“It was 51 military vehicles this year, compared to 131 last year,” says Eastern European journalist Geert Jan Hahn. “Before the invasion of Ukraine there were more than 200 vehicles.” According to Hahn, the parade was quite small. “Everything you would normally see go by now is at the front in Ukraine, or lying there in pieces.”
According to Russia correspondent Joost Bosman, who was also present at today’s parade, there were also significantly fewer spectators on the street. It was also surprising that the Immortal Regiments march, which normally involves tens of thousands of people, and portraits carry portraits of their ancestors who fought in World War II. “It didn’t go well. Officially for safety reasons, but it is also claimed that many people carry portraits of loved ones who have died in Ukraine. The Kremlin didn’t want it.”
Human shield
Even Putin’s speech was short. “There weren’t many people and just a few world leaders,” says Hahn. “These are people from Central Asia, the leaders of Belarus and Armenia, who are, as it were, held hostage by Putin and must follow his example. He was a kind of human shield for Putin. Because they were there, it felt like a little more protection.
In his short speech, the Russian leader once again accused the West of wanting to destroy Russia. “This has been the well-known accumulation of reproaches against the West, which wants to impose its norms and values on the rest of the world.”
Laughable
According to Russian media abroad, Putin has little more to say than this. “Last year we found it shocking, this year we find it boring and next year it will be ridiculous,” Bosman quotes some Russian commentators abroad.
According to Hahn, Putin’s message no longer gets through. “We’re actually laughing about it now. We know his message about the red lines and the advance of the Nazis.” However, many of his viewers don’t have access to other media, ‘his message is internal. But even there More and more people know that for the pomp and circumstance and for a heavier speech and a big parade, they should use a recording from previous years.’
“History becomes the battlefield itself”
Bosman: ‘Putin has been deliberately talking about Nazism for years. The Second World War is sacred for the Russians, it touches Putin’s sensitive strings and he knows it. Bosman thinks that as long as he can link World War II to the fighting in Ukraine, Putin can win over the Russians. “In this way, history itself becomes the battlefield.”
I fly forward
Ukrainian President Zelensky renamed May 9 as Europe Day for his country, where the end of World War II in Ukraine was also commemorated on May 9. “Zelensky is taking a forward flight with this one,” Hahn says.
And this can also be seen in Moscow. “On the eve of this Victory Day, Putin congratulated all the former Soviet countries on the historic event, but he skipped Ukraine. Actually, what Zelensky said makes perfect sense to him, because Ukrainians have been hearing for 9 years that they are fascists and they helped the Nazis get to power. Then you cannot expect them to celebrate this day together with Russia. ‘