‘West was preparing to invade our land,’ Putin says at Victory Day parade

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine had been necessary because the West was “preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea.”

Putin was speaking at the annual Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square marking the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

President Putin evoked the memory of Soviet heroism in World War Two to urge his army towards victory in Ukraine.

Addressing massed ranks of servicemen on Red Square on the 77th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, Putin condemned what he called external threats to weaken and split Russia, and repeated familiar arguments he had used to justify its invasion -- that NATO was creating threats right next to its borders.