Putin derides 'Russophobia'

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (Reuters): Russian President Vladimir Putin castigated Europe on Saturday for "Russophobia" and criticised the Baltic States over human rights at the unveiling of a World War Two memorial.
Since he sent Russian troops into Ukraine nearly two years ago, Putin has been making comparisons with the fight against the Nazis in order to rally his nation.
"The regime in Kyiv exalts Hitler's accomplices, the SS men ... In a number of European countries, Russophobia is promoted as state policy," Putin said in the Leningrad region for the 80th anniversary of the end of the Nazi siege. The Germans' aims then were to steal the Soviet Union's resources and eliminate its people, he said.
Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union and itself suffered devastation at the hands of Hitler's forces, rejects comparisons as spurious pretexts for a war of conquest.