Russian President Vladimir Putin sharply criticized Europe during a flowerlaying ceremony at the Monument to the Fatherland at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg to mark the 80th anniversary since the end of the blockade of Leningrad in World War II. Putin accused the continent of “Russophobia” and criticized the Baltic states over human rights.
War in Ukraine and the comparison with the fight against the Nazis
Vladimir Putin, who sent Russian troops into Ukraine nearly two years ago, has drawn comparisons to the fight against the Nazis to unite the nation. “The regime in Kiev praises Hitler's accomplices, the SS men… In a number of European countries, Russophobia is promoted as state policy,” Putin said in the Leningrad region on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Nazi siege. According to him, the Germans' goal at that time was to steal the Soviet Union's resources and destroy its population.
Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union and was devastated by Hitler's troops, rejects these comparisons as flimsy pretexts for a war of conquest.
Criticism of the Baltic States
In his speech, Putin also sharply criticized the Baltic states in terms of human rights. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ruled by Moscow during the Cold War but now members of the European Union and the NATO military alliance were among the harshest critics of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. “In the Baltic states, tens of thousands of people are declared inhumane, deprived of their most basic rights and subjected to persecution,” said Putin, referring to the repression of migration.
Moscow has repeatedly accused the Baltic states of xenophobia and treating Russian minorities as “second class.”
Finally, it was reported that President Joe Biden will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington on February 9 to mobilize support for additional aid to Ukraine, the White House said Saturday.