Antonin puton says in 20 14, facius were behind the political upheaval in ukraine. Did it work? Did russians buy that rhetoric? Well, many of them did. Part of the reason is the history of ukraine in the twentieth ent and the stereotypes that russians have about ukraine that came out of it. Ukranian independence fighters did fight with the notses against the soviets for some time in world war too. It was certainly a very complex history.
For years, President Vladimir V. Putin has taken advantage of Victory Day — when Russians commemorate the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany — to champion his country’s military might and project himself as a leader of enormous power.
This year, he drew on the pageantry of May 9 for an even more pressing goal: making the case for the war in Ukraine.
Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.
Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter.
Background reading:
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.