Fewer tanks, fake veterans: At the "Victory Day" parade, Putin had a lot staged. The World War II soldiers next to him were also a fake.
Moscow - Tanks, soldiers, air show: Every year on May 9, Russia deploys its army on Red Square - to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany. But this year, the big show was much smaller than usual. Apparently, the losses in the Ukraine war are taking their toll. Not even the veterans on President Vladimir Putin's side were real.
Parade for "Victory Day": War veterans sit next to Putin - but they are fake
At the traditional parade for "Victory Day", President Vladimir Putin took a seat in the front row in the gallery. To the left and right sat the war veterans. But in contrast to previous years, these were apparently a fake. According to long-time Russia observers, none of these men actually ever fought against Germany in World War II.
A KGB spy and a sniper: who are the veterans next to Putin at the 2023 parade
This was first revealed by journalist Julian Hans. The man on Putin's left is Gennady Zaitsev, born in 1934. "So he could not have participated in the war against Nazi Germany," Bild quoted the Moscow expert as saying from a tweet published immediately after the 2023 parade. After all, then Zaitsev would have gone to war at the age of eleven.
Surrounded by fake war veterans: Russian President Vladimir Putin during his speech during the parade in Moscow. © Gavriil Grigorov/dpa
According to the media report, the Polish news site "Onet" is said to have investigated. According to their findings, Putin's alleged war veteran was not drafted until 1953, remained in the army after his military service, and then joined the Soviet secret service KGB in 1959. Putin also worked there for years as a Russian spy.
Fake veterans at Putin's embarrassing parade: sniper allegedly never served on the front lines
After all, the man on Putin's right was already of military age, at least during the Second World War. Yuri Dvoykin is now 98 years old and has been in Russia's army since 1942, it said. But the trained sniper is said to have never fought at the front. Rather, from 1944 onwards, his unit hunted down Ukrainian nationalists in western Ukraine, Onet reported.
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The information cannot be independently verified. But the backgrounds are striking. A former KGB spy and an old nationalist hunter in Ukraine - it seems quite possible that Putin surrounded himself with confidants at the parade. Although the number of World War II veterans is decreasing with each passing year, there are still many Russians who witnessed the victory over Nazi Germany as soldiers. But why they were not allowed to sit next to Putin at the embarrassing military parade remains the president's secret.
Military parade in Moscow: A T-34 tank is emblematic of Russia's losses in the Ukraine war
In any case, this year's parade turned out differently than usual. Instead of 11,000 soldiers, this time only 8000,<> soldiers marched on Red Square in Moscow. The number of viewers who listened to Putin's speech about the war in Ukraine was also significantly lower than usual. It was fitting that the military parade was also slimmed down: Among other things, the air show was cancelled.
And only an old T-34 tank from World War II stocks led the parade in Moscow. Many observers see the narrow-gauge parade as proof that Russia has indeed suffered enormous losses in the Ukraine war. (jkf
)