German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has claimed this year’s traditional Victory Day parade in Moscow was used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to flex his military muscles. The German leader also denounced the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine, urging the EU to prop up Kiev for as long as necessary.
In an address to the European Parliament marking Europe Day on Tuesday, Scholz said that “2,200 kilometers to the north-east of Strasbourg, Putin is parading his soldiers, tanks and missiles.”
The European Union, however, should not be intimidated by the Russian leader’s “posturing,” the German chancellor stated. He called on member states to “remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine – for as long as necessary.”
Scholz also spoke in favor of closer cooperation among EU member states on defense and arms production.
The chancellor stressed the importance of Europe’s alliance with the US as well as the EU’s eastward expansion, with the potential accession of the Western Balkan states, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
On Tuesday morning, a military parade commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany was held on Red Square in Moscow.
Speaking at the event, Putin, among other things, accused “globalist elites” of “keeping insisting on their exceptionalism.” These powers, he argued, “provoke bloody conflicts and coups, sow hatred, Russophobia and aggressive nationalism, destroy traditional family values that make a human a human.”
He went on to claim that the US and its allies are seeking to destroy Russia.
“It seems that they have forgotten what the insane ambitions of the Nazis led to,” Putin concluded.
Attending the parade were the leaders of several former Soviet republics, including Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, as well as Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan.
In 2010, Scholz’s predecessor Angela Merkel attended a similar Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9. A German delegation led by then-chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder was present at the 2005 military parade on Red Square. Merkel had been expected to appear in 2020 but the Covid pandemic ruled her visit out.