Isolating an oppressive Russia from the international commemorative scene

June 6th, 1944 is a symbolic date in European history: the landing of the Allies in Normandy. This commemorative day echoes worldwide, and every year diverse Heads of State from Western countries return to the beaches of Normandy, to celebrate this significant event in WWII conflicts. 2024 marked a unique moment in the commemorative history. First, it was the year of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings and, more contentiously, Russia was not invited, in line with the wishes of Volodymyr Zelensky. 

The Elysée palace made this decision a few days before the commemoration, justifying it by the “war of aggression” of Moscow against Ukraine. Initially, a Russian delegation, without Vladimir Putin, was invited in order to pay tribute to the memory of the Red Army which had contributed to the denazification of the European territories. A tribute notably paid in French cemeteries where Russian soldiers are resting. However, the last-minute decision of Emmanuel Macron made a big difference.

France did not wish to offer a caution or a mediatic tribune to a revisionist state, which was actively promoting terrorism and internationally accused of war crimes. This French choice joined the call of many MEPs who had asked Western countries to multiply initiatives to isolate Russia even more at the international scale. 

Inviting Russia for the third time to this commemorative event to represent the memory of Soviet people is the same as making this authoritative regime the heir of the battle against Nazism. However, heirs of the Red Army soldiers are as much Ukrainian, Kyrgyz, Georgian, Turkmene, Belarussian as they are Russian. Some of these republics post-USSR brought a considerable contribution to Soviet victory, sacrificing the lives of thousands of soldiers. Ukraine is still among these victims, faced with a new aggressor. An aggressor which maintains the terror of an entire society because of the absurd will to “denazify” or “demilitarise”. The same resistant spirit and hope of liberation as those of June 6^th landings persists in Ukraine today. In that context, is it possible to stand against the Russian oppression and barbary and still honour the memory of the liberators?

“Victory Day”: a Russian propagandist commemoration? 

Celebrated on May 9^th instead of the 8^th due to the difference in time zone, Victory Day, marks the celebration of the end of the “great patriotic war”, a day symbolising the victory of the Soviet Union against the Nazi regime in 1945. Used as a national propaganda tool, this day, brought up to date by Putin in 2000, has become a means to glorify Russia’s military power and reinforce the ideal of a Russian renewal. 

May 9^th also commemorates the 26 million civilians and soldiers who died for their nation during the Second World War. It is an important stake for the Russian government to highlight the importance of collective memory as a nation, more specifically national grief. 

This is why many parades take place annually to restore the Russian image. The most important one takes place in the Red Square in Moscow, at the heart of the capital city. According to Carole Grimaud Potter, a professor in Russian geopolitics, “ it is a date more important than the fall of the USSR and a way to hide the purges of the Soviet era”.

Rewriting history and political instrumentalism 

After the fall of the USSR in 1991, the country had to rebuild itself actively to form a new Russian nation, united in adversity. That is how Putin declares that his country only managed to overcome the Nazi threat. In reality, more than 50 countries overcame it by combing their strategic and military efforts. This is not the first time that a politician has rewritten history to their advantage but in this case, Russian identity comes out as a winner. 

Partly allowed by the sacralisation of the former Soviet power, Russian patriotism resonates beyond national borders. Putin, by utilising the German defeat, puts himself as a saviour of Russian people looking to reconstitute the “divided nation” of the past and reinstate a sense of national unity. He uses this as a pretext to justify his invasions and attacks, especially in Ukraine. The day after the annexation of Crimea on March 18^th, 2014, the Russian president directly addressed the German population to solicit their support even though he had just violated international law:  “I expect that the citizens of Germany will also support the aspiration of the Russians, of historical Russia, to restore unity.”

This year, to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of the Allies victory in Europe, the Chinese President Xi Jinping will stand by the Russian Head of State, Putin, his biggest ally on the international scene. An occasion for them to reaffirm their alliance in front of the whole world, especially to Donald Trump, who has tried since his re-election to interfere in their business. 

Memory of tragic historical events echoing the situation in Ukraine

Right after the start of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed different national Parliaments in Western allied countries. His speeches are held in a context of extreme uncertainty for the future of Ukraine on the very short-term. At the time, it was still a possibility that all of the Ukrainian territory would be militarily annexed by Russia. Moral, financial, and military support especially in terms of equipment sent by Allied states to Ukraine started to take shape. President Zelensky had to build solid relations with his partners. 

In his speeches in front of the Parliaments of allied countries, he used distressing historical references to differing reactions from the Western democracies he addresses. In front of the American Congress, the Ukrainian head of state used this technique on March 16^th 2022, evoking the most tragic event in the United States: the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese bombing on the American military base of the same name, leading the United States to join the Second World War. 

Volodymyr Zelensky recalled older memories in front of the French Parliament. In his speech on March 22nd, 2022, he drew a parallel between the current war in Ukraine and the fights between France and Germany during the First World War. “Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities remind us of the Verdun ruins, like on the pictures of the First World War that each of us has seen” affirmed the Ukrainian Head of state. In front of the Israeli parliament, on March 20^th 2022, he even compared the Russian massacres to the Holocaust, stating that “Moscow talks about ‘final solution’ in Ukraine”.  

If the references used by Zelensky are so grandiloquent, it is because they appear to be up to the stakes of the reality of the war for the Ukrainian leader. He wants to address beyond political leaders and public opinions in Western countries by reaching to national collective unconscious. Other than looking for financial support and equipment, the Ukrainian President wants to build indefectible relationships In European and Western countries by adding the fate of Ukraine t the tragic history of Europe.

By Méline Vert, Antonin Verdot et Nils Gales 

Translated by Nina Thevenet 

To go further on our april file dedicated to politics memories, you can read our society and culture sections’ articles on our blog.

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