RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin today vowed that “as in 1945, victory will be ours” as he congratulated former Soviet nations on the 77th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II.

“Today, our soldiers, as their ancestors, are fighting side by side to liberate their native land from the Nazi filth with the confidence that, as in 1945, victory will be ours,” said Putin, who sent Russian troops into Ukraine in February.

“Today, it is our common duty to prevent the rebirth of Nazism, which caused so much suffering to the peoples of different countries.”

He added that he hopes “new generations may be worthy of the memory of their fathers and grandfathers”.

Putin made multiple references not just to soldiers, but also civilians on the “home front… who smashed Nazism at the cost of countless sacrifices”.

“Sadly, today, Nazism is rearing its head once more,” said Putin, who insists that Ukraine is in the grip of fascism and a threat to Russia and the Russian-speaking minority in east Ukraine, which Russia claims to be “liberating”.

“Our sacred duty is to hold back the ideological successors of those who were defeated” in World War II, which Moscow dubs “the great patriotic war”, he said, urging Russians to “take revenge”.

He also wished “all Ukraine inhabitants a peaceful and just future”.

Moscow will officially commemorate victory over Nazi Germany with a giant military parade tomorrow.

Under Putin, Russia justified its offensive in Ukraine, launched on February 24, as a “special operation” to “demilitarise” and “de-nazify” the former Soviet republic, which declared independence in 1991. – AFP, May 8, 2022.