
This year's May 9 celebrations in Moscow are well underway, with the country's press reporting that fighter jets are exercising flying formations over Red Square. Far from liberating Europe, Moscow has been at combat with its neighbour Ukraine for two months now, with no actual military success to commemorate.Several political experts predict that Putin might use his May 9 speech to link Ukrainian conflict and the valour of Soviet soldiers during WWII.įollowing Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin celebrated Victory Day by delivering a speech in Red Square about defeating fascism prior to actually flying to the Black Sea port of Sevastopol to commemorate his new win in front of a huge number of onlookers. This year, the occasion has gained new significance. How is the victory day going to be different this year? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, has dismissed Moscow's claim of "denazification." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded by drawing a comparison between Zelenskyy and Adolf Hitler, which drew strong criticism from Israel. To support up their argument, Putin and his leaders cited the adoration of rulers Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, who cooperated with the Nazis throughout WWII, and their perceived use of Nazi system signifiers by Ukraine's right-wing groups.Īdditionally, the Russian government frequently uses rhetoric to try to boost public support for the conflict, despite huge casualties of troops and weapons, as well as huge financial harm from International sanctions. Putin stated that the attack was ordered to "demilitarise" Ukraine in order to eliminate a perceived strategic threat to Russia posed by "neo-Nazis," rhetoric that Ukraine and the West criticised as a fictional coat for a blunt armed attack. However, numerous history scholars have criticised Putin for misleading people with his false information in order to advance the Kremlin's agenda. Putin has repetitively invoked the Holocaust, WWII, and Nazism to justify Kremlin's violence against Ukraine. Putin has supported Moscow's invasion of Ukraine by asserting that he is "denazifying" the region. The yearly festivities include a huge military parade on Red Square displaying the most advanced weapons, ranging from tanks to fighter warplanes to nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles. Russian officials also historically stand in Red Square on the tomb of their prominent leader Vladimir Lenin. Victory Day festivities in Russia typically include a huge army march. While Boris Yeltsin, Moscow's first post-Soviet president, made Victory Day a yearly event, it was Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev who later announced May 9 a public holiday, according to Time Magazine. On May 7, the day when the Nazis submitted in France, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin chose to commemorate the Nazis' defeat the next day in Ussr-controlled Berlin. Russia celebrated the trounce of the Nazis during WWII on May 9. Many believe that the day has steadily become a show of strength of troops and military devices and the central focus of Putin's idea of Russian identity during his decades in power. The USSR lost the lives of millions of people in WWII, which is now also identified as the "Great Patriotic War." On Victory Day, Russians commemorate the 1945 end of this war, as well as a day to remember World War II sacrifices.

How is the victory day going to be different this year?.
