PUTIN SAYS RUSSIANS ARE 'INVINCIBLE' IN SPEECH DURING CORONAVIRUS-HIT VICTORY DAY CEREMONY as US demands Russia to abandon the new weapons s

Idiot.

just stating the obvious Ivan

Russia warns US against using low-yield nuclear weapons, threatening all-out retaliation
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Russia warns about nuclear war possibility
Russian top diplomat says possibility of nuclear war has grown with last year's developments
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Victory Day and Russia's war cult
Why is the Kremlin so obsessed with World War II?

During his annual New Year's address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin touted the 75th anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany as the country's main event in 2020. The celebrations were supposed to culminate in a pompous military parade in the Red Square and the opening of a new Christian Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the Russian army on May 9.

But this year is turning out not nearly as victorious for Putin as he had hoped. Having to postpone the parade and the grand opening of the church due to a major outbreak of the novel coronavirus is a major blow. Both were a precious opportunity for the Kremlin to rekindle nationalist sentiment among Russians and try to regain some public support, as the president's approval rating continues to slump. It is currently at 59 percent - a historical low.

The construction of the armed forces' cathedral took 17 months and cost around 6bn rubles ($82m). It was funded by the defence ministry as well as donations from citizens and large corporations.

Anniversary-related numerology was built into its architecture - the bell tower is 75 metres tall (to mark the anniversary), the main dome is 19.45 metres wide (as a reference to 1945) and a smaller one is 14.18 metres high, with 1418 being the number of days the USSR was at war with Nazi Germany.

Portraying himself as a reconciler who is healing historical wounds allows Putin to frame all those who want him to go, namely the liberal pro-democracy opposition, as extremists sowing civil discord and preparing revolutionary bloodshed. Speaking to his young supporters in 2014, for example, Putin compared what he calls "non-systemic opposition", that is liberal politicians like Alexei Navalny whom he bars from getting elected into parliament, with the Bolsheviks who openly advocated Russia's defeat in World War I, thus precipitating the 1917 revolution.

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What should they say? They play their roles. Nukes don't exist, it's like Corona - the tool of fear-mongering.