On September 1, 1939, Hitler started the Second World War — the bloodiest in the history of mankind. The Nazi leader’s intention to conquer territories, enslave and destroy peoples caused countless suffering of mankind. These days, Putin started a territorial expansion into Ukraine — a war of aggression, which the Kremlin called “SMO”. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine became a shame for Russia: for many generations, Russians will bear the guilt for Putin’s crime, who personally insulted the memory of all those Russians and residents of the USSR who fought against Nazism.
Since taking power in 1999, Putin has begun to create plans for large-scale territorial expansion. Propaganda has become the main tool of the Kremlin dictator in preparing Russian society for an inevitable war. The Kremlin spent huge sums on professional propagandists who reproduced narratives about the “selectness” of Russia, the West’s historical guilt to it, and the “Anglo-Saxons” threat to Russians. During almost 24 years of his actual rule, Putin created a “society of hatred” in Russia, which is able to destroy and kill on the orders of its leader. The world saw a similar situation more than 80 years ago: Hitler, after coming to power and creating the Third Reich, also convinced the German people of their specialness and the right to decide the fate of others.
The May 9 holiday became extremely popular in Russia precisely after Putin came to power. He tried to give special significance to this date, appealing to the historical memory of the great victory, which, in his opinion, should unite all Russians, regardless of their nationality and religion. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine exposed the criminal essence of the Russian military: they suffered defeat after defeat on the battlefield, but they turned out to be a great killer, rapists and looters. Russia has suffered huge losses: in the current year, parades on the occasion of May 9 have been canceled in many Russian cities. The local authorities explain this decision by the lack of weapons that are at the front or have already been destroyed. In addition to the losses, Russia has discredited itself too much, and it is not for nothing that the Russian embassy in Lithuania will celebrate May 9 exclusively within the territory of the diplomatic mission. A country in which neo-Nazi ideology is de facto the basis of domestic and foreign policy cannot claim the laurels of the winner in the Second World War. Putin has nothing to say to his people, except to prepare for even greater casualties, sanctions and international isolation, which have become the logical consequence of the xenophobic politics cultivated in Russia for years.
The efforts of Russian diplomacy and propaganda to promote the May 9 date in Europe should be considered as toxic informational pressure on Europeans. The country that claims to be the winner of the biggest war in the history of mankind is committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Putin ordered the mass destruction of Ukrainian cities, to kill Ukrainians based on their nationality and to forcibly deport them to Russia. For more than a year, a full-scale war has been going on in Europe: the largest of all the wars that took place in this part of the world after 1945. Russia has systematically weakened, but still has sufficient military resources. Putin understands only the language of force. He is preparing for a big war, and it can be stopped only with weapons, otherwise Russia will make a disaster that will affect all of humanity.