Russians Mark Stalingrad Anniversary in Shadow of Ukraine Conflict

President Vladimir Putin is to visit Volgograd, site of the towering "Motherland Calls" statue marking the Stalingrad battle. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
President Vladimir Putin is to visit Volgograd, site of the towering "Motherland Calls" statue marking the Stalingrad battle. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
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Russians Mark Stalingrad Anniversary in Shadow of Ukraine Conflict

President Vladimir Putin is to visit Volgograd, site of the towering "Motherland Calls" statue marking the Stalingrad battle. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
President Vladimir Putin is to visit Volgograd, site of the towering "Motherland Calls" statue marking the Stalingrad battle. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

President Vladimir Putin is set to preside Thursday over commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest in World War II.

The high-profile celebrations in the southern city of Volgograd come as the Kremlin is drumming up support for its offensive in Ukraine, launched nearly a year ago to "de-Nazify" Ukraine, whose soldiers fought alongside Russia against Nazi Germany, AFP said.

Putin is expected to travel to Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a war memorial and speak at a concert, the Kremlin said.

The battle of Stalingrad lasted more than six months, ending with the surrender of German troops on February 2, 1943, after more than a million people were killed.

The Red Army's victory marked a turning point not only for the Soviet Union, which had suffered several heavy defeats, but also for the Allied forces.

The 80th anniversary of the victory comes as Russia seeks to step up its offensive in Ukraine, bolstered by tens of thousands of reservists mobilized last autumn.

Russia has claimed recent gains near the hotspot town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Moscow also recently announced the capture of the eastern town of Soledar as it seeks to wrest control of the entirety of the region of Donetsk.

Although the significance of capturing the salt-mining town is disputed, Soledar was the first major victory for Russia's forces following a series of setbacks on the ground.

- Bust of Stalin -
On Wednesday, a bust of dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in Volgograd.

Since Putin took power in Russia in 2000, there has been a growing chorus of Russians who take a positive view of the despot's role in history, and historians have pointed to the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin in the country.

Nostalgic for the superpower status of the USSR, many Russian officials have been promoting Stalin as a tough leader who led the Soviet Union to victory in World War II and presided over the country's industrialisation.

The Soviet Union lost 20 million people in World War II and the legacy of what is known in the country as the Great Patriotic War is venerated.

Putin has frequently drawn parallels between what he calls his "special military operation" in Ukraine and the war against Nazi Germany.

Speaking on Holocaust Remembrance Day last week, Putin accused "neo-Nazis in Ukraine" of committing crimes against civilians.

"Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies," Putin said.

"This is evidenced by the crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing and punitive actions organised by neo-Nazis in Ukraine," he added. "It is against that evil that our soldiers are bravely fighting."

Officials said they declared Wednesday and Thursday public holidays in Volgograd following a request from war veterans.

Flowers and wreaths will be laid at the city's main landmark, Mamayev Kurgan, a strategic hill overlooking the city that was the scene of heavy fighting in World War II.

It is now marked by a towering sculpture of a woman holding up a sword, named "The Motherland Calls".

The city on the banks of the Volga River was rebuilt after the war left it in ruins. It was renamed Volgograd in 1961, eight years after the death of Stalin.

Since 2013, the city is temporarily renamed Stalingrad several times a year, including on February 2 and on May 9, when Russia holds nationwide celebrations on the anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War.



Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications," the newspaper wrote.

Asked about the report, Peskov told reporters: "These are absolutely irresponsible arguments of people who have a poor understanding of reality and who do not feel a shred of responsibility when making such statements. We also note that all of these statements are anonymous."

Earlier, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month that as Ukraine had handed over the nuclear weapons, joining NATO was the only way it could deter Russia.

The 33-month Russia-Ukraine war saw escalations on both sides last week, after Ukraine fired US and British missiles into Russia for the first time, with permission from the West, and Moscow responded by launching a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine.

Asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation, Peskov said the West should "listen carefully" to Putin and read Russia's newly updated nuclear doctrine, which lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Separately, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because it needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis.