MOSCOW – And what will you do for your country this week? The letter will be sent with the reply already attached. Instructions for using this very important week for the sake of the holiday and the anniversary of the start of the Special Military Operation are detailed in the notice sent to many Russian regions. State officials are urged to refrain from “over-the-top entertainment” and throwing “luxury parties” that would be out of place in the current times. At the celebrations, “treats” and “speeches about the eternal glory of the Russian army” are welcome.
There will not be days like so many. On Tuesday, February 21, Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech “on the current situation” to the assembled chambers. The following day, at the beginning of the holiday marked by Defender of the Fatherland Day, formerly Armed Forces Day (February 23), the mega-gathering will be held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which is expected “at least”. eighty thousand people whom the President will assist in attending. Nothing more needs to be said on the 24th. Yesterday, some newspapers suspected a new speech by Putin on live TV, but there is still no official confirmation.
Today’s Russia is wrapped in this mixture of current events and history. Everything, every message from the authorities seems aimed at overlaying the past with the present. The only possible glue is patriotism, pushed in any way possible. In schools, on billboards at bus stops, not to mention on television. The aim of these holidays, says the circular sent to the regions, is to show that “the whole nation is united and engaged in the fight against the enemy,” and then to demonstrate “the power of the Russian army.” The enemy is not identified in Ukraine, but in NATO. Kiev and Donbass are disappearing from the official narrative of this conflict, which is no longer regional but global, us against everyone, against almost the whole world. In the analysis of some scholars of Russian society, as well as in some government newspapers, the concept of “existential war” on which the fate of the entire fatherland depends appears more and more often.
«The program includes, among other things: participation in the concert event “Honor to the Defenders of the Fatherland” on February 22 in Moscow; organization of reenactment festivals dedicated to Russian weapons, Russian epic heroes and Russian victories; choral songs and flash mobs featuring military poems and songs; courage exercises that soldiers of the Russian army will conduct in schools and universities; Congratulations and congratulations on social networks in support of wounded soldiers”.
Even a simple walk in the center of Moscow helps to understand the current climate. The billboards, which until last year were full of Western brands, have now been replaced by signs with photos of soldiers surmounted by the words “Honour to the Heroes of Russia” or an adult’s drawn hand shaking a child’s: ” For Russia! For the children of Donbass!», or the disturbing image of Aleksandr Nevsky, the Russian national hero who defeated the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 1242: «The time of heroes has come again!» Propaganda talk shows go silent at the weekend. But continuity of anti-West propaganda will be ensured by a new television series called The End of the American Empire, directed by Vyacheslav Nikonov, a United Russia MP and nephew of Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin’s former foreign minister.
Under these premises, an epochal announcement by Putin seems unlikely. When the outcome of the military special operation is uncertain, the President wins the battle on the home front without a doubt. Hitting the patriotism button really pays off. Its acceptance is almost the same as it was at the peak of popularity in 2008. Enmity with Kiev has united the political and military elites, both aware of the fact that there are no possible alternatives to him. Barring surprises, Putin will speak of popular support and attack Western neocolonialism, glorifying Russian heroism and specificity. A recipe that works, you don’t change.
A few days ago in remote Blagoveschensk, hundreds of shirtless people doused themselves with buckets of ice-cold water in minus fifteen degrees. In support of the troops in Ukraine and to show that it is “a healthy, athletic and patriotic nation, capable of building its own future.” The picture can make us westerners smile. But on February 25, the initiative will be repeated in major cities, major regions and everywhere. Most Russians really believe it.