Putin uses Stalingrad trip to liken Ukraine

to second world war

Complaining of ‘western aggression’ and ‘again being threatened
by German tanks’, Russian president says ‘modern war with
Russia will be completely different’

Vladimir Putin took part in events in Volgograd to mark the 80th anniversary of
the Red Army’s victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. Photograph: Sputnik/AFP/Getty
Images
Agence France-Presse in Moscow
Fri 3 Feb 2023 11.17 AEDT



Vladimir Putin has said Russia is being threatened by German tanks
“again” as it was during the second world war, warning that Moscow is
ready to respond to aggression from the west.

Speaking at events marking the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory
over Nazi Germany in Stalingrad, known today as Volgograd, Putin drew
parallels between the Soviet Union’s fight in the second world war and
Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
“It’s unbelievable but true. We are again being threatened by German
Leopard tanks,” he said in the southern city. “Again and again we are forced
to repel the aggression of the collective west.”

“We aren’t sending tanks to their borders but we have something to

respond with, and it won’t be just about using armoured vehicles. Everyone
should understand this,” Putin added. “A modern war with Russia will be
completely different.”
Putin attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the eternal flame in the Hall of
Military Glory at the Battle of Stalingrad museum, Volgograd. Photograph: Dmitry
Lobakin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/EPA
Since sending troops to pro-western Ukraine last February, Putin has
repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons against the west if the
conflict escalates.

Are Putin’s nuclear threats really likely to lead to Armageddon?

Read more

“Readiness to go until the end, to do the impossible for the sake of the
motherland, for the sake of truth was and is in the blood, in the character of
our multinational people,” he said.
The 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad raged for nearly six months and when it
was over, the city was in ruins and more than a million soldiers and
civilians had lost their lives.

The Red Army’s victory marked a turning point not only for the Soviet
Union, which had suffered several heavy defeats, but also for the allied
forces.

The commemorations in Volgograd come as the Kremlin looks to step up its

offensive in Ukraine, bolstered by tens of thousands of army reservists
mobilised last autumn.
Russia has claimed recent gains near the hotspot town of Bakhmut in the
eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Moscow recently announced the capture of the eastern town of Soledar as it
seeks to wrest control of the entirety of Donetsk – a region it claims to have
annexed. Although the significance of capturing the salt-mining town is
disputed, Soledar was the first major victory for Russia’s forces following a
series of setbacks on the ground.

Bronze busts of Joseph Stalin (centre) and Soviet marshals Georgy Zhukov (left)
and Alexander Vasilevsky (right) were unveiled in Volgograd on the eve of
commemorations of the Battle of Stalingrad. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
On the eve of Putin’s arrival, a bust of dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled
in Volgograd. Since Putin took power in Russia in 2000, a growing chorus
of Russians is taking a positive view of the despot’s role in history, and
analysts have pointed to the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin in the country.

Nostalgic for the superpower status of the USSR, many Russian officials
have been promoting Stalin as a tough leader who led the Soviet Union to
victory in the second world war and presided over the country’s
industrialisation.
The Soviet Union lost an estimated 20 million people in the war and the
legacy of what is known in the country as the Great Patriotic war is
venerated.

Officials declared Wednesday and Thursday public holidays in Volgograd

following a request from war veterans. The city was renamed Volgograd in
1961, eight years after the death of Stalin.

Since 2013, the city is temporarily renamed Stalingrad several times a year,
including on 2 February and on 9 May, when Russia holds nationwide
celebrations on the anniversary of the Soviet victory in the second world
war.