Russia united in grief over millions

While the West this week hardly commemorated the end of World War II in Europe, it was an entirely different scenario in Russia yesterday as the country remembered the millions of people lost in the fight against Adolf Hitler’s Nazism.

No matter what some Western governments and media may imply about Vladimir Putin’s government being a dictatorship, the Russians, as a people, are united in celebrating that victory.

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That unity and sense of national pride was something Putin appealed to at yesterday’s Moscow Red Square Victory Day parade, claiming that a “war” had been unleashed against Russia by her enemies in the West, with their support for the Ukrainians resisting the Russian invasion.

The parade was less ostentatious than in the past – a possible reflection of the significant losses in men and equipment suffered in the Ukraine campaign.

It also came against the backdrop of a Russian expectation of a fierce counteroffensive to be launched soon, with the support of huge Western arms deliveries.

The head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has accused Moscow’s top generals of trying to “deceive” Putin over the Kremlin’s Ukraine campaign.

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Victory there will require more than appeals to patriotism and resurrecting glories …