By inviting many heads of state from around the world, including his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Poutine had imagined an exceptional ceremony, an ode to the rediscovered power of his country and to his own geopolitical successes. But the Covid-19 pandemic will finally have ended the commemoration of the 75 years of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Russia celebrated Saturday, May 9, without their usual pomp, the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, in an atmosphere weighed down by the coronavirus pandemic that continues in the country. No military parade in Red Square, no parade of foreign leaders surrounding Vladimir Putin, but still around 10,000 new patients from Covid-19 registered every day.

Postponement of the ceremony

United, Russia is "invincible", however proclaimed Vladimir Putin. "We know and we firmly believe that we are invincible when we are united," said the Russian president in a brief speech to the flame of the unknown soldier in the shadow of the Kremlin.

In this sober speech, the head of state made no direct reference to the epidemic. He once again promised, without mentioning the coronavirus, that the country would mark an "appropriate" victory over the Nazis at a later date.  

Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the approximately 27 million Soviet dead in WWII and its veterans. "They saved the homeland, the lives of the next generations, liberated Europe, defended the world," he said. "Our veterans fought for life against death, their solidarity and their determination, will forever remain a model for us".

"We bow down in memory of those who did not return from the war," he added, before respecting a minute of silence. Before this brief speech, he put a knee on the ground facing the flame of the unknown soldier, in Alexander's gardens, at the foot of the red walls of the Kremlin, placing a bouquet of red roses there. Around him, soldiers in ceremonial uniforms stood at attention, well away from the Russian president, who has been confined to his residence on the outskirts of Moscow for several weeks.

Only the aerial part of the traditional military parade of May 9 has been maintained. Dozens of fighter, reconnaissance, supply and helicopter planes flew over Moscow. Above Red Square, a squadron with its smoke smoke drew the Russian flag - white blue red - in the sky of the capital.   

A political parade

The president had already had to postpone sine die another event that was close to his heart: the constitutional referendum before him paving the way for a possible stay in power until 2036. Vladimir Putin has for years made the role of the USSR in Nazi defeat the heart of a discourse of power and prestige. This provoked a memory battle with the West, Moscow accusing Europeans and Americans of downplaying the Soviet role in the war.

May 9, with its grand parade of armaments, also symbolizes the offensive foreign policy of the Russian president who has orchestrated in recent years the return of Russia on the international scene.

If Russia has canceled its military parade, this is not the case for all its allies: Belarus, whose president Lukashenko regularly denounces the "psychosis" of the coronavirus, maintained it, just like Turkmenistan, officially spared by the epidemic, which is organizing it for the first time.

With AFP

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