted the disease were allegedly locked inside a school gym and refused essential medical care.
Read more:
⋙ Torture chambers allegedly discovered in Ukraine border town, Russia accused of war crimes
Some Ukrainians are given certificates that enable them to travel in the areas around the camp or in and out of the city, while others are allegedly put on trains and sent to remote parts of Russia. Those who attempt to flee are reportedly detained and beaten.
This claim has been supported by local Ukrainian reports, which suggest that those who are forcibly sent to remote parts of the country, such as Rostov and Krasnodar, is a strategy that constitutes a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Convention.
Denisova told the Ukrainian news site Ukrinform that a witness reported 300 Ukrainians had been put on a train going to Siberia. Meanwhile, according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 2,800,000 Ukrainians have been deported to or forced to leave for Russia since the war began.
Sources used:
Sky News: 'Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin giving address - but there's a scene he wants to avoid at all costs today'
Daily Express: 'Putin's 'Nazi-style' ghettos where Ukrainians 'forced to work or fight' and 'left to die''
The Sun: 'HELL ON EARTH Inside Russia’s sick ‘Nazi-style ghettos’ where Ukrainians are ‘forced to work or fight’ & infected are ‘left to die’'