A trip to Putin. Vladimir Ziablitsky traveled to Moscow from his distant Siberian region to take part in the “patriotic” mega-concert organized to mark the first anniversary of the start of the military campaign in Ukraine.
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Like him, tens of thousands of people gathered at Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday for the show that glorified the army, denounced the “neo-Nazi Ukrainian regime” and featured a surprise but expected guest, Vladimir Putin.
“The President really needs our support right now. (…) It’s going in the right direction,” says Vladimir Ziablitski, who left his region of Kemerovo, 3,000 kilometers from the capital, especially for this occasion.
“We are in full solidarity with him and want our country to end this war as soon as possible. And for that you need a mobilization around the national leader,” the 59-year-old entrepreneur assures AFP.
Almost no free seats left in the spans of the stadium with 80,000 seats. A beautiful winter day with few clouds. It’s -15 degrees Celsius, but people are present with their small children in ski suits.
The concert starts. The crowd waves dozens of Russian flags, which are distributed free of charge at the entrance. On the stage, heroes tell their martial heroic deeds, then popular artists, young and old, string together songs about the war, sometimes romantic, sometimes rhythmic, sometimes martial.
“It’s positive,” comments Iouliana, a 47-year-old lawyer. “This consolidation of national unity is reminiscent of the Great Patriotic War,” from the name in Russia of the struggle against Nazi Germany, the cult of which has become a pillar of the Kremlin.
Since the attack in Ukraine erupted a year ago, the government has pledged to militarize society in public spaces and schools, particularly by organizing patriotic events.
Many Russians cling to this discourse, which portrays the conflict as a defensive measure against the Ukrainian authorities, who Moscow says captured the Westerners to save the Slavic and Russian-speaking entity.
“It is a war of survival, a war aimed at destroying Russia (…). The decisive phase of this struggle against the West has begun,” said Ivan Tkatchev, a 47-year-old musician accompanied by his young daughters.
During the show children come on stage. The moderator says that they are small Ukrainians rescued by a Russian soldier and taken to safety at the time of the Battle of Mariupol in Russia. One of the girls speaks and bursts into tears after saying a few words of thanks.
The Russians are accused of kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children and transferring them to Russia. The Kremlin, for its part, ensures that the adoptions are legal.
Then, after more than an hour of waiting in the freezing cold, Vladimir Putin finally arrives to the shouts of the crowd. “I told you he was coming!” a man shouts euphorically to his wife and hugs her.
“Today the (military) hierarchy informed me that our historic land is being fought for our people,” announced the President. A short speech ending with the Russian anthem and three “Hurrah!”, the army’s battle cry.
Vladimir Putin goes fast.
“Impressive, as always,” says Andreï Moisseïev, an 18-year-old student, soberly commenting on the President, whom he has seen in person for the first time.
“It’s great for raising the patriotic spirit, it shows us the direction we need to go and we’re going there together,” continues the young man, his nose red from the cold. He swears that if he is mobilized to go to Ukraine and fight, he will go.