Vladimir Putin has been skewered for his perceived hypocrisy on the day Russia stages a massive parade to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
Victory Day, celebrated in Russia on May 9, marks the day of the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin in 1945.
The Russian President is overseeing nationwide celebrations, delivering a speech in Red Square during which he claimed the occasion “unites all generations” and added: “We are going forward relying on our centuries-old traditions and feel confident that together we will ensure a free and secure future of Russia.”
However, Wayne Jordash KC said Putin was in no position to lecture anyone about the evils of fascism, given his country’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequently brutal treatment of civilians.
Mr Jordash, Managing Partner of human rights organaisation Global Rights Compliance, is supporting Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General to investigate more than 100,000 registered Russian war crimes.
He said: “The irony is clearly lost on President Putin as Russia parades on ‘Victory Day’, in celebration of the defeat of fascism in Europe, while simultaneously actively pursuing its inherently criminal plan to militarily invade and occupy Ukraine, subjugate and Russify its population and eliminate any semblance of Ukrainian identity.
“We are now beyond 130,000 registered Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including thousands of civilians dead and injured, and thousands more arbitrarily detained, tortured and sexually abused in the course of Russia’s full-scale invasion and occupation.
“Far from protecting Russia from fascism, Putin as dictator has turned Russia into an autocratic, militaristic, revanchist state, seemingly determined to do whatever it takes – including crimes against humanity – to lock down territory and force a population to accept an identity which they resolutely resist.”
Evidence published last year by the pioneering Mobile Justice Team, spearheaded by Mr Jordash accused Russia of building 20 “genocidal” torture centres in Ukraine’s Kherson region in a bid to destroy the country’s identity, with waterboarding and electric shocks commonplace.
Mr Jordash previously told Express.co.uk Russia was seeking to “enslave” Ukrainians using “systematic” abuse with disturbing parallels with the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler.
During his speech, Putin hailed the troops fighting in Ukraine for their courage and accused the West of “fuelling regional conflicts, inter-ethnic and inter-religious strife and trying to contain sovereign and independent centers of global development”.
He also issued another stark reminder about Russia’s nuclear might, warning: “Russia will do everything to prevent global confrontation, but will not allow anyone to threaten us.
“Our strategic forces are in combat readiness.”
The Soviet Union lost about 27 million people in the war, an estimate which many historians consider conservative, scarring virtually every family.
Nazi troops overran much of the western Soviet Union when they invaded in June 1941, before being driven back all the way to Berlin, where the USSR’s hammer and sickle flag was eventually raised above the ruined capital.
The US, UK, France and other allies mark the end of the war in Europe on May 8.
