Soviet imagery and narratives have been a central part of Vladimir Putin’s justification for his assault on Ukraine, and his propaganda machine is turning up the volume.
From his 2021 claim that Lenin created Ukraine as a state, to his assertion in September that Crimea was merely gifted to Kyiv by Khrushchev, the Russian president has repeatedly used distorted accounts of history to justify his imperialist agenda.
The Kremlin’s use of the Soviet legacy has been increasing since the full-scale invasion and is still on the rise. It has encouraged and exploited nostalgia — and amnesia — among the Russian population, 63% of whom said in 2022 they regretted the dissolution of the USSR.
Posters and billboards with allusions to the Soviet Union have filled Russian cities over the past three years. Some aim to equate the war in Ukraine with the Great Patriotic War — a Soviet term for World War II which omits Moscow’s pact with the Nazis and covers only 1941-1945.
Huge posters display two soldiers — a Soviet (often pictured capturing the Reichstag in 1945) and a modern-day Russian infantryman, accompanied by text such as “Victory will be ours” or “We do not abandon our own.”
Soviet succession has become a central pillar in the politics of memory developed by Putin`s government over the past decade. The attempt to cement its historic legitimacy was eloquently depicted by the 2020 amendments to the constitution, which officially proclaimed Russia as the successor state of the USSR and portrayed it as a continuation of the Russian Empire.
The attempt to equate Ukraine with Nazi Germany is the logical extension of such a position and was apparent in statements by Russian politicians in 2014 and in pro-war visual propaganda after 2022.
One image used by the Kremlin was of an elderly lady in a village in the Kharkiv region who approached Ukrainian soldiers waving a red Soviet flag in the early days of the full-scale invasion. They offered her humanitarian aid and tried to take away the flag, but she refused to accept food or give it up.
Putin`s propagandists “canonized” the woman, erecting monuments in Voronezh and Mariupol, and giant posters in her honor with slogans about “Strong Russia.” At a school in the Zabaikalye region, teachers dressed up an eight-year-old girl as the woman to greet would-be soldiers going to the frontlines.
The image was used as evidence that Ukraine had been taken over by Nazis and Russia was defending older Ukrainians. In interviews, however, the woman said she was living peacefully in the Kharkiv region and did not support the war or the Russian soldiers. She said she was confused when fighting started near her village and had waved the flag as a universal symbol.
At a grassroots level, the linking of the two wars can be seen in a range of small-scale initiatives, including “patriotic art clubs.” At Grekov`s studio, located in Park Patriot, a World War II and military theme park to the west of Moscow, children are encouraged to create pro-war artworks to be sent to the frontline.
Photo: A Russian depiction of two Ukrainian helmets, one with Ukrainian military insignia and one with Nazi insignia, being pierced by a bayonet. The poster translates as “No to Nazism.” Credit: Denis Skopin
The studio also organizes exhibitions, which have included cartoons satirizing the American image of Uncle Sam — with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as his puppet — in a pastiche of Cold War propaganda. The studio building is also decorated with images of Soviet soldiers and astronauts.
Posters, billboards, and “patriotic” artworks across the country derive their inspiration from the Soviet canon of visual propaganda. They include red flags and stars, “Motherland Calling” posters in conscription centers, along with images of cosmonauts, soldiers, and the capture of the Reichstag. The uniting of Soviet and Russian goals has become omnipresent.
Soviet imagery and narratives are used to convey the necessity of the invasion, depict Ukrainians as Nazis, and equate the current war with World War II. And the visual propaganda is backed by rank-and-file politicians` public statements, academic papers by pro-government scholars and Putin himself.
Soviet nostalgia has become an easily digestible pill for the masses to legitimize the war, and, as it drags on and ever greater numbers of Russian soldiers die, the Kremlin keeps increasing the dose.
By Mykyta Vorobiov. Mykyta Vorobiov is a Ukrainian political adviser, journalist, and political science student at Bard College Berlin. For the last two years, he has been developing articles on politics and law for CEPA, VoxEurop, JURIST, and others. Article and pictures first time published on CEPA web page. Prepared for publication by volunteers from the Res Publica - The Center for Civil Resistance.
