Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 9 – In Soviet times, Western
analysts devoted enormous attention to parades in Red Square considering not
only the order leaders stood on the mausoleum but also the technology those
leaders chose to put on display, viewing the first as an indication of who was
up and who was down and the second as a sign of their military readiness.
This year’s Victory Day parade
offers few clues about the first but it provides clear evidence of the latter,
Russian commentator Sergey Kuzyakin says. It shows “who the powers that be of
the Russian Federation view as their most likely opponent: the citizens of
Russia” (rusmonitor.com/parad-moskve-pokazal-kto-u-vlastejj-rf-veroyatnostnyjj-protivnik-ehto-grazhdane-rossii.html).
Military parades
typically have two purposes, Kuzyakin says. “On the one hand, their goal is to
promote the strengthening of a feeling of national unity; and on the other, to indicate
to a probable opponent the military power of the state” to intimidate the
latter.
Thus, in Soviet times, the main
military parade, which was “not on May 9 but rather on November 7,” featured
ballistic missiles and other weaponry intended to be used exclusively against
foreign foes. But things have changed
under Vladimir Putin: Now, the power on display are “police, FSB officers,
prosecutors, and other ‘pillars’ of the regime.”
None of these is intended to defend
Russia and the Russian people from any foreign threat. Instead, they are intended
to defend the regime from the Russian people, a signal to the population that
the Kremlin views them and not some foreign country as the primary threat to
its existence and power.
When the Russian Guard and its crowd
control weapons receive more prominent treatment in such parades than does the
army, navy and air force, Kuzyakin continues, no one can have any doubt of
this; and all Russians – and indeed everyone else – should “understand this
well.”
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