Vladimir Putin has to speak on May 9 before Russian troops and the leaders of around twenty countries gathered in the Red Square for the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, a commemorated event for the third consecutive year in the shadow of the conflict in Ukraine.
This year, the Russian president ordered his soldiers to observe a ceasefire in Ukraine from May 8 to 10, during these celebrations which will be crowned, as every year, by a large military parade under the walls of Kremlin in Moscow.
Ukraine, which has faced a large -scale Russian offensive since 2022, has not clearly said whether it would respect this truce and the Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky assured that Russia was “right to worry” for the security of the parade.
The leaders of around twenty nations must stand alongside Vladimir Putin on May 9, including Chinese presidents Xi Jinping and Brazilian Luiz Lula Da Silva, thus those of countries traditionally allied with Russia such as Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba and Venezuela.
Despite the policy of isolation advocated by the Westerners, the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico – defying the injunctions of Brussels – and the Serbian Head of State Aleksandar Vucic are also expected, as well as the president of the Serbs of Bosnia, Milorad Dodik, sought by Bosnian justice.
Promise of unprecedented magnitude
The authorities have promised this year unprecedented ceremonies to mark this date, the main patriotic high mass in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics.
For several days, the streets of the Russian capital have been flooded in national colors and the vast majority of businesses and restaurants have placarded posters calling to “remember” the 1945 victory and to be “proud”.
In the past three years, Vladimir Putin has often returned to the memory of victory over Nazi Germany to defend the military offensive against Ukraine, Russia ensuring that it wants to “denazify” this neighboring country, of which it still occupies around 20% of the territory.
The Second World War, which left more than 20 million dead in the USSR and claimed incredible sacrifices from the population, caused trauma that is still felt within society and which has fed a patriotism widely exploited by the Russian president.
Shortly after the start of the assault against Ukraine, the Russian authorities prohibited any criticism of the armed forces, accentuating a repression which threw several hundred people in prison and pushed thousands of others to go into exile.
The new textbooks in Russia qualify the Ukrainian state as “ultra -nationalist” and compare its current regime to the one that raged from 1941 to 1944, during the Nazi occupation of Soviet Ukraine.
For his part, kyiv criticized the commemorations of May 9 in Russia, judging that they “have nothing to do with victory over Nazism” and that those who will parade the Red Square are “most likely” involved in crimes against the Ukrainians.
Attacks
Soldiers of the Chinese army must take part in the parade, Moscow and Beijing having been strongly closer since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
China is accused of helping Russia bypassing Western sanctions, or even providing it with weapons, as kyiv recently said, which the Chinese government denies.
A North Korean contingent has also helped Russian troops in recent months to take over the Russian region of Koursk from the Ukrainian army.
The authorities of several regions of Russia, including that of Krasnodar in the Southwest, canceled their parades of May 9 this year for fear of possible Ukrainian attacks.
In the capital, security has been strengthened, the organizers who have prohibited spectators from bringing electronic cigarettes, scooters or any pet in the parade celebrating victory.
Last year, the Muscovites noted strong disturbances in satellite navigation, proof of GPS jamming intended to thwart drone attacks.
The May 9 parade attracts large crowds of spectators every year, who often come with the family.
With AFP
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