OPINION: The Great Lie Behind Russia’s Victory Day

Every year on May 9, Vladimir Putin delivers an address to celebrate Victory Day, which marks the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II, a war Russians dub the “Great Patriotic War.” If history is any guide, Putin will again use this year’s speech to justify his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. For Putin, it is an opportunity to project to his people an image of Russia as a powerful nation defeating fascism, and abroad to project Russia as a great power.

Modern Russian schools’ history classes conveniently leave out the fact that the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact set the stage for the war. The secret agreement allowed Germany and the Soviet Union to invade Poland and divide it between them, while Moscow took control of the independent Baltic countries, thus sparking World War II. Instead, Russians have always claimed that the war began in 1941, with Nazi Germany’s invasion of the USSR.

The nationalistic narratives, called “history” in Putin’s Russia, promote the idea that the Soviet Union, acting as a “global savior” from Nazism, lost over 27 million citizens in the Second World War. This spilt blood, the Kremlin argues, makes Russia exceptional and secures its perpetual role as the global watchdog preventing “flare-ups” of “Nazism” – something that Putin has often cited as a reason for his invasion of Ukraine.

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The vessels, often carrying Russian oil and gasoline but flying the flag of another country, allow the Kremlin to keep exporting despite sanctions on exports and an oil price cap on its global sales.

Last year’s Victory Day parade featured just a single World War II-era tank, a T-34. This year, Putin plans to feature larger elements of Russia’s military arsenal. However, it is not all about hard power rolling across Red Square; it is also a propaganda-intense event to mislead the Russian public about why Ukraine has been invaded, which has caused over 475,000 Russian casualties. Kyiv warned that the Kremlin would intensify attacks on Ukraine before Victory Day to strengthen its propaganda machine glorifying patriotism and exciting the public about the wholly unnecessary war in Ukraine.

Putin has called Victory Day a “sacred holiday” and Dmitry Mezentsev, General Secretary of the Union State, expressed the hope that history will erase the reasons for the emergence of Nazism, which Russia is now fighting, something that Russia will try to impart on the five Central Asian presidents who plan to attend Thursday’s propaganda bonanza.

Virtually every Russian town has multiple World War II monuments proclaiming the victory of communism over fascism – an argument that by now is dated. So, for the Kremlin’s contemporary propaganda needs, Putin has become centered on fanning fears that a sudden uptick in “fascism” abroad would be the catalyst for Russia to save the world yet again by racking up massive casualties.

Moscow cannot get enough of convincing people that the world is safer because of Russia. This myth, built on historical revisionism, was repeated by Putin during his interview with Tucker Carlson, in which he claimed that Poland had collaborated with the Nazis – leaving out his own country’s nefarious role in the affair.

The increasing number of Stalin statues going up in Russian towns is a strong indication that the population is not giving flippant responses in polls, as now 56 percent of Russians regard Josef Stalin as a “great leader” and support for Stalin has grown the most among young people. Information operations to combat this trend should focus on how Stalin was personally present during the signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

To keep the world safe from the threat of Russia’s promises to “guarantee security” across the globe and to wean Russian citizens from their state’s rabid propaganda, the US should launch an offensive information-operations campaign and disseminate the facts about World War II: Russia played a significant role. Not only did Moscow cause the world’s worst armed conflict, but it also continues to perpetuate similar atrocities today.

Only when the world recognizes that Russia’s efforts for “global peace” are a threat and that the world is better off without Putin, can we truly celebrate the global defeat of fascism.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.