The Kremlin is actively exploiting Russian myths about World War II to set informational conditions to justify a prolonged war in Ukraine and future aggression against NATO to Russian society.
That is according to a new report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrinform saw.
“The Kremlin continues to seize on the Russian mythos of the Second World War ahead of Russia’s May 9 Victory Day holiday to set informational conditions to justify a prolonged war in Ukraine and future aggression against NATO to Russian society,” ISW analysts note.
In particular, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov published an article on May 8, claiming that Russia’s war against Ukraine “will go down in history” as a “feat of courage” equal to the Soviet victory in World War II.
ISW reports that the Kremlin is attempting to link President Vladimir Putin’s anti-Western rhetoric to the mythos of the Second World War in order to amplify the image of an existential threat allegedly posed by the West. This narrative positions Russia as the modern counterpart to the USSR, under siege by hostile external forces.
According to ISW, the Kremlin is also reconstructing the Soviet-era narrative that the West is conspiring to destroy Russia (as it once claimed about the USSR), framing the current conflict as endless and inevitable.
As previously reported, Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service recently reported that the Kremlin is using the propaganda campaign “Pobeda 9/45” (“Victory 9/45”) as a new hybrid influence tool, with branches already established in several countries.
Source: Kremlin using WW2 myths to justify war against Ukraine – ISW
