Putin shows his claws, harangues his military and justifies Ukraine invasion again

9 May is a day when the Russian Federation shows the world its war power with a grandiose military parade in Moscow's Red Square. It is also a day the Kremlin uses to foster a sense of national pride and demonstrate its determination to be seen as a world power.

On 9 May, Russia commemorates Victory Day, the unconditional surrender of the German Armed Forces that ended World War II in Europe, marking the victory of the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France over National Socialist Germany.

It is the day on which the Russian authorities pay tribute to the survivors and more than 25 million citizens of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) who lost their lives in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945, as the war that began with the German invasion on 22 June 1941 and did not end until the complete defeat of Germany is known in Russia.

But in the spring of 2022, with the Kremlin's ground, air and naval units occupying or besieging countless Ukrainian towns, NATO countries' senior military commanders were eager for the opportunity to observe Russia's new weapons systems. By contrast, political leaders around the world were anxious to know whether President Vladimir Putin would declare victory over Ukraine. However, both have been mistaken.

In his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin presided over the military parade commemorating the 77th anniversary of the victory over the German Wehrmacht on 9 May. He also delivered a speech in which he declared that "when the fate of our Motherland is at stake, its defence has always been sacred (...) and today, as in the past, you are fighting for our people in the Donbass and for the security of Russia".

In front of a large formation of 33 military units under the command of Lieutenant General Oleg Salyukov, Putin stressed that his country "has always advocated the establishment of an equal and indivisible security system, which is urgently needed for the entire international community". He claimed that NATO had launched "an active military build-up in the territories adjacent to Russia", which he described as "an absolutely unacceptable threat on our borders (...) under the backing of the United States and its henchmen".

Referring to the war in Ukraine, the Russian president stressed that Russia has seen "a military infrastructure being built, hundreds of foreign advisors arriving, NATO countries delivering regular supplies of state-of-the-art weaponry and the threat growing every day".

All this to justify what he called "a pre-emptive strike on aggression, a forced, timely and the only correct decision". Putin rounded off his harangue to his troops in Red Square by specifying that the country is "sovereign, strong and independent", the three characteristics that Moscow intends to make clear to the rest of the world.

The grand Victory Day parade is the occasion for the Kremlin to show off the new vehicles, fighter planes and missiles of all kinds that it wants to unveil to its allies and competitors, especially the Atlantic Alliance.

But this year's military parade was smaller than usual. The Russian Defence Ministry said that 131 vehicles and a total of 11,000 officers, non-commissioned officers, soldiers, cadets and military academy students from all branches of the Russian Armed Forces took part in the parade. By contrast, in 2021, 12,000 military personnel and 190 vehicles took part, while in 2020, 14,000 troops and around 250 vehicles took part.

A few examples of the T-14 Armata, the battle tank that aspires to be the main weapon system of the Russian Army, which wants to acquire no less than 2,300 units to strengthen its armoured divisions, rolled across Red Square. The 55-tonne platform is intended to serve as the basis for the development of a whole family of infantry fighting vehicles, sappers, missile launchers and air defence vehicles.

Also on parade, but in pairs and transported on trucks, was the Uran-9 robotic tracked attack vehicle, armed with a 30-millimetre cannon, four anti-tank missiles and a dozen rockets, which has already been used in the Syrian war. The 9 May parade closed with a battery of the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system, which has a range of nearly 13,000 kilometres and can be fired from near Moscow to reach New York.