David Rothkopf: Putin Sounded Like a Loser In His 'Victory Day' Speech

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Victory Day, commemorating the triumph of the USSR over the Nazis, was once again a source of great fanfare and attention in the countries of the former Soviet Bloc. The day brought, as it has in the past, military parades and solemn commemorations. And, as has often been the case in the past, it brought a rousing presidential speech that conveyed great strength and resolve in the contemporary battle against Hitler’s successors.

The twist this May 9 was that the inspiring oratory came not from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who offered a lackluster, slogan-laden retread of a speech, but from the man who has for more than two months led the effort to deny Russia an expected victory in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Indeed, the speech from Ukraine’s president revealed the hollowness of both Putin’s words and the pomp of the Red Square military parade with which Russia has traditionally made a big show of flexing its muscles for the world.

Both presidents evoked the Nazis in describing their adversaries in the current war. But when Putin said that his nation was “fighting so that no one forgets the lessons of World War II, so that there is no place in the world for executioners, punishers, and Nazis”—his words were bitter reminders that he has made the Russia that once showed such courage in defeating Hitler’s armies into the heirs of the Nazi legacy of wanton brutality.

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