Victory Day in Russia - a traditional celebration of the victory over Nazi Germany - is an extremely important day for Russia, according to Piotr Wawrzeniuk.
He says Putin emphasized in his speech that the balance in Europe has been disturbed and that Russia wants fair security when the West, led by NATO, has taken "great liberties in Russia's backyard", Ukraine.
- He (Putin) said that the operation continues and that they will continue to fight for the ideals and values that led to the victory in 1945, says Piotr Wawrzeniuk who believes that the speech contains parallels between Ukrainian defenders and Nazis.
Utilizes the message with the day
- This memory of Victory Day has been used as a substitute for actual political and social modernization.
This militarization of society and carnivalization of memory with people dressing up and so on, when it's basically a victory that in the Soviet Union cost 27 million lives, according to official figures.
According to Piotr Wawrzeniuk, the day is used, for example, by Russia against the Baltic countries and Poland, where the Russian holiday is not celebrated, to falsify their view of history.
Hear Piotr Wawrzeniuk tell more about Victory Day from a historical perspective in the clip above.