Britain’s defense minister on Monday called out “the absurdity” of Russia’s bemedalled military top brass at the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow, highlighted by President Vladimir Putin’s speech.
Putin addressed a vast parade on Red Square in Moscow for a public holiday celebrating Soviet victory in World War II, as the Russian armed forces have suffered major losses in Ukraine.
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, himself a former soldier, was due to give a speech at the National Army Museum later Monday.
“All professional soldiers should be appalled at the behavior of the Russian Army,” he will say, according to excerpts released in advance by his department.
“Not only are they engaged in an illegal invasion and war crimes but their top brass have failed their own rank and file to the extent they should be court martialled.”
Putin on Monday gave a speech to troops telling them they are defending the “Motherland” in Ukraine.
He has justified Russia’s military actions by saying they are carrying out “denazification” of the neighboring country.
Wallace said he wanted to “call out the absurdity of Russian generals –- resplendent in their manicured parade uniforms and weighed down by their many medals,” saying they were “utterly complicit in Putin’s hijacking of their forebears’ proud history of... repelling fascism.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday spoke of his pride in Ukrainians who fought to defeat Nazism, saying he would not allow victory in World War II to be “appropriated” by Russians.
UK defense minister condemns Russian military top brass
https://arab.news/8gb7y
UK defense minister condemns Russian military top brass
Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt
- Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years
DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.
Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024.
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”
He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
