Estonian Foreign Ministry: The parade in Moscow demonstrated the Kremlin's weakness
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the May 9 military parade in Moscow highlighted Russia’s internal problems and the intensification of crisis trends. According to the Estonian side, the event also demonstrated the vulnerability of the Russian leadership’s position.
This was reported by ERR on May 11.
Estonian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Jonathan Veseviov stated that Russia’s actions increasingly reveal nervousness, panic, and despair. According to him, the absence of a significant amount of military equipment at the parade is linked to Russia’s losses in the war against Ukraine.
Vesviov noted that some of the equipment was destroyed on the front lines, while Russia allegedly did not want to concentrate the rest in one place. “The background was that Putin called Trump and asked the U.S. president to act as a mediator—in other words, to convince Zelenskyy to allow a parade to be held in Moscow on May 9. Which, in my view, demonstrates Putin’s weakness, and the footage we saw in Moscow actually underscores this as well,” stated the representative of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Vsevjov, this year’s parade gave the impression of “decline and fatigue.” “And I believe that as a symbol, this quite well reflects the situation into which Russia, under Putin’s leadership, has driven itself. In my opinion, no energy is coming from there anymore,” he noted.
The Estonian Foreign Minister also commented on the concert in Ivangorod near the border with Estonia, which was broadcast toward Narva. “Is this really what a great country aspiring to become an empire is now doing to its small neighbor? In my opinion, there’s no need to fear such things, because these are laughable attempts to sow confusion and division,” Veseviov said.
North Korean troops marched in a separate column for the first time at the May 9 parade on Red Square in Moscow.
Military parades marking May 9 took place in a number of cities in Siberia and the Russian Far East, held on the eve of the main “Victory Day” celebrations in Moscow. In many cases, the events essentially amounted to a display of manpower without a large-scale showcase of military equipment.
This year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9 took place in a significantly scaled-down format due to fears of drone attacks.
