Russia, the West, and the Politics of History in Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day Speeches, 2012–2024

Abstract

In this article, I analyse how Vladimir Putin has addressed the relationship between Russia and the West in his Victory Day speeches from 2012 to 2024. In these speeches, Putin has utilised history to build an anti-Western narrative, bending the events of WWII to serve present day political needs. The role of Western allies has been diminished, with Putin even claiming that the USSR fought alone during the most crucial moments of WWII. Putin has constructed a conspiratorial narrative, which portrays Western interpretations of history as attempts to rob Russia of its moral authority and centrality in international politics. This “falsification” of history is linked to the West’s general immorality, for example
the destruction of “traditional values.”