MOSCOW — Tanks rolled through the streets of
Moscow on Monday just like every May 9, but this year’s Victory Day was being
marked with Russia’s military action in Ukraine on everyone’s minds.
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The annual celebration, which sees military vehicles
parade through Red Square and central city streets, is one of
Russia’s most
important holidays, celebrating the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi
Germany in 1945.
In most years the focus is squarely on the past, on
the heroic victories and sacrifices of what Russians call the Great Patriotic
War.
But with troops now deployed in
Ukraine for what
President Vladimir Putin calls a campaign to “de-Nazify” Russia’s pro-Western
neighbor, this year the present was never far away.
Joining the crowds in central Moscow, Anya said she
was from the Ukrainian city of
Mariupol — which has seen some of the heaviest
fighting since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 — and that she
supported Russia’s military action.
“I am very grateful to Putin for what he is doing.
... We must defeat Nazism like our grandparents,” said Anya, wearing a
military-style cap and a black-and-orange ribbon, a symbol of World War II
victory celebrations in Russia.
Like others who spoke to AFP on Monday, Anya refused
to give her last name.
Memory ‘stolen and
destroyed’
Other participants
questioned whether it was appropriate to link the sacred memories of World War
II with the current conflict.
“You shouldn’t draw parallels, these are completely
different times,” said 40-year-old Irina, who came out to pay tribute to her
two grandfathers who fought against
Nazi Germany.
She said she hoped “all this will end quickly”.
Some simply chose to ignore the celebrations, like
35-year-old blogger Anna, who said she would spend the morning in bed with
noise-canceling headphones.
“I can’t bear anything connected to the military
anymore, because it used to be associated with peace and defending the
Motherland. Now it’s not,” she said.
“It feels like the whole memory of Victory Day has
been stolen and destroyed,” she said.
For many, the day was simply a chance to enjoy some
time off and the spectacle of the parade.
Waving
Soviet and Russian flags, they watched as
tanks, intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, and armored vehicles made
their way to Red Square.
“Look, those are S-300s and S-400s, they’re using
them in Ukraine right now,” said one man to his girlfriend in the crowd.
“These are the
most powerful weapons we have,” said a father to his little boy perched on his
shoulders as surface-to-air missile systems went by.
The city was
festooned with Soviet-era symbols ahead of the celebration, including a
10-meter-high replica of a medal from 1945 reading “USSR – Victory” and
displayed outside the Bolshoi Theatre, a short walk from the Kremlin.
‘Z’ the new symbol
But a new military symbol was also on display this year, drawn on car
windows and on people’s clothes — the letter “Z” that is being used to show
support for Russia’s campaign in Ukraine.
During rehearsals
for the parade, Russian fighter jets even practiced flying across Moscow in the
shape of a “Z”, although the fly-past was canceled on the day due to bad
weather.
Below Moscow’s
busy roads, Viktoria, the owner of a small cafe in an underground passage, said
she felt “it’s a little strange” to celebrate Victory Day this year.
“I avoid reading
the news but what I do follow are the soldiers who died in Ukraine, who are
buried in
Russian regions,” said the 30-year-old from Kalmykia, a region in
southwestern Russia.
She said she fears
the economic consequences of the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia over
the conflict.
“We are all afraid of the
future. There have been deaths from COVID, will there be deaths from
starvation?”
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