European guests at war criminal Putin’s parade as humiliation and spit in the face of Europe

The latest report of the UN Syria Commission covering the period from July 11 to January 31, 2019, once contained accusations of Bashar al-Assad regime and — for the first time — of Russian air force over airstrikes on Idlib. Naturally, the UN commission called such actions a war crime, blaming Russia and the Syrian authorities for violating human rights.

Meanwhile, as time shows, neither the occupation of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine, nor the bloody crimes of the Russian troops in Syria, nor Russia’s interference in the civil war in Libya, nor many other bloody and flagrant crimes of the Kremlin military machine seem to discourage a number of European politicians from supporting the Putin regime and even indulging it.

And, of course, against this background, I can’t help but recall the invitation to the Kremlin’s May 9 Victory Day parade of a number of European leaders, among whom, as you know, is French President Emmanuel Macron, who has already agreed to participate in this militaristic extravaganza of a war criminal.

In my opinion, it would be a real paradox, a surreal nonsense indeed, to see among those invited to the “Bavarian Generals Hall” in Munich, in 1942, to the annual pledge of allegiance of Nazi troops, figures like Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle or Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But, this paradox does manifest itself fully in 2020, when leaders of civilized European countries appear to be willing to stand along war criminal and dictator Vladimir Putin on Red Square. Or at least, one of them.

In fact, the attendance by Macron, or of any of world leader, at the May 9 parade in Moscow is not about their personal shame. First of all, this is about a historical shame for their countries, introducing this visit into the chronicles against the backdrop of the bloody bath in Idlib and another humanitarian crisis that the Kremlin is provoking through its Syrian puppet, Bashar al-Assad.

Standing next to the tyrant and seeing terrorist troops marching the square, while tens of thousands of Syrians are fleeing their homes amid bombings by Russian warplanes and the advance of the Russian-Assad troops — isn’t it the greatest humiliation of own dignity?

Besides, along with refugees, Syrian officers and security operatives, as well as members of affiliated radical groups are also penetrating European borders. We are perfectly aware of what it will all result in for Europe, recalling the humanitarian crisis of 2015, when Russian-Assad groups created lots of dormant terrorist cells across the EU.

But if the problems of 2015, pulsating around the issue of Russian-controlled radicalism and terrorist blackmail, which brought populists and right-wing political forces to power, were limited to this, today Europe may be facing a threat of a different magnitude.

The humanitarian crisis of the current scale is extremely untimely in the context of the emergence in Europe of hotspots of the ubiquitous coronavirus, which can lead to its uncontrolled spread, thereby worsening the epidemiological situation in Europe significantly.

And therefore, the manifestation of any loyalty to and flirting with Putin is not just a personal humiliation for any politician who allows themselves to act like this — this is a potential humiliation for the whole nation, which they represent. This is humiliation before a war criminal and a tyrant.

Is Europe ready to accept this?