Putin is willing to risk the health and lives of his citizens, but that’s not all

COVID-19 made changes to our lifestyles globally. Many events were cancelled, even the Olympic Games, because of the new coronavirus. But there is one country and one man who thinks only about himself and is willing to risk the health and lives of countless people. Who is it? No surprises here, it is Russia and its most life-threatening disease ­– Vladimir Putin.

On 4 June, there were 440,538 cases of infection in Russia, and at least 8,500 new ones arrive each day according to the available data. The risk of infection is high, but this doesn’t worry the local ruler Putin who considers boasting to be more important than the health and lives of his citizens. This means that despite the pandemic spreading in full force, the parade must be held. We will not discuss the costs of the parade and how it will affect the already damaged budget of Russia or the fact that many Russians would rather receive the promised additional payments or social benefits.

What will we be able to see in the parade? It has been decided that the parade has to be organized as it was in 1945. It is reported that 14,000 soldiers and officers will participate in the parade in Moscow along with 225 pieces of military equipment, 55 airplanes and 20 helicopters, as well as military units from 19 countries (it will be interesting to see which countries will decide to take part). The promised fireworks will also resemble those of 1945. Of course, similar parades will take place in other Russian cities and see the participation of 64,000 soldiers, 1,850 pieces of military equipment and 511 aircraft.1

Considering the number of participants along with the fact that the preparations engage even more people and that there will also be observers and inevitable celebrations afterwards – it seems that COVID-19 will have a serious feast. Instead of doing what other governments that care for their citizens do and forbid mass events, Putin does the opposite – he orders people to gather. We can now objectively compare his deeds to those of Zhukov, who had a liking for sending people to a pointless death.

Aside from the participants I already mentioned, these parades usually reserve honor seats for people who have seen the atrocities of war, i.e. veterans. I believe everyone has seen those elderly folks with numerous medals and awards on their chests. Aren’t these people in the risk groups for COVID-19? Don’t they have a much higher probability of catching the virus and falling ill with serious complications? I guess Putin is not aware of this fact, or maybe he is but he simply does not care.

Veterans of war deserve all the respect we can give them, but since the war was such a long time ago – how old exactly are the people who participated in the war and now are able to attend these parades?

In 1945, when the war concluded the youngest soldier should have been 18, i.e. he was born in 1927. This means that in 2020 these people must be at least 93 years old. How these boys were able to earn all of their medals when they were sent to the frontline in 1945? Something doesn’t add up. Considering that most of these so-called veterans are definitely not 93 years old but much younger, it means that the people honored in these parades have not achieved anything and they haven’t been to war, at least not on the frontline. Okay, it’s common for all sorts of frauds to do something like this, but it doesn’t mean that it’s organized by the government, or to be more precise – Putin himself.

It’s a good thing that Russians themselves try to deal with such frauds, but they are unsuccessful in their attempts because these frauds are supported by the government. Why such a statement? We will get to that later, but now let’s look at the people trying to pose as veterans of war.

Let us begin with Riga: as we can see in picture No.1 the “veteran” dressed in the Cossack uniform has several awards. It is difficult to determine their authenticity, but there is no way he could have acquired a guards badge dressed in this uniform. What is more, he also has the Commemorative Medal for Participants of the Barricades. Quite an interesting combination.

That was an example in Latvia, let’s now look at what’s happening in Russia. As I already said, there are activists in Russia who fight to unmask fraudulent veterans and they even make articles and video blogs to do this.2 Seeing how the government supports and honors these frauds, there is no doubt that the government itself is responsible for creating them.

Picture No.2 depicts the same person but at different periods of time ­­­– the first one is right after the war, while the second is taken now. I don’t think this needs any additional comments, you can see everything for yourselves.

In picture No.3 we can see a person vigorously decorated with medals. Everything would be fine, if only he didn’t have the Order of Victory, 20 of which were only made and the only living person at the time of the photo who had received this award was the king of Romania. I don’t believe it’s the king of Romania in the picture.

Picture No.4 depicts someone with KGB awards. At the same time, he has two Hero of the Soviet Union awards (at the time the picture was taken only 27 people were among the living who were two times awarded – 24 astronauts and 3 aviators. There were no KGB employees). Only one person has Hero of Socialist Labor and Hero of the Soviet Union (single award) – director of the Sovkhoz Golovchenko. Only three people have received seven Orders of Lenin – Budyonny, Bagramyan and Afanasyev. And KGB officers were never awarded with the Order of Aleksander Nevsky. Oh, and the age of the depicted person is enough to be certain that there is no way he could have received these awards.

And pictures No.5 and No.6 show the same person, but with significant differences in military rank. In addition, the way the awards are placed in picture No.5 makes absolutely no sense.

We should also take a look at picture No.7. Why? Because it was taken in Moscow during a parade next to a seat reserved for veterans near the Kremlin’s wall. For someone to sit there they would have needed special invitations, and all of those invited are checked by the security service. How is that unordinary? Without orders from the top, such people would never be there, and this means that someone very much wanted for these so-called veterans to sit next to the Kremlin. Who could that be? Perhaps it is Putin, who cares more for showing off than he does for eating. Let’s begin with the easiest signs – no one who has served will put their hand to their head unless they’re wearing a hat. And the awards – there has only been one woman in the existence of the USSR who was awarded with the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Hero of Socialist Labor and it was pilot Valentina Grizodubova. However, she died in 1993.

We should also look at picture No.8 depicting the same woman, but here she is wearing a different uniform with a different military rank and her decorations are different as well.

We should note that according to experts the majority of these “veteran” awards are real. This leads to the conclusion that these people were only able to acquire them with help from state institutions. But state institutions would never do such thing, unless they receive orders from the top. And who sits at the top? That’s right – Putin.

 

Zintis Znotiņš