Downing Street justifies Wallace’s claim Putin is ‘mirroring’ Nazis

Downing Street has backed Defence Secretary Ben Wallace over claims Vladimir Putin and his inner circle are “mirroring” the fascism of the Adolf Hitler’s Nazis with their actions in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said Wallace’s remarks, made in a major speech on Monday, were “valid” when asked by journalists if it was justifiable to use Nazi references in comment about Russia’s brutal invasion.

Leaked extracts of the Defence Secretary’s speech, at the National Army Museum in London, suggested he would say through the invasion of Ukraine “Putin, his inner circle and generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 70 years ago, repeating the errors of last century’s totalitarian regimes.”

According to reports in the Telegraph and Times newspapers Wallace will add: “Their fate must also, surely, eventually be the same.”

Soldiers and tanks not fighting in Ukraine will join a parade through Moscow and other Russian cities on Monday for the annual Victory Day parades.

Putin has repeatedly attempted to justify his war against Ukraine as one of “denazification.”

On Sunday he referred to Ukrainians as “Nazi filth”.

He said: “Today, our soldiers, as their ancestors, are fighting side by side to liberate their native land from the Nazi filth with the confidence that, as in 1945, victory will be ours.”