May 9, originally a day to honor the victims of World War II, has become a platform for military glorification in Russia, political analyst Igor Botan stated during the IPN public debate “May 9 in Moscow, Kyiv, and Chisinau: Three Different Faces.”
Botan noted that before 1965, Victory Day in the Soviet Union was not a public holiday but a day of mourning and reflection. “There was nothing to celebrate when 27 million Soviet citizens died, 46 million were injured, and 10 million became war invalids. It was a victory, but a victory for the Allies,” he emphasized.
The expert said a turning point came in 2007, following Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where Putin began to revive narratives of Russian imperial greatness. Since then, Victory Day has been transformed from a commemoration of loss into a celebration of military power.
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“May 9 is no longer about remembering victims. It has become a tool of militarist ideology used to justify the Kremlin’s expansionist ambitions,” Botan concluded.
The debate was part of the 330th edition of the series “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates,” supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.