Russia's Putin derides 'Russophobia' in Europe at World War Two memorial

At the dedication of a World War II memorial on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced “Russophobia” throughout Europe and chastised the Baltic States for violating human rights.

Putin has been rallying his country by drawing parallels between the war against the Nazis and the invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.

“The regime in Kyiv exalts Hitler’s accomplices, the SS men … In a number of European countries, Russophobia is promoted as state policy,” Putin said in the Leningrad region for the 80th anniversary of the end of the Nazi siege.

The Germans’ aims then were to steal the Soviet Union’s resources and eliminate its people, he said.

Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union and itself suffered devastation at the hands of Hitler’s forces, rejects comparisons as spurious pretexts for a war of conquest.

In his speech, Putin also lambasted the Baltic States over human rights. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – ruled from Moscow during the Cold War but now members of the European Union and NATO military alliance – have been among the strongest critics of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“In the Baltic states, tens of thousands of people are declared subhuman, deprived of their most basic rights, and subjected to persecution,” Putin said, referring to migration crackdowns. Moscow has repeatedly accused the Baltic nations of xenophobia and treating Russian minorities as “second-class”.