Kremlin denies reports on plans to declare mobilization, war on May 9
Russia denies the allegations drummed up by the West against Moscow that it intends to declare a war on Ukraine on its WWII victory day.
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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov attends a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, April 14, 2020 (AP)
Reports by Western media about Moscow planning on declaring a general mobilization and a war on Ukraine on May 9, the day Russia celebrates its victory against the axis powers in World War II, are "complete nonsense", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
Asked whether Western media reports about Moscow declaring mobilization on May 9 were true, Peskov denied such allegations.
"No, do not believe them. It is not true, it is nonsense," the spokesperson said, stressing that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not declare war on May 9.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said last week that the Moscow parade commemorating the defeat of the Nazis and the end of WWII could be used to drum up support for a mass mobilization of troops and renewed pushes into Ukraine.
"I would not be surprised, and I don't have any information about this, that he is probably going to declare on this May Day that 'we are now at war with the world's Nazis and we need to mass mobilize the Russian people'," he claimed.
The fight against the Nazis was very costly for the Soviet Republics, with around 27 million killed in the war that lasted from 1941 to 1945, with almost every family mourning a loved one.
The May 9 commemoration is one of Russia's most important national events, for it is a remembrance of the enormous sacrifice made by the Soviets to defeat Nazi Germany, dubbed the Great Patriotic War in Russia.
The speculations surround the Ukraine war, which started because of NATO's eastward expansion, the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass, and the killing of the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, in addition to Moscow wanting to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.
In response, the US and its allies have rolled out comprehensive sanctions, including restrictions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, SWIFT cutoff for select banks, and closure of airspace to all Russian flights. Many of their companies have suspended their Russian operations.
