Russian president Vladimir Putin recently declared a 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine, from May 8-10, 2025. These dates fall around the 80th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II – commemorated on May 8 in Europe and May 9 in Russia and parts of the former Soviet Union. A mere coincidence? Unlikely.
Putin’s Victory Day ceasefire doesn’t suggest any major changes on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. But the symbolic value of the ceasefire merits a closer look, as it’s part of Putin’s larger policy of glorifying the Soviet past and weaponizing the legacy of WWII to drum up support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. More broadly, Putin’s “Victory Frenzy” – what some critics pejoratively dismiss as pobedobesie – exemplifies how memory entrepreneurs revive and reinterpret the past to advance their present-day political agendas.
World War II’s controversial legacy in Russia
World War II, which Russians call “The Great Patriotic War,” left scars across Europe. The Soviet Union, for example, lost around 27 million people during the war – one-eighth of its pre-war population. May 9 was a normal working day until 1965, when Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev declared a public holiday and organized a 20th anniversary parade on Moscow’s Red Square. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first elected president, established victory parades as an annual tradition.
Putin has infused the holiday with new traditions over the past two decades, cementing the Soviet legacy in WWII as a pillar of Russian national identity. In 2005, a state-run media campaign popularized orange-and-black St. George’s Ribbons – originally an imperial medal unrelated to WWII. These medals have now transformed into symbols of Soviet victory and Russian patriotism. Similarly, the “Immortal Regiment” – which began as a grassroots march honoring relatives who died in the war – was later coopted by the Kremlin to boost Russian patriotism at home and abroad. And Russia’s annual victory parade on Red Square has become an extravagant showcase of military technology and an opportunity for foreign leaders to pledge their political support for Putin.
Russia’s glorification of the Soviet past, and WWII in particular, has proven controversial with many of Russia’s neighbors. For example, Estonia, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine – each formerly part of the Soviet Union, have banned St. George’s ribbons. It’s no coincidence that these countries (plus Belarus) once formed the Soviet empire’s western flank, having been annexed – in whole or in part – after the USSR signed a 1939 pact with Nazi Germany to divide Eastern Europe. Many citizens of these now-independent countries view the Soviets as occupiers – not liberators. Resentment against the Soviet Union has likely helped fuel Ukraine’s resistance against Russia and desire to join the European Union.
The Kremlin’s victory mania resonates with Russians
The Kremlin’s fixation on WWII victory – which scholars have referred to as “mythopoeic,” a fictionalized mythology – has struck a chord with much of the Russian public. Survey data I collected with colleagues in 2023 and 2024 show that over 80% of Russians think the Soviet Union made the “primary” contribution to victory. Over 50% think the U.S. contribution was “insignificant” or “practically none.”
Meanwhile, admiration for Josef Stalin, who led the USSR during the war, is higher than ever. In fact, over 70% of our respondents agreed that Stalin did more good than bad for the country. This is a startling finding, as millions of Soviet citizens suffered under Stalin’s repressions – which included executions, deportations, labor camps, and man-made famines.
Distorting history to fuel the war against Ukraine
In addition to uniting Russians around a myth of heroism and glory, Moscow has weaponized history to justify its war against Ukraine. Russian politicians and Kremlin-controlled media have claimed – frequently and falsely – that Ukraine’s government is controlled by “Nazis,” thus necessitating Russian intervention. Since the beginning of the full-scale war in February 2022, the Kremlin has framed its twin goals as Ukraine’s “demilitarization” and “de-Nazification.”
The irony, of course, is that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish, and his grandfather fought in the Soviet Red Army during WWII. Although fringe Ukrainian nationalist groups have used Nazi symbolism, the far right has little political support in Ukraine. But by invoking the word “Nazi,” the Kremlin can tap into a powerful cultural heuristic to frame its current war as just, vs. an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign neighbor.
Putin’s efforts to distort history reach back even earlier than WWII, however. He published a number of lengthy historical articles claiming that Russians and Ukrainians are a single people with a common historical experience. In early 2024, the Russian leader spent nearly 30 minutes lecturing a patently bewildered Tucker Carlson about history going as far back as the 9th century – inspiring a torrent of internet memes.
From “Never again!” to “We can repeat!”
In 1945, an unknown Soviet soldier left a piece of graffiti on the wall of the German Reichstag, reading, “We can repeat it.” Around 2012, bumper stickers bearing this slogan began to appear around Russia. And since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “We can repeat” has transformed into a perverse threat of violence against Ukrainians, whom the Kremlin has branded as Nazis.
Historical narratives may not pack the same physical punch as missiles and tanks, but they can be powerful and dangerous just the same. Recognizing the political underpinnings of Victory Day celebrations in Russia – and the broader symbolic politics of WWII – is key to understanding the sweeping historical narrative that Kremlin memory makers have long cultivated. The Russian leadership is casting Russia as a strong, righteous power entitled to intervene as it sees fit. Russia’s Victory Day celebrations offer a prime example of this type of political theater, and how politicians can twist history for their own purposes, and seemingly with great success.
Isabelle DeSisto is a 2025-2026 Good Authority fellow.
