Russia cancelled Immortal Regiment march because it fears showing scale of losses – UK Intelligence

The Russian authorities have cancelled the Immortal Regiment march, most likely to avoid emphasising the scale of their losses in the war in Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda; UK Defence Intelligence review on Saturday, 22 April

Details: As the review reports, Russia is trying to maintain the consistency of its main narrative to justify the war in Ukraine. They say that its invasion is similar to the Soviet experience of World War II.

On 18 April 2023, Russian state media announced that this year’s Immortal Regiment march has been cancelled, allegedly on "safety grounds", UK Intelligence recalls.

"The authorities were highly likely concerned that participants would highlight the scope of recent Russian losses," the UK Defence Ministry said.

This happened after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagnerites, publicly questioned whether there were "Nazis" in Ukraine, contradicting the Russian justification for the war. 

"The authorities have continued attempts to unify the Russian public around polarising myths about the 1940s," the UK Intelligence states.

In addition, on 12 April 2023, RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency, reported on allegedly "unique" documents from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) archives, which indicate the involvement of the Nazis in the murder of 22,000 Polish citizens during the Katyn massacre in 1940. 

In fact, the FSB's predecessor, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), was responsible for this. In 2010, the Russian State Duma officially condemned Joseph Stalin for ordering the murders, as the UK review states.

Background: Earlier, UK Defence Intelligence reported that Russian propaganda is likely exaggerating the overall impact of the weather on Ukraine's expected counteroffensive.

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