Putin renounces anything new on Victory Day

This year’s celebrations of “Victory Day” on May 9 in Russia had triggered great expectations, especially in the West: Russia’s most important, politically extraordinarily charged holiday in memory of the enormous suffering that World War II had brought to the Soviet Union a symbolic day for the further course of the war in Ukraine?

After all, modern Russia has never seen a victory parade while Russian troops abroad were engaged in an all-out war, albeit disguised as “special operations.” The Ukrainian enemy had been placed in line with the enemy of the time, “Nazism.” In some places in Moscow, a continuity has now even been suggested on banners and posters for the holiday: “Great victory – 1945-2022”.

Putin refrains from making announcements

Accordingly, President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the beginning of the military parade on Red Square in Moscow was eagerly awaited. Putin drew a very direct link from the Soviet Union’s existential struggle against the fascist enemy to the struggle of the Russian troops and the “Donbass insurgents”, as he called them, in Ukraine.

But he also refrained from announcing a partial victory or making political announcements, such as the future status of the territories conquered so far. There was no mention of the battle for Mariupol – the completely devastated port city where resistance is still ongoing – nor did Putin give any idea of ​​how things might go from there. In the run-up, many observers had feared that Putin could call for a general mobilization or even more explicitly threaten nuclear weapons. Both failed.

Russia sees itself fighting the West

Putin spoke grimly and without the solemn undertone of previous May 9 speeches. He once again justified the military operation in Ukraine as a purely defensive act. In December, Russia made proposals to the West for security guarantees, but they were rejected. The US and NATO had very different plans, he claimed, as it quickly became apparent: to arm Ukraine with the aim of attacking “our historic territories”. Resisting this aggression was the only right decision.

Russia, Putin said in Red Square, is defending its traditional values. Protecting your homeland is paramount. The USA and its lackeys, on the other hand, have betrayed their own values ​​and have degenerated. This homeland defense was also provided by the “insurgents” in the Donbass, together with Russian troops. He did not mention the rest of Ukraine. This corresponds to the propagandist view, which suggests that it is all about the Donbass.

In the minute’s silence for the victims of the Great Patriotic War, he included those killed in “combat operations” (he spoke neither of “military operations” nor of “war”) in Ukraine, as well as the civilians who died in the “barbaric attacks on Donbass” and promised the bereaved support – especially the children. Immediately after the end of the event, he had a decree published. The fighters of today, like their forefathers, defended Russia’s independence against the “Nazis”.

A unit of the Tula Airborne Troops, said to have taken part in the war, also took part in the parade. The Luftwaffe demonstration, on the other hand, was officially canceled due to bad weather. It was amazing that in his speech Putin recalled the achievements of the Western Allies in the fight against Nazi Germany. More recently, it has been enshrined in law that the Soviet Union was the decisive force in victory in 1945; the role of the western opponents of Hitler was sometimes not even mentioned.

Military and propaganda resources are exhausted

This year’s “Day of Victory” made the discrepancies between claims and reality obvious. Allegedly state-of-the-art military technology, praised to the skies by propaganda, filed past Putin – right down to the Jars-type nuclear missiles.

But instead of Putin being able to announce a victory over the recalcitrant neighboring country or at least a triumph of the heroism of his own armed forces, as he had probably imagined, on a date so central for his regime, the “military operation” drags on. The armed forces have failed across the board; nothing goes «according to plan», despite the claims.

Both military and propaganda resources seem to have been exhausted. Even if anecdotal evidence and surveys indicate that a majority at least follows the line of argument from the forced defensive war against the West, there can be no question of open war euphoria. A mobilization of reservists on this day of all days would probably have met with resentment, even resistance, even among the nominal supporters of Putin’s bellicose policies.

In the afternoon in the huge Victory Park, dedicated to the memory of the Second World War, in the west of Moscow, that didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the party atmosphere. Old and young brought flowers. Despite the changeable weather, couples and families strolled through the park. Some children wore military attributes—uniform jackets, hats—and ran around with toy guns.

Soviet symbolism

In recent years, the officially celebrated May 9th has increasingly become something artificial, a politically exploited show. Even the procession called “Immortal Regiment”, which is attended by around a million people in Moscow alone, according to official information, and in which ordinary citizens take photos of their ancestors, has long been an official event. After two failures due to the pandemic, it was held again this year for the first time since 2019 – and Putin also took part with his father’s picture.

The particularly conspicuous spread of Soviet symbolism this year, which aroused suspicions among some Russian observers who were critical of the regime, is politically charged. However, it is correct insofar as the victory in 1945 was not won by Russia, but by the Soviet Union, i.e. by Ukrainians, Belarusians, Kazakhs or Kyrgyz. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan refrained from celebrating “Victory Day” this year, to the dismay of Moscow, and made clear the ambivalence of former Soviet republics towards Russia’s campaign against Ukraine.