The war in Ukraine has prompted officials across Russia to scale back annual celebrations of Victory Day, the country’s most important national holiday, with more than 20 cities forgoing military parades and organizers canceling a popular nationwide march honoring veterans.
Safety concerns were most often cited for the numerous cancellations of Tuesday’s events, but some analysts suggested the unease had just as much to do with fears of domestic unrest.
It’s an extraordinary move in a country where parades commemorating the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II have become a defining event for President Vladimir V Putin.
Over the years, he has referred to the day not only as a celebration of a historic victory, but also as a sign of Russia’s modern-day need to thwart the Western powers, which he says are still trying to destroy. More recently, he has attempted to wrap Ukraine in this narrative, misrepresenting it as a Nazi redoubt.
The country’s largest parade in front of the Kremlin in Red Square is expected to still be the usual display of brute military might, with row upon row of carefully choreographed soldiers marching amid weapons including old tanks and ICBMs. Mr Putin should also address the nation.
But outside Moscow, a recent spate of drone strikes on military or infrastructure targets in cities like Crimea’s Sevastopol, homeport of the Black Sea Fleet, as well as other attacks in regions bordering Ukraine, have given officials pause. Not even the Kremlin was immune as two drones were destroyed over Putin’s office last week.
Smoke rose above a fuel depot in the Russian village of Volna near the bridge connecting Crimea to Russia last Wednesday Source: Portal
In a speech on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew a parallel between World War II and the current war against Russian invaders. From now on, he said, May 9 will be called Europe Day, to commemorate “the unity of all Europeans who destroyed Nazism and will defeat Russism,” a Ukrainian term combining “Russian” and “fascism.”
“We fought then and we fight now so that no one ever enslaves other nations and destroys other countries,” he said.
In Russia, various regional governors have cited security concerns over the cancellation of Victory Day events. They don’t usually go into detail, but in Belgorod, a region bordering Ukraine, the governor suggested that slow-moving military vehicles and marching soldiers could present inviting targets.
“There will be no parade so as not to provoke the enemy with a large amount of equipment and soldiers crowded in the center of Belgorod,” said governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. “The refusal to hold the parade is related to the safety of residents in the area.”
Many areas banned drone flights during the events, and the Readovka news agency on Telegram reported that anti-drone weapons were issued to National Guard units.
Igor Artamonov, the governor of the Lipetsk region, which is also near Ukraine, said his decision should not be misinterpreted.
“We are not afraid, we do not raise our hands,” he wrote on the messaging app Telegram. “No neo-Nazi scum will be able to disturb the big day of victory. But we also have no right to put people in danger. It is clear to everyone that parades take place in well-defined places at well-defined times.”
The cancellation of the nationwide “Immortal Regiment” march, in which ordinary Russians take to the streets to display pictures of their veteran ancestors, is perhaps the most striking change. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov said the march was canceled as a “precautionary measure” against possible attacks.
Some governors said they did not want to gather large numbers of people in the middle of the war. However, some analysts have suggested that the Kremlin may be nervous that large crowds of Russians taking to the streets at such a troubled time could lead to civil unrest despite Russia’s draconian martial law against protests.
The Immortal Regiment marches in Moscow in 2019. Credit: Tatyana Makeyeva/Portal
Analysts say things could get particularly volatile as thousands of people emerge with pictures of those newly killed in the war, revealing the extent of a toll the government has been trying to hide. A few portraits of soldiers killed in Ukraine were carried during last year’s celebrations, but the number was far fewer than then, just two months after fighting began.
“People will not put out portraits of their great-grandfathers,” wrote Elvira Vikhareva, a political activist, on Facebook. “People will come out with portraits of their fathers, sons and brothers. The regiment will not prove ‘immortal’ but very mortal and the extent will be seen.”
Whatever the reason, Russian officials have tried to promote an alternative, suggesting that people upload the portraits to a special website or put portraits of their veteran ancestors on their vehicles and apartment windows.
Some local leaders far from Ukraine said they were canceling their parades in solidarity with frontline regions. In the Pskov region, home to a famous paratrooper division devastated by the fighting and implicated in possible war crimes, Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said the sound of the fireworks would disturb the convalescent soldiers and that the money would be better spent on their needs.
Other regions planned to continue the celebrations, but on a smaller scale. For example, there will be no Luftwaffe flyover in St. Petersburg.
Some pro-war bloggers have complained that the men and equipment traditionally seen in many parades would be more useful on the front lines to prop up the difficult war effort.
Governor Vedernikov suggested a twist, saying: “We must not celebrate the victory, but do everything to bring it closer.”
Milana Mazaeva, Alina Lobzina and Shashank Bengali contributed to the coverage.