Russian President Vladimir Putin screened archive film footage of World War II massacres of Jews, Poles and others at his annual economic forum in St. Petersburg to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) — Russian President Vladimir Putin screened archive film footage of World War II massacres of Jews, Poles and others at his annual economic forum in St. Petersburg to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
After accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is Jewish, of covering up for “neo-Nazis,” Putin ordered the showing of wartime killings in Ukraine and Belarus, broadcasting images of mutilated corpses and murdered women and children on a big screen to the assembled audience at the forum. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune sat alongside him on the stage.
Putin claimed the executions were partly carried out by forces loyal to Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera during the Nazi German invasion of the Soviet Union. He sought to link them to modern Ukraine as justification for his February 2022 attack that he said was aimed at “denazification” of the country, an objective he has never clearly explained.
“How can you not fight it? And if this is not neo-Nazism in its current manifestation, then what is it?” Putin said. “We have every right to believe that the task of denazification of Ukraine set by us is one of the key ones.”
Attack on Zelenskiy
The Russian president began his carefully prepared presentation with a slur aimed at Zelenskiy, who lost family members during the Nazi Holocaust.
Putin said he had many Jewish friends since childhood and they regarded Zelenskiy as “a disgrace to the Jewish people.”
He unleashed his attack after making his annual speech to the forum, which focused for an hour and 20 minutes on Russia’s economy without once mentioning the war that has triggered unprecedented international sanctions against the country.
He reeled off economic statistics to argue that Russia is adapting successfully to being shunned by the US and its allies.
Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist, initially sought to cooperate with the German invaders in return for support for the country’s independence, though the Nazis quickly detained him for most of the war. He was later assassinated by the KGB and demonized in Soviet history books.
Putin has repeatedly sought to defend his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by drawing comparisons to the World War II fight against Nazi Germany, an effort to stoke public support. He initially declared the goals to be the “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, recently mocked progress toward those ambitions, saying the war had made Ukraine better known around the world and turned its military into a highly-armed, professional force.
Weapons, Aid
The US and its allies have given billions of dollars in weapons and aid to help Ukraine fight back against the Russian occupation. Ukraine is now waging a long-awaited counteroffensive in a bid to recapture territory.
The war has wreaked havoc on Russia’s global ties. Where French President Emmanuel Macron and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel were once high-profile guests at the St. Petersburg forum, this year’s event drew mostly lower-level officials from countries that have stayed largely neutral on the conflict.
In an effort to break the isolation, Putin met the leader of the United Arab Emirates in St. Petersburg earlier Friday, though UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan didn’t take part in the forum’s plenary session.
The Gulf state’s leader, who has rejected US pressure to limit ties with Russia as he maintains neutrality, said on Twitter that the UAE “continues to support all efforts aimed at reaching a political solution through dialogue & diplomacy.”
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