Deputy foreign minister Bodnar: Russia wants to become global player under flag of USSR

“Russia incessantly loses its role and place in global politics, and since 2014, after the start of the aggression against Ukraine, it has fallen into international isolation. However, geopolitical ambitions have remained the same as they were in the USSR. That is why, Russia seeks to strengthen its positions in different ways, including by using the issues of history,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar said in an interview with Ukrinform.

According to him, the Kremlin envisions that the parade of June 24 should clearly demonstrate that Russia continues to be one of the "great powers" that decide the fate of the world.

“By inviting world leaders to it [the parade], the Kremlin leadership intended to demonstrate that Russia occupies the same global position as the former Soviet Union did. This is evidenced by the choice of a new date for the parade - exactly 75 years after Stalin's "parade of winners", i.e. a direct parallel with the former Soviet dictator who participated in the division of the world into spheres of influence,” Bodnar noted.

The deputy foreign minister underscored that the victory in World War II was a common achievement of all members of the anti-Hitler coalition. According to him, a certain reflection of this was the joint Putin-Trump declaration on the Elbe Day.

At the same time, the diplomat stated that “for some reason, other nations that suffered and fought against Nazism were forgotten.” The Kremlin also conceals the great contribution of Ukraine to the victory and terrible victims it suffered and “appropriates all the laurels of the winner and liberator.”

“The Russian leadership wants to become the same global player as the Soviet Union was during World War II, flying the flag of the USSR. This is the main manipulative narrative. But it is as far from reality as the ideology of Putin's parade, which shield itself with Victory to achieve mercantile goals,” Bodnar added.

As reported, the parade to the 75th anniversary of the Victory in World War II was traditionally scheduled in Russia for May 9, but it was postponed to June 24 due to coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, the World Health Organization warned Russia that mass events could contribute to the spread of coronavirus.

On June 22, 1941, despite a secret non-aggression pact (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939) and close military-economic cooperation between Germany and the USSR, Nazi Germany attacked Soviet troops along the entire border from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The Soviet-German war of 1941-1945 began as an integral but major part of World War II.

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