Russia’s Victory Day Celebrations

It's Russia's biggest and most prestigious public holiday, and this year's May 9th celebrations hold even more significance for Moscow. The massive military parade marks the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis in World War 2. And today, the Kremlin says it's fighting a similar battle in Ukraine- claiming it's trying to ‘denazify’ the nation. That rhetoric has been prominent throughout the conflict, and it was no different in Moscow's Red Square. President Putin blamed the West for the conflict in Ukraine and said his troops were fighting for the motherland. But was this the celebration Putin envisioned, three months after launching the assault. Sergey Utkin Russian Academy of Sciences Strategic Assesment Section Head Peter Eltsov National Defense University Professor Aglaya Snetkov International Politics of Russia Lecturer at UCL