Red Soviet flags and military ribbons with orange and black stripes are displayed in Russian cities. Festive concerts are organized in the neighborhoods. Flowers are presented by veteran groups in front of monuments to the Great Patriotic War, as it is known in the country World War II.
At first glance, preparations for Monday’s Victory Day celebrations, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, seem to be the same as always.
But the mood this year is very different, because Russian troops are fighting and dying again.
And this battle, now in its 11th week, is being fought in neighboring Ukraine against what the government falsely called a campaign against the Nazis.
Pride and patriotism, usually associated with Russia’s most important holiday, marked by a huge parade of soldiers and military equipment across Red Square, are mixed with fears and worries about what this year’s Victory Day may bring.
Some Russians fear that President Vladimir Putin will use it to declare that what the Kremlin once called a “special military operation” in Ukraine will now be a full-fledged war that will lead to widespread mobilization of troops to strengthen of Russian forces.
“I can’t remember a time when the May 9 holiday was eagerly awaited,” historian Ivan Kurila wrote on Facebook.
Ukrainian intelligence chief Kirill Budanov said Moscow was secretly preparing such a plan. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told LBC Radio that Putin was laying the groundwork for saying, “Look, this is a war against the Nazis and what I need is more people.”
The Kremlin has denied any such plans, calling the reports “false” and “nonsense.”
Asked by the Associated Press on Friday whether rumors of mobilization could ease the mood on Victory Day, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “nothing will overshadow” the “holy day, the most important day” for Russians.
However, human rights groups have reported a jump in calls from people asking about mobilization laws and their rights in the event of an order to join the army.
“The questions of who can be called and how they started to flow en masse through our hotline for the rights of recruits and the military,” said Pavel Chikov, founder of the legal aid group Agora, in the Telegram news app.
Russian state television has intensified patriotic rhetoric. Announcing the military operation on February 24, Putin said it was aimed at “demilitarizing” Ukraine to remove the alleged military threat to Russia from “neo-Nazis.”
A recent television commentary said Putin’s words were “not an abstract thing and not a slogan” and praised Russia’s success in Ukraine, although Moscow’s troops have sunk, making only small profits in recent weeks.
Ukraine, which has a democratically elected Jewish president who has lost relatives in the Holocaust, and the West have condemned the remarks as a fictitious cover for a brutal act of aggression.
But many Russians, fed a constant diet from the official narrative, applauded their troops, comparing them to “our grandfathers” who fought the Germans.
Russia’s popular support for the war in Ukraine is difficult to assess in a country that has witnessed constant repression of journalists in recent years, with closed independent media and state-controlled television that has widespread influence.
A recent survey by a respected independent Levada center found that 82% of Russians remain concerned about Ukraine’s military campaign. Most of them – 47% – are worried about the deaths of civilian and Russian soldiers in the war, as well as the devastation and suffering. Only 6% of those affected by the war said they were concerned about the alleged presence of “Nazis” and “fascists” in Ukraine.
“A large part of the population is terrified and even those who support the war are in a constant psychological state of war in perpetual nightmare,” political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov said in a recent comment.
A government campaign to promote military support uses the distinctive black-and-orange St. George’s ribbon, which is traditionally associated with Victory Day. The letter “Z” has become a symbol of conflict, adorning buildings, posters and billboards throughout Russia, and many of its shapes use the colors and patterns of the ribbon.
Rallies in support of the troops took place in recent days in front of World War II memorials, with participants singing wartime songs from the 1940s.
An official suggested that Victory Day protesters show photos of soldiers now fighting in Ukraine. Usually on the holiday, Russians wear portraits of their relatives who fought in World War II to honor those in the so-called “Immortal Regiment” from a conflict in which the Soviet Union lost a staggering 27 million people.
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