LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Final preparations are underway in Moscow for Victory Day. That's the holiday when Russians mark the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. And for the first time in nearly 20 years, a military parade on Red Square has been scaled back amid concerns over Ukrainian drone attacks. Joining us to talk about this is NPR's Charles Maynes on the line from the Russian capital. Hi, Charles.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Morning, Leila.
FADEL: Good morning. So how has Russia been celebrating Victory Day lately?
MAYNES: You know, Victory Day has long been used by Putin as a symbol and celebration of Russia's rising military might, but it's taken on a new context following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. You know, of course, as members of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine were both part of the Allies' fight against Nazi Germany, and it involved massive losses and sacrifice. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has been claiming that the current war in Ukraine is a continuation of that fight against fascism. In other words, he's linked these two events into one grand and false historical narrative, which, oddly enough, has become an unintended trap - a constant reminder of a past Soviet victory that Russia's current army hasn't measured up to. In fact, the war in Ukraine has now gone on longer than the Soviets' involvement in the second world war.
FADEL: Yeah. And it - there's no end in sight at this point. This week, we saw Ukraine and Russia announce separate short-term ceasefires, and neither held. Is that right?
MAYNES: That's right. You know, and there's some gamesmanship going on here. First, Russia announced a ceasefire would occur on May 8 and 9 - that's in time for this Red Square parade - and called on Ukraine to abide by it or face massive strikes on its capital Kyiv. Then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would impose its own truce two days earlier and see how Russia responded. That tactic didn't work. Russia carried out deadly strikes on east Ukraine. Kyiv then fired on Russia's border regions. There were reports of Ukrainian drones downed on approach to Moscow last night, and Zelenskyy has made clear he believes Russia has not earned the right to hold its parade in peace. Russia, meanwhile, says its threat to strike Kyiv remains in force should Ukraine disrupt the holiday. So we'll just have to see where things go from here.
FADEL: So all these threats, that's why Russia says it's scaling back the parade. What precautions are they taking?
MAYNES: Yeah, yeah. So Russia announced that there'll be no major military hardware, no tanks, no missiles because of the risk of these Ukrainian drone attacks. As you can imagine, that means Russian air defenses are already on high alert here in the city. I should add that I was supposed to be on Red Square on Saturday but got a call from the Kremlin last night to say my accreditation to the event had been rescinded.
FADEL: Oh, a call from the Kremlin. Did they explain why?
MAYNES: Not exactly, but we weren't the only ones disinvited. Security seems to be at the forefront of this decision and just maybe fear of optics of witnessing something going wrong.
FADEL: You told us recently about the growing internet restrictions in Russia. How do those look now amid all these new security concerns?
MAYNES: Yeah. The government announced blackouts of mobile internet services across much of the country in the run-up to the May 9 holiday, again, due to Ukrainian drone attacks. In reality, the blockage has been much more scattershot. You know, the internet went dark for part of Tuesday. The last couple days saw restored service in Moscow but not, say, in St. Petersburg. The authorities promise May 9 will see a total shutdown. And where we see these blackouts, it's been chaotic. Digital bank payments don't go through. E-government services, taxi apps, messaging apps don't work. Now, the Kremlin insists these restrictions are temporary and in the interests of public safety. But they seem to have channeled growing public frustration, not only with the war in Ukraine, but also with President Putin for getting them into it. Yet even in this highly controlled political environment that is wartime Russia, his approval ratings are down.
FADEL: That's NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Thank you, Charles.
MAYNES: Thank you.
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