Every year on May 9, President Vladimir Putin gives a speech to celebrate Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, which Russians call the Great Patriotic War. If history is any guide, Putin will once again use this year's speech to justify his baseless invasion of Ukraine. For Putin, this is an opportunity to project an image of Russia to the public as a strong nation that has defeated fascism, and to project Russia as a great power abroad.
History classes in modern Russian schools conveniently omit the fact that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 triggered the war. This secret agreement allowed Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland, while Moscow took control of the independent Baltic states, starting World War II. Instead, Russians have always maintained that the war began in 1941 with Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union.
The nationalist narrative, called “history” in Putin's Russia, promotes the idea that the Soviet Union acted as a “global savior” from Nazism, losing more than 27 million of its citizens in World War II. are doing. This spilled blood will make Russia an exception and secure its enduring role as a global watchdog to prevent a “resurgence” of Nazism, which Putin has often cited as the reason for invading Ukraine. The Kremlin insists.
Last year's Victory Day parade featured just one T-34, a World War II-era tank. This year, President Putin plans to take up larger elements of Russia's military arsenal. But it's not all about great power circulating in Red Square. It is also a propaganda event intended to mislead the Russian public about the reasons for the invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in over 475,000 Russian casualties. Kiev has warned that the Kremlin will step up attacks on Ukraine ahead of Victory Day in order to strengthen its propaganda machine to glorify patriotism and excite the public about a completely unnecessary war in Ukraine.
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President Putin calls Victory Day a “sacred holiday” and Federal State Secretary Dmitry Mezentsev says history has erased the reasons for the emergence of Nazism, with which Russia is currently fighting, and Russia is trying to convey something He expressed his hope that this would be the case. Five Central Asian presidents scheduled to attend Thursday's propaganda smash.
Almost every town in Russia has multiple World War II monuments proclaiming the victory of communism over fascism, but this argument is now outdated. Therefore, President Putin, due to the Kremlin's modern propaganda needs, is worried that the sudden rise of “fascism'' abroad could be the trigger for Russia to save the world again, with huge casualties. They began to focus on inciting fear.
The Russian government is not doing enough to convince people that the world is safer because of Russia. This myth, based on historical revisionism, was repeated by President Putin in an interview with Tucker Carlson, claiming that Poland collaborated with the Nazis and ignoring his country's nefarious role in the incident.
The growing number of statues of Stalin being erected in Russian towns is a strong indication that the people are not responding lightly to the polls. Support for Stalin is highest among the population, with 56 percent of Russians now viewing Joseph Stalin as a “great leader.” Young people. Information operations to counter this trend should focus on Stalin's personal presence during the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
In order to protect the world from the threat of Russia's promise to “guarantee security” around the world and to separate the Russian people from the state's fanatical propaganda, the United States launched an offensive information operations campaign and Facts about the Great War should be disseminated: Russia played an important role. Moscow not only sparked the world's worst armed conflict, but continues to perpetuate similar atrocities today.
Only when the world recognizes that Russia's efforts for “world 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 author and not necessarily those of the Kyiv Post.
