There were no surprises during Vladimir Putin’s short speech to commemorate the 78th Victory Day in Moscow on Tuesday. Just as last year, Mr Putin drew risible parallels between the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany and his own illegal war in Ukraine. Even the brutal head of the Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has questioned this narrative, which casts Ukraine as a neo-Nazi puppet regime manipulated by a west intent on destroying Russia. But the president resolutely stuck to the usual script.
The boilerplate polemic was, however, delivered against a subtly changed backdrop. This was the most muted 9 May celebration since Mr Putin began to co-opt the anniversary for his own revanchist purposes. Fifteen months after Russia’s blitzkrieg invasion ground to a halt last February, the blood-soaked war of attrition taking place in eastern Ukraine has limited the Kremlin’s capacity to put on a show in Red Square. The parade was light on heavy military equipment, compared with previous years, and did not feature an air display. In other parts of Russia, events were cancelled altogether, with officials citing security grounds.
