During the cold war, anniversaries of the end of the second world war were an exception from the general rule of confrontation. The US and the Soviet Union considered it necessary to emphasise, at least once a year, their ability to unite against evil. Now, every big anniversary causes heated debates, political demarches and conflicts.
Western leaders will not attend the May 9 celebrations in Moscow (presedential exceptions are those of Greece, Cyprus and the Czech Republic). The German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make a brief visit the next day to pay tribute to war victims. China’s President Xi Jinping will be the central figure among foreign guests. One can hardly think of a better way to signify Russia’s turn to Asia. The ceremonies in May and September 2015 (a big parade is scheduled to take place in Beijing on September 3) will heighten the stand-off in international relations.
Russia and China, which are already gravitating towards each other quite rapidly, will take another step — one with a historical context. Moscow and Beijing are working on their own interpretations of the past. For China, it is important to remind Japan of its crimes; for Russia, to counter the trend in the west which increasingly tends to regard Stalin’s Soviet Union not as a victim but as another perpetrator of the war. For the Russian conscience, official and public, that is like a red rag to a bull.