For Russians, the war only began when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, expert warns - Seznam Zprávy

"The degree of ideological blindness and desire for revenge dominates current politics," says Russia expert Pavel Havlíček, describing what the specific Russian interpretation of World War II is and how Putin uses it.

Commentary by Karel Svoboda: For contemporary Russia, World War II, or rather the part when the Soviet Union fought against Nazi Germany and its allies, is the centerpiece of its ideology. One of the arguments for the war against Ukraine was Ukrainian “neo-Nazism”. There is no shortage of constant warnings against rewriting history. Which often means promoting a state-determined interpretation of history, or rather reviving myths from the Soviet…

By Félix Madariaga The most important world event of this year is the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the “Great Patriotic War” and its importance in the Nazi-fascist defeat. On May 9, not only the Russian people will commemorate what was the great feat, known as the “Great Patriotic War”, struggle that led the Soviet Union to rid us of what was, without a doubt, the main enemy of humanity in the twentieth century,…

Since the Maidan uprising and Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Kremlin propaganda has consistently portrayed Ukrainian leaders as Nazis or fascists. Russian officials and state media have begun to claim that the new Ukrainian leadership is “neo-Nazis” who threaten Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population. Russia has also accused Ukrainian authorities of “genocide” of the population of Donbas. On February 24, 2022, announcing a large-s…