This morning, the whole world followed the Russian ceremonies which commemorated, as every year on May 9, the victory of Russia over the Nazi troops in 1945. With the war in Ukraine in progress, these celebrations had a particular tone. Just before this parade, Vladimir Putin spoke. The Russian president said he was doing everything to avoid a third world war.
To analyze this parade and this speech, Nicolas Gosset, researcher at the Royal Institute of Defense, was invited on the set of RTL INFO 13h.
Everyone wondered in particular if Vladimir Putin was finally going to use the word “war” rather than “special operation” of Russia in Ukraine. But that was not the case.
“Not only do we remain in the register of the special military operation, therefore no general mobilization, but in addition the very word “Ukraine” was not mentioned in his speech. We were essentially entitled to a speech which, compared to previous years, was more anchored in the present, in the future and fewer references to the great patriotic war if not the continuation of the fight against Nazism in 41-15 and the war in Ukraine. Above all, it was an exercise in justifying the Kremlin’s approach to the conflict.” analyzes Nicolas Gosset.
He also returned to this very fanciful argument of nuclear weapons
How does Vladimir Putin still manage today to justify this war which is getting bogged down? Initially, Russia had hoped for a very quick operation in Ukraine. However, the Russians are far from being out of this military operation. “Indeed, none of the initial objectives have been achieved. Donbass is still very far from being controlled by Russia. This is the reason why there is no mention of success, of victory”underlines the researcher.
“In fact, the speech was in complete continuity with the argumentation which is developed from the beginning, that is to say that Ukraine was preparing an offensive according to Putin against the Donbass. Which is absolute nonsense, it was never implemented or brought in. He also returned to this very fanciful argument that Ukraine was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. We are therefore in this general context where the operation presented as a preventive response aimed at prevent Ukraine from posing an existential threat to Russia”he adds.