VE Day highlights both Russia’s historical glory and current troubles

AP Worldstream
May 09, 2005

JIM HEINTZ

The Russian capital’s massive ceremonies commemorating the defeat of
Nazi Germany shine a spotlight on one of the Soviet Union’s great
successes, but they also illuminate many of the problems now plaguing
post-Soviet Russia.

Amid their words of praise for the Red Army’s bravery and sacrifice,
officials have appeared defensive in scrabbling to preserve Russia’s
declining regional influence, deflect criticism of Russia’s commitment
to democracy and protest Western support for pro-democracy uprisings
in ex-Soviet states.

Intense security measures for the Moscow ceremonies, which are crowded
with foreign dignitaries, echoed the capital’s fears of terror attacks
by Chechen separatists, whom the Kremlin has been unable to wipe out
in a decade of fighting.

With security so tight that Muscovites had little chance of seeing
Monday’s ceremonies firsthand, officials advised residents to get out
of town, which some felt demonstrated how Russian authorities had
little concern for the common man.

Soviet-era emblems and images of Josef Stalin abounded _ historically
correct, but unsettling amid fears that President Vladimir Putin wants
to lead the country back into heavy-handed authoritarian rule.

As Putin addressed WWII veterans at the Bolshoi Theater, he struck a
defiant and defensive tone.

“Double standards with regard to terrorists are as unacceptable as
attempts to rehabilitate Nazi accomplices,” Putin said. The statement
referred both to the Kremlin’s frequent complaint that calls for
Russia to negotiate with Chechen rebels are tantamount to capitulating
to terrorism and to Russia’s resentment of moves in some ex-Soviet
Baltic countries and Ukraine to honor partisans who fought against the
Red Army in WWII.

Leaders of two Baltic countries _ Estonia and Lithuania _ declined to
come to Moscow for the celebrations, a demonstration of the widespread
dismay over the nearly five decades of postwar Soviet occupation.

Also absent were leaders of two member nations of the Commonwealth of
Independent States, the loose grouping of ex-Soviet republics other
than the Baltics.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliev declined to come because of the
presence of Armenian President Robert Kocharian: tensions are high
between the countries over the unresolved status of the
Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The absence of Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili was a direct slap
at Russia _ he stayed home to protest Russia’s resistance to
withdrawing two military bases that remain in the country as
Soviet-era hangovers.

Saakashvili also is preparing for a visit by U.S. President George
W. Bush, who goes there Monday directly from Moscow. Bush’s visit to
Georgia is being seen as a strong endorsement of pro-democracy
movements in the former Soviet Union. Georgia’s 2003 Rose Revolution
scored a first, dramatic victory that drove out longtime leader Eduard
Shevardnadze.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who came to power after his
country’s Orange Revolution forced an election in which he defeated a
Kremlin-backed candidate, came to Moscow for the ceremonies, but used
the occasion to downplay the CIS, saying there was “little use” for
the organization that Russia sees as a key element in retaining
regional influence.

Russia has sharply criticized the backing that pro-democracy groups in
Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan received from Western countries, and
apparently is concerned that those countries’ uprisings could be
repeated in close Russian allies, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Russian Security Council chief Igor Ivanov, in an interview published
last week, criticized the uprisings as unconstitutional changes of
power. That brought a cold rejection from the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry, which said Sunday that “the international community has
highly assessed the degree of conformity of last year’s presidential
elections with democratic standards.”

The protests in post-Soviet countries raised the prospect of similar
outpourings in Russia, where Putin is under increasing criticism for
apparent authoritarian leanings. The WWII ceremonies’ respect for
Stalin could be seen as reinforcing that tendency, and Putin himself
has given mixed signals, claiming Russia is reforming but speaking
with respect and even nostalgia for the Soviet Union.

Putin also has been the target of an unprecedented wave of protests
this year over changes in welfare benefits for veterans and the
elderly.

“We hoped that things would be better today,” an 80-year-old veteran,
Vera Minayeva, said Sunday. “This is not what we fought for.”

___

Jim Heintz, The Associated Press’ news editor in Moscow, has covered
the post-Soviet region since 1999.