Russia Cancels Victory in Europe Day Celebrations in Areas Close to War Font

Britain’s Defense Intelligence reports that Russia is abandoning this year’s May 9 Victory in Europe parades in border regions near the Ukraine frontline. It is ironic, as the parades are traditionally used to promote the country’s supposed military might and commemorate the Allied victory in World War II against Nazi Germany.

“Leaders of several regions bordering Ukraine, as well as occupied Crimea, have announced that their usually high-profile Victory Day military parades will be cancelled,” a tweet posted on Twitter by the British Defense Ministry claimed:

Moscow propaganda for years has fed domestic audiences the false premise that the USSR had virtually single-handedly overwhelmed Germany’s armed onslaught in 1939-1945, while downplaying the roles that its supposed allies Britain, Canada, the US and others had provided to defeat Hitler.

The Kremlin also attributed its huge loss of life during the war to heroism and victimhood, rather than incompetent military leadership. Most Russians don’t know that their former Soviet rulers had started the war in 1939 following a non-aggression pact that Berlin and Moscow had signed.

A majority of Russians, according to a number of public opinion surveys, are mostly unaware of the other theaters of war in WWII, that included major battles in Asia and in the Pacific Ocean and Africa.