Russia’s highly-militarized Victory Day celebration has nothing to do with WWII
The legacy of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany feeds pro-war aggression in Putin’s Russia — and is celebrated with a religious fervor. When Russian President Vladimir Putin swept into power in 2000, he faced a divided land. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the economic downturn that followed left deep scars on Russian society. Many felt that Russia had suffered a national humiliation. Putin needed a common cause that would unite the masses. The revival of the Russian Orthodox Church, backed at the highest levels of government, was one such step. Yet Russia, with its patchwork of peop...