Russia celebrates Thursday the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, a major turning point in the Second World War and a symbol of patriotism advocated with redoubled force by Vladimir Putin in the midst of the offensive in Ukraine.
The celebrations come as fierce fighting pits Russian forces against Ukrainian soldiers in the former Soviet Republic, the scene for nearly a year of a Russian offensive launched according to the Kremlin to “demilitarize” et “denazify” this neighboring country.
The Russian president will travel to Volgograd to take part in the celebrations, according to the Kremlin.
Considered one of the bloodiest in history, with around two million deaths in total on both sides, the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943) changed the course of the conflict in the Soviet Union, demoralized until then by several crushing defeats.
It is still glorified by Russia, which claims the legacy of the Soviet Union as the event that saved Europe from Nazism.
The victory in this battle takes on added symbolic importance as the first anniversary of the February 24, 2022, launch of the Russian operation in Ukraine approaches, where Moscow is stepping up its actions after the recent capture of Soledar, a town in eastern Ukraine. , a first success for the Russian forces for many months and a series of setbacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin himself does not hesitate to draw a parallel between the resistance against Hitler and the offensive in Ukraine.
“Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies. The proof of this is the crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing (and) punitive actions organized by neo-Nazis in Ukraine”he said last Friday, on the occasion of the international day of the victims of the Holocaust.
These declarations provoked strong reactions, the head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna having described them as “shocking” et “shocking”, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Bust of Stalin inaugurated
In Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, a city of a million people on the banks of the Volga, Wednesday and Thursday were declared non-working days.
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the victory at Stalingrad, a bust of Stalin was unveiled in Volgograd, alongside those of two military leaders famous for their role in that battle, Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilyevsky.
The Russian authorities have had an ambivalent position towards Stalin since the fall of the USSR: officially denounced for the State Terror he orchestrated in the 1930s and until his death in 1953, he was still buried in front of the Kremlin, on Red Square.
His name is still revered by many Russians, who highlight his role in the defeat of Nazi Germany against the USSR.
On Thursday, a military parade and concert will be part of the celebrations in Volgograd, as early morning wreaths and flowers will flood the Mamayev Kurgan, a strategic hill that was the subject of terrible fighting and has remained for decades a place of pilgrimage for Russians wishing to pay homage to the exploits of the Soviet army.
The Battle of Stalingrad, which began in July 1942, lasted 200 days and nights. The city, transformed into fields of ruins, was the scene of devastating German aerial bombardments and street battles of extreme violence.
On February 2, 1943, the troops of German Marshal Friedrich Paulus capitulated, surrounded by the Red Army, this surrender being the first of the Nazi army since the beginning of the war.
Entirely rebuilt by order of the Soviet authorities, Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd in 1961, eight years after the death of Joseph Stalin.
Since 2013, according to a decision of local elected officials, the city has been “renamed” Stalingrad six times a year, in particular on February 2 for the anniversary of the Stalingrad victory and on May 9, the date on which Russia celebrates the victory over Nazi Germany.