Who will march in next parade in Moscow: propaganda digest for May 9, 2023
The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security has collected the main fakes and propaganda narratives for May 9.
- The main parade weapon is an anti-drone rifle
- Putin has placed "veteran" accents
- Prigozhin hits the "happy grandfather"
- The occupiers are increasingly afraid of the underground
The main ceremonial weapon is an anti-drone rifle
On May 9, Putin gave another "victory" speech, which (like all the last years) did not contain any sensations. (Unless last year, there were many predictions of mobilization).
The speech was the shortest in recent memory. If a year ago Putin's speech contained 957 words, this time it was 774. But in them, he put the content of all his "victory speeches": about the "threat of the revival of neo-Nazism" (2021), about the "fight against terrorism" (2002-2005 and 2016) and "...extremism" (2006-2007), about "external interference" (2012-2013), about "attempts to create a unipolar world" (2015), about "distortion of historical truth" (2019).
What was striking about the military parade was the complete absence of tanks. There was only one, and it was a contemporary of the World War II T-34. Even the parade Armata did not leave. And no wonder, most of the tanks had already been destroyed.
IN FACT, the main weapon of the 2023 parade was the anti-drone rifles in the hands of the Russian Guard.
They have become the main symbols not only of the parade, but of all the achievements of the so-called "SVO".
As for the "great victory" and the "glorious veterans," they have long since become a mere construct that Putin cynically ties to the list of his aforementioned narratives, the meaning of which is now reduced to: "Ukrainians are hostages of a coup d'état led by the degrading West, which is waging a war against Russia with their hands." In other words, nothing new has appeared here either.
Except for the sick Belarusian dictator Lukashenko, whom Putin ordered to be brought to Moscow. He arrived, but he could not move on his own, did not say a word, and immediately returned to Minsk accompanied by an ambulance. Putin's "Lukashenko scheme" is already on the air.
Putin has set "veteran" accents
On May 9, Putin had his usual protocol conversation with war veterans. They were supposedly the ones sitting next to him in the stands.
In fact, as it turned out, none of them fought against the Nazis. Seated to Putin's right was 98-year-old Yuri Dvoikin (wearing a cap). In 1942, he enlisted in the army as a volunteer, but never made it to the front. After graduating from the sniper school in 1944, he was sent to the Lviv region as part of the NKVD to "carry out operations to eliminate the nationalist underground in Western Ukraine."
"We were clearing the entire region of nationalists, catching them in forests and abandoned farms," Dvoikin himself recalled.
To Putin's left was Gennady Zaitsev (in a hat). He was born in 1934 and could not participate in that war due to his age. Only in 1953 he was called up for military service, after which he remained in the army, and in 1959 he began serving in the KGB.
In 1968, he participated in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Under his leadership, the Ministry of Internal Affairs building in Prague was seized.
Of course, the appearance of these "war veterans" is not a puncture in Putin's protocol. This is a placement of accents - who he really considers his heroes: the punisher of the NKVD and the strangler of the Prague Spring.
Prigozhin hits the "happy grandfather"
Everyone in Russia was expecting provocations from Ukraine on May 9, but a series of strikes against the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces were unexpectedly launched by the leader of the PMC Wagner, Prigozhin. He stated that:
- "absolutely everything is being done today by the highest military command to ensure the collapse of the frontline."
- "Gazprom's PMCs are incapable of fighting, their fighters refuse to fulfill their tasks because of the inept command;
- "the creation of such PMCs is a pointless waste of budget money."
- staged another hunger strike with threats that "we are still holding out in Bakhmut, but what will happen next is unknown."
In the heat of the moment, he crossed all the red lines: "And the happy old man thinks he's doing well. And what should the country do next? What should we do for our children, grandchildren, the future of Russia, and how can we win the war if it turns out by chance, I'm just assuming, that this grandfather is a complete asshole?"
IN FACT, the last "happy grandfather" who had not been touched by the Prigozhin was Putin. After all, Shoigu and Gerasimov have already received other (less gentle) characterizations from him. But no one has ever struck such blows against the sacred Putin.
Speaking of "a happy grandfather who may turn out to be a complete asshole," Prigozhin spoke as a person who feels that he is doomed. He already understands that he is not a survivor. So he goes all-in.
He even started using oxymorons: "the creation of the PMC is a pointless waste of budget money." Private cannot be public a priori. But Russia has been living in a continuous ideological oxymoron for a long time. It will die much faster.
Prigozhin stubbornly does not want to believe that for Putin, all this time he has remained exclusively a cook, the commander of a "cannon and meat penalty battalion" whose "enlightenment" is only a matter of time.
It seems that the time is slowly coming. Prigozhin regularly opens "Wagnerian" cemeteries all over Russia. The promised Bakhmut has not been taken since "its rag-and-bone capture". There are no shells. No manpower either. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are on the alert and working with Western precision. Therefore, Prigozhin can be understood. But not to forgive.
The occupiers are increasingly afraid of the underground
Z-resources (not to mention the official media) ignored Prigozhin's "grandfatherly" speech. They are not that loyal. Even those affiliated with Wagner. For example, on May 9, the GREY ZONE Telegram channel limited itself to publishing the painting "Apotheosis of War" by Vasily Vereshchagin with a sacramental signature: "Dedicated to all great conquerors - past, present and future."
Instead, everyone spread Prigozhin's statement that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had allegedly struck Pervomaisk, where Ukrainian soldiers were being held captive, with HIMARS MLRS.
IN FACT, Prigozhin immediately disavowed his statement, saying that none of the prisoners or the Wagnerians were injured.
Although, at first, everything resembled a repeat of the tragedy that occurred on the night of July 28-29.
However, in this story, in addition to the attempted provocation, it is symptomatic that the Z-community immediately started discussing it on the topic of "someone is reporting the coordinates of our headquarters, warehouses, and repair shops."
The Russians are frightened not only by HIMARS (which has long been a secret), but also by the fact that all their movements and locations are already known. Both through intelligence and the local underground. The Nazis had this fear at one time, and now the rashists have it. And it is not unfounded.
This is evidenced by other figures from this Moscow parade. It was attended by the smallest number of soldiers since 2008.
Parade formations of several military formations that were presented last year did not take to the pavement of Red Square. Among them: The 4th Guards Tank Division of Kantemyriv, the 2nd Guards Motorized Infantry Division of Taman, the 27th Separate Guards Motorized Infantry Brigade of Sevastopol, the 45th Separate Engineer Brigade, and other units. It is clear where they are. What will happen to their remnants in Ukraine is also clear.
Therefore, a quite reasonable question is already arising: who will march in the next, last, parade in Moscow?
Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security
