Putin will declare an official state of war and announce mass mobilization, which could entail a military draft and a prohibition on Russian men of military age being allowed to leave the country.Īlthough a shared respect for the sacrifices of World War II remains a unifying force in Russia, a new draft or travel restrictions could provoke a blowback. ![]() Putin has been spinning to justify his war in Ukraine are very much in line with the grand, nostalgic narratives of Victory Day.Īnalysts who follow Russia closely, however, say it is far from certain that Mr. Putin will use his May 9 speech next week to invoke the heroism of Soviet soldiers in World War II to try to inspire Russians to make new sacrifices. Now, Russian state media is referring to Ukrainians who have resisted the Russian invasion as “Nazis,” and portraying the fight as the unfinished business of World War II. When he addressed the nation from his rostrum at Red Square on May 9 last year, he warned that Russia’s enemies were deploying once again “much of the ideology of the Nazis.” Putin has used May 9 - a near-sacred holiday for Russians to remember the 27 million Soviets who died in World War II - to mobilize the nation for the possibility of a new battle ahead. "A significant part of the population is horrified, and even those who support the war are in a permanent psychological militant state of a perpetual nightmare," said political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov in a recent commentary.In years past, Mr. Only 6% of those concerned by the war said they were bothered by the alleged presence of "Nazis" and "fascists" in Ukraine. ![]() The vast majority of them – 47% – are worried about the deaths of civilians and Russian soldiers in the war, along with the devastation and suffering. Popular support in Russia for the war in Ukraine is difficult to gauge in a country that has seen a steady crackdown on journalists in recent years, with independent media outlets shut down and state-controlled television providing a pervasive influence.Ī recent poll by the respected independent Levada Center found that 82% of Russians remain concerned by the military campaign in Ukraine. Ukraine, which has a democratically elected Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust, and the West have condemned the remarks as a fictitious cover for a blunt act of aggression.īut many Russians fed a steady diet of the official narrative have cheered on their troops, comparing them to "our grandfathers" who fought the Germans. ![]() 24 military operation, Putin declared it was aimed at the "demilitarization" of Ukraine to remove a perceived military threat to Russia by "neo-Nazis."Ī recent TV commentary said Putin's words were "not an abstract thing and not a slogan" and praised Russia's success in Ukraine, even though Moscow's troops have gotten bogged down, making only minor gains in recent weeks. Russian state TV has ramped up the patriotic rhetoric. ![]() "Questions about who can be called up and how have started to flow on a mass scale through our hotline about the rights of conscripts and the military," said Pavel Chikov, founder of the Agora legal aid group, on the messaging app Telegram.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |