Russian leader Vladimir Putin said today that Russia will not allow a global conflict to arise despite what he sees as Western revanchism, during his speech marking the 79th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

“Russia will do everything possible to avoid global confrontation,” Putin said this during the traditional military parade on Red Square, warning that Russian strategic forces are “always” on combat readiness.

In a clear reference to the United States and NATO, Putin stressed that Moscow rejects these claims. “from any country or alliance to exclusivity.”

“We will not allow anyone to threaten us” he said, before ordering a minute’s silence for those who fell in the world war, in which the Soviet Union lost more than 26 million people between 1941 and 1945, including civilians and soldiers.

He accused “Western elites” of relying on “revanchism” and justifying “current Nazi followers,” which is part of policy of inciting regional conflicts, hostility between peoples and religions and the containment of new independent centers of development.

Putin condemned the attempts of Western “colonialists” to “distort” the truth about World War II by dismantling monuments to Soviet soldiers and placing Hitler’s “traitors and collaborators” on a pedestal.

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

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

More than 9,000 soldiers take part in the parade which began traditionally at 10:00 local time, to which we must add about 70 battle groups.

Among the soldiers marching along the cobblestones of Red Square are those who fought in Ukraine as part of the so-called “special military operation”.

The event is attended by leaders of six former Soviet republics, including Belarus and Kazakhstan; Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel; and the leaders of Laos and Guinea-Bissau.

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Having assumed the presidency for a fifth six-year term, Putin this week proposed to the West dialogue on security and strategic stability, but on Monday he ordered the Southern Military District to conduct maneuvers using tactical nuclear weapons in response to provocations and threats from the United States and European powers.

NATO has denied that he intended to send troops into Ukraine, a red line for the Kremlin, which launched a military campaign in the neighboring country in February 2022.

(EFE)