Why I’m going to Moscow for the May 9 Victory Day Parade

I’m writing these words roughly 5,000 metres above ground, en route from Rome to Istanbul. From there, tomorrow morning, I’ll fly to Moscow to witness and document the May 9 Victory Day Parade — this year marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. Provided, that is, that my flight isn’t cancelled following Ukraine’s massive drone attack on several Russian airports.

It will be my first time in Russia, and I’m looking forward to doing some sightseeing, catching up with friends and enjoying some good old vodka and pickles. But of course, that’s not why I’m going. I chose to be in Moscow on this particular day because it matters. We are living through an extremely dark and dangerous period. Over the past three and a half years, European governments have systematically dismantled diplomatic, economic and cultural relations with Russia, all while waging a proxy war against the country — at Ukraine’s expense. Though many still fail to see it, Europe is at war — militarily, economically and culturally — with the world’s largest nuclear power. Western-supplied arms, intelligence and funding have contributed to the deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers.

This is not unprecedented. European powers have repeatedly gone to war against Russia — in the Crimean War, in World War I and most catastrophically in World War II, when Nazi Germany launched the deadliest military campaign in history, Operation Barbarossa, against the Soviet Union, which caused millions of Russian casualties. Now, once again, Europe is playing with fire. What we’re witnessing is not a reaction to Russia’s 2022 invasion; it is the continuation of a decades-long geopolitical offensive that ultimately provoked it.

For over thirty years, most Europeans have lived unaware of the invisible war unfolding on their continent. NATO’s eastward expansion, the various “colour revolutions” in post-Soviet countries, the 2014 Western-backed coup in Ukraine, the subsequent civil war in Donbas, economic sanctions and the relentless media campaign against Russia — these were all just different stages of a war between the West and Russia. Three and a half years ago it simply entered a much more overt phase.

What makes this even more disturbing is that this campaign wasn’t even driven by a European strategic calculus. In fact, Europe had everything to gain from stable relations with post-Soviet Russia. Instead, this rupture was engineered in the interest of a foreign power — the United States — for whom keeping Europe divided from Russia has always been a geostrategic imperative. Russia posed a challenge not just to Cold War US dominance but to the unipolar hegemony that followed. That’s why Washington spent the post-Cold War decades trying to dismantle Russia economically, politically and culturally — using Europe as a bridgehead.

While many European leaders deepened ties with Russia in the 2000s, they lacked the political courage — or independence — to resist Washington’s pressure. Whether through ignorance, complicity or cowardice, European leaders bear collective responsibility for reigniting the antagonism that once led the continent into two world wars.

And as in previous episodes, this latest escalation has been accompanied by an aggressive campaign of dehumanisation and Russophobia. We’ve seen calls for bombing Russian government buildings on talk shows, the confiscation of Russian cars and phones at EU borders, the removal of Russian literature and art from European institutions, and Russian athletes forced to compete without their flag or anthem.

Meanwhile, European leaders continue to fuel the fire with inflammatory rhetoric and massive rearmament programmes, justified by the spectre of a Russian threat that simply does not exist. They are erecting a new Iron Curtain — not just physically but psychologically and culturally. The backlash against leaders like Slovakia’s Robert Fico, who dared to say he would attend the May 9 celebrations, speaks volumes. There must be no contact with the “Russian monster” — this is the new dogma of European “diplomacy”.

The consequences of this policy have been devastating. Economically, the rupture with Russia — especially the loss of cheap energy — has been catastrophic. In security terms, the West has brought Europe to the brink of direct confrontation with a nuclear-armed superpower. That disaster has been averted so far only thanks to the restraint of Russian leadership, despite repeated Western provocations.

Equally grave are the cultural and, dare I say, spiritual consequences of this forced separation. For centuries, Europe and Russia have been engaged in a rich process of cultural osmosis — in literature, music, cinema, philosophy. Russian culture is part of Europe’s heritage, just as European culture is part of Russia’s.

Politically, too, the Soviet Union played a decisive role in shaping postwar Europe. The very existence of the USSR fuelled the dream of Western democratic socialism and made Western social democracy possible in the first place, compelling elites to accept the welfare state and workers’ rights. As an Italian, I am particularly mindful of the deep ties between the Italian Communist Party and the Soviet Union — ties that influenced Italian political life well beyond the Cold War.

What the US and its European proxies have done — either through action or inaction — is a tragedy of historic proportions. As the German philosopher Hauke Ritz writes in his remarkable book Vom Niedergang des Westens zur Neuerfindung Europas (From the Decline of the West to the Reinvention of Europe):

To have rejected and possibly permanently lost this friend by planning the separation of Ukraine from Russia, as the German High Command once did in the First World War, is perhaps the most dramatic mistake Europe has made in its entire history.

This is why I’ve chosen to be in Moscow on May 9. It is a small but deliberate act of defiance against the attempt to sever ties between Europe and Russia. The timing is especially symbolic: May 9 commemorates Russia’s victory over Nazism — a history that European leaders are now attempting to rewrite or erase.

This may seem a minor gesture, but even symbolic acts matter. Europe today finds itself in a dangerous interregnum: the old transatlantic order has collapsed, but no new framework has taken its place. In this vacuum, reckless leaders cling to obsolete institutions and delusional ideologies. This interim period between the dying old world and the not-yet-born new one is an extremely perilous time, in which desperate politicians can easily short-circuit.

Can relations with Russia be mended? That question is not just geopolitical — it is existential. Europe’s identity crisis, its strategic irrelevance and its social disintegration all stem from a deeper condition: that for the past 80 years, Europe has not governed itself. It has been subordinated to an external power — the United States — and cut off from its own historical and cultural roots.

The myth of “the West” is a fiction — a euphemism for an informal US empire. In severing ties with Russia, Europe has severed ties with itself. As Ritz argues, only by reconnecting with Russia can Europe reclaim its cultural and political sovereignty. Only Russia, among “European” nations, has preserved a vision of European culture rooted in tradition, in contrast to the hollow postmodernism exported by the Atlantic world.

In short, Europe’s survival depends on breaking with the US and establishing a post-Atlantic identity. That means reconnecting with Russia — not as a political concession, but as a civilisational imperative. It’s a daunting task, but it’s the only viable path forward. That’s why I — and many other Europeans — will (try to) be in Moscow on May 9: to begin rebuilding the bridge that others have tried so hard to destroy.

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