70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany

May 9 is a national holiday celebrated by many countries of former Soviet Union for 70 years now. However, the day which marks a victory over Nazi Germany had changed in its meaning recently and mostly due to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s quite aggressive policy against former Soviet States. May 9th is widely accepted as a day to celebrate the victory of “united power” of soviet nations, which is unacceptable for many former soviet states which seek freedom from Russian influence and do not want to be identified with Putin Russian.

Moscow had huge preparation to celebrate May 9 in 2015 as it is day to mark 70 year of the victory in WWII. Large parades and events were organized in many Russian cities and leaders from various states were invited to Moscow. However, western leaders refused to arrive in Russia. As it was expected only several Asian and African states agreed to send their delegation to Moscow. Western states reminded Russia of its aggressive politics in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea and refused to join the May 9 celebration.

Official Moscow might feel insulted after its invitation was declined by the western leaders and considering unpredictable nature of Russia it could reply the west by increasing its unlawful activities and aggression in Eastern Ukraine.

Georgians also have confused feeling about the May 9th. While the country contributed a lot and plaid a great role in the victory of soviet army which is a reason for a pride, modern society tries to stay away from the soviet past. Many Georgians refuse to mark the day at all, while part of the society thinks as Georgia sacrificed over 350000 of its citizens in WWII the country deserves to mark the day.

Former government of President Mikheil Saakashvili had an idea of celebrating victory in WWII on May 8th as it is done in European countries. However, it is hard to change the habit of war veterans who would always gather to celebrate the victory on May 9.