Daniele Dell’Orco March 20, 2022
Pastor Vladimir Putin addressed his disciples on Friday to mark the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. He did so in one of his few public appearances since the start of the military offensive in Ukraine in front of a cheering crowd of 80,000 at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, the same stadium that hosted the 2018 World Cup final, which has turned into a kind of cathedral of Russian patriotism . According to some amateur videos released by Western media, the boss’s words were also greeted by some whistles. This could be the real reason behind the shortening of the President’s speech on Russian television.
In his short but intense speech as a holy man, the Russian President quoted, among other things, the biblical book of John and praised the temperament of his troops in war: “There is no greater love than to give your life for your friends.” . But the reference to the sacred is now a classic reference in Kremlin rhetoric and narrative, for this reason the obvious and underlying messages of the other quotes and, in general, of the scenographic landscape that characterized the parade deserve to be learned in more detail. Putin, who took to the stage with a €12,000 Loro Piana down jacket, even as Russia’s economy collapses under the weight of Western sanctions (the Italian company has distanced itself, actually urging the Tsar to “think about what was done to the Ukrainian wird Volk”) was greeted by a triumph of Russian flags, but above all by banners with the letter “Z”, which has become the symbol of the military attack. Since midFebruary it has been camped on Russian tanks to mark those destined for Ukraine’s Western Front (Zapod means West in Russian), but the Kremlin has given it an allegorical connotation with a megamarketing campaign that makes it eyecatching may by Western analysts “Putin’s swastika ».
A brand, essentially, that distinguishes those who are loyal to the cause. It is the initial of “Za pobedy”, a Russian expression meaning “for victory” and the term “zashchita”, meaning “defense”, in line with the rhetoric that the people of Donbass must be protected , but consequently both the Russian people and the Ukrainian people must be defended by the West and the “Nazis”. And indeed, on the big screens in front of the Luzhniki in Moscow, Putin’s big face was surrounded by the slogans «Za mir bez nazisma! Za Rossiyu! Za Prezidenta!” and that is “For a world without Nazism!” For Russia! For the President!” Other interesting and not accidental references are the patriotic songs mixed before Putin’s intervention (along with a technical incident, it is not known how much in good faith who cut part of it, while it was being aired live on Russia 24), including a performance of “Made in the USSR” which has as its opening line “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, all this is my country” and the choice of the Russian President to commemorate the character of Fedor Fedorovic Usakov, eighteenthcentury admiral, known for two aspects: never losing a battle and overseeing the construction of the naval base of Sevastopol (Crimea) and the port of Kherson, the only major city conquered by the Russians and in which Moscow wants to hold a referendum to proclaim it a separatist republic.
This megaparade of Russian nationalism has been likened to the mass marches organized by North Korean dictator Kim JongUn, which are attended by citizens with no other choice. AngloSaxon media such as the BBC did indeed publish video reports, recorded outside the Moscow facility, of interviews with some Russians queuing for tickets: many claim to have been pressured by employers to attend the event; others, students who confessed to only joining to skip school; there are those who have pocketed money; others left the stadium just minutes after the parade began, having “punched the ticket”. Instead of Putin’s students, Luzhniki would have Putin’s characters.