Russians and Ukrainians Face Off in Vienna Over 9th of May ‘Victory Day’

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On the ninth of Might, as Vladimir Putin stood at a podium on Pink Sq. to handle tv viewers from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin Island, Russians and Ukrainians in Vienna had been busy battling over the historical past of “Victory Day.”

Within the shadow of the Austrian capital’s monumental Soviet-era World Conflict II monument, pro-Russian revelers slipped by way of police cordons to put flowers on the foot of the statue, whereas pro-Ukrainian protesters on the other finish of the Schwarzenbergplatz sq. unfurled a banner studying “Russland = Terrorstaat.”

“Earlier than 2022, I did not have any robust emotions about Might 9 by some means,” Nikita, a pupil initially from the largely destroyed Russian-occupied jap Ukrainian city of Rubizhne, informed Newsweek.

“However now I am unable to stand the people who find themselves celebrating at present,” he mentioned. “Due to them, my grandmother is pressured to reside with out water, with out medication, with out connection to the skin world, and there is nothing I can do even to go to her, not to mention to rescue her from Russian occupation.”

Nikita and Katya, each refugees from Ukraine, got here to Schwartzenbergplatz in Vienna, Austria on Might 9, 2023, to reveal their opposition to Russia’s invasion of their nation.
MICHAEL WASIURA/NEWSWEEK

Within the years because the fall of the Soviet Union, the ninth of Might vacation has develop into one thing akin to the Russian equal of America’s Fourth of July. Till just lately it was additionally celebrated in Ukraine, a rustic that suffered closely throughout the 1941-1945 Soviet battle in opposition to Nazi Germany.

Since 2014, nevertheless, when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and sponsored the creation of the Donetsk and Luhansk “Folks’s Republics” on the internationally acknowledged sovereign territory of Ukraine, Ukrainians have more and more turned away from participation in “Victory Day” celebrations.

“We’re right here as a result of the Russian ambassador will probably be laying flowers on the monument,” Katya, who fled Kyiv throughout the second week of Russia’s full-scale invasion final 12 months, informed Newsweek. “We thought that we’d have the ability to maintain an illustration, however the police wrote us an e-mail at 11 p.m. yesterday and gave us till 6 a.m. to reply, so we will not do something that might represent a political motion.”

Our victory was the victory of our Russian spirit, and that of all our republics, over fascism. Russians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Moldovans—all of us died collectively.

Olga, a Russian supporter ion the sq. in Vienna sporting Soviet-era Pink Military regalia

Regardless of the absence of a totally organized political protest, nevertheless, the 50 or so pro-Ukrainian demonstrators who had come to the sq. had been simply identifiable by their blue-and-yellow—and in addition red-and-black—flags.

Professional-Russian figures, against this, largely wore orange-and-black St. George’s ribbons, which have served as an emblem of the vacation since Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin organized campaigns to distribute replicas of the Tsarist-era award on the streets of Russia within the run-up to the ninth of Might in 2005.

Though the Austrian police had arrange non permanent obstacles to forestall the 2 crowds from mixing, a number of of the pro-Russian revelers weren’t permitted to cross by way of the protecting line to the location of the flower laying ceremony.

“Our victory was the victory of our Russian spirit, and that of all our republics, over fascism,” Olga, who had come to the sq. decked out in Pink Military costume uniform cap and a military-style shirt adorned with a large assortment of Soviet-era medals, informed Newsweek.

“Russians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Moldovans—all of us died collectively,” she mentioned. “Despite the fact that only some hundred thousand of your fellow Individuals died, and although you now declare that the victory was all yours, and although you didn’t open up a second entrance till 1944, we nonetheless honor your contribution, additionally.”

Vienna Olga May 9
Olga, who emigrated to Vienna from Moscow shortly after the autumn of the Soviet Union, nonetheless celebrates the ninth of Might in full Soviet type.
MICHAEL WASIURA/NEWSWEEK

Artur, who informed Newsweek that he was born within the Republic of Georgia however moved to Vienna from Serbia two years, sees the Ukraine Conflict as a battle between the U.S. and Russia—one by which the U.S. is the aggressor.

“I do not help the conflict,” he mentioned. “Russia and Ukraine are brotherly nations, and common individuals in each nations don’t need this conflict, however high-level political video games made it inevitable.”

“It is all a battle over energy, a battle over territory, but it surely’s not a battle between Ukraine and Russia,” Artur added. “Russia is simply defending its place in opposition to America.”

Vienna Flowers May 9
On Might 8, 2023, at some point earlier than the Russian ambassador arrived to pay his respects in Vienna, Austria, unknown individuals positioned flowers within the blue-and-yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag on the monument to the April 1945 liberation of town.
MICHAEL WASIURA/NEWSWEEK

Malachi, who informed Newsweek that he was born in Lviv, Ukraine, earlier than emigrating to Austria shortly earlier than the collapse of the Soviet Union, traced the roots of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict again greater than three centuries to at least one Bohdan Khmelnytsky, a former Ukrainian chief of the Zaporozhian Cossacks who organized a rise up in opposition to Polish rule in Ukraine within the 1600s.

That battle led to the switch of the Ukrainian lands east of the Dnieper River from the Poles to the Russians. Mockingly, a few of those self same lands east of the Dnieper are being contested as soon as once more—greater than 300 years later—this time by Ukraine and Russia.

“It is very painful that two brotherly nations are killing each other,” Malachi mentioned. “However it’s taking place as punishment for the homicide of Jews by Bohdan Khmelnytsky within the seventeenth century.”

Victory Day is concerning the defeat of fascism in 1945, however what is occurring now in Ukraine signifies that we didn’t obtain a full victory.

a Russian supporter on the sq. in Vienna

Malachi paid explicit consideration to the pro-Ukrainian demonstrators carrying red-and-black flags, an emblem of the Ukrainian Rebel Military, a paramilitary group that fought in opposition to the Soviet Union throughout and after WWII.

“I used to be given political asylum 33 years in the past due to the individuals waving that flag,” he defined. “Folks carrying that flag killed my ancestors, and now even the Jews in Ukraine have develop into fascists.”

Though only a few of the extra official-looking figures exiting the flower-laying ceremony had been as talkative as these actively partaking in arguments with pro-Ukrainian figures on the sq., one well-dressed lady sporting a big St. George’s ribbon provided up her interpretation of occasions earlier than climbing into the again seat of a chauffeured BMW.

“Victory Day is concerning the defeat of fascism in 1945,” she informed Newsweek, “however what is occurring now in Ukraine signifies that we didn’t obtain a full victory.”

Vienna Picnic May 9
On the bottom of the Soviet monument to the WWII-era liberation of Vienna, post-Soviet Might 9 revelers arrange a picnic in honor of their Pink Military ancestors.
MICHAEL WASIURA/NEWSWEEK

Regardless of the politicized rhetoric, nevertheless, after the official Russian delegation had left the scene and the Austrian police obstacles blocking the monument got here down, one thing approximating a pre-2014—or not less than a pre-2022—vacation celebration ensued.

Utilizing the bottom of the big half-circle rotunda ringing the monument as a desk, a multi-ethnic group of post-Soviet celebrants laid out a banquet replete with chilly vodka, candy wine, pickled herring, sliced salami, cured pork fats, and watermelon, all watched over by the black-and-white portrait of the organizer’s nice grandfather, who had participated within the liberation of Vienna in 1945.

As they ate and drank, the revelers sang an a cappella rendition of the Soviet navy ballad “Katyusha,” a tune that lent its title to the Pink Military’s WWII-era a number of launch rocket techniques, which served because the predecessor to the “Grad” launchers nonetheless in use on the entrance strains in Ukraine at present.

“Our celebration has nothing to do with what is occurring in Ukraine at present,” Sergey, the nice grandson of the Pink Military soldier within the portrait, informed Newsweek as the group sang round him. “If we hadn’t gained again then, then at present on the planet there could be no Russians, no Slovaks, no Jews. Our victory is what allowed nations to proceed to reside. With out our victory, there would not be any Ukrainians.”

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