How Putin Co-opted Russia’s Biggest Holiday

<p>For years, President Vladimir V. Putin has taken advantage of Victory Day — when Russians commemorate the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany — to champion his country’s military might and project himself as a leader of enormous power.</p><p>This year, he drew on the pageantry of May 9 for an even more pressing goal: making the case for the war in Ukraine.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/anton-troianovski?smid=pc-thedaily">Anton Troianovski</a>, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.</p><p>Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>Victory Day in Moscow this year was set up to be<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/08/world/europe/russia-may-9-victory-day-ukraine.html"> a lavish government-orchestrated show of Russian strength</a> and a claim of rightful dominance over a lost empire.</li><li>Mr. Putin<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/09/world/europe/putin-speech-victory-day-ukraine-war.html"> delivered a speech</a> in which he vowed that the military would keep fighting to rid Ukraine, in his false telling, of “torturers, death squads and Nazis.”</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p>