While tanks and troops parade through Red Square, the leader of the Freedom of Russia Legion has accused the Kremlin of using WWII battles to prop up “fascist” regime
Julian O’Shaughnessy
May 9, 2025
The Times
President Putin’s army has more in common with Hitler’s troops than the Red Army soldiers who gave their lives to stop Nazi Germany, the leader of a group of Russian citizens fighting for Ukraine said.
Maximilian Andronnikov, the leader of the Freedom of Russia Legion, accused Putin of cynically exploiting the memory of Soviet victories at key Second World War battles such as Kursk and Stalingrad to prop up his “fascist” regime. He spoke before Friday’s Victory Day military parade in Moscow, in which Russian state media made direct comparisons between the defeat of Adolf Hitler and the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The 80th anniversary event, attended by President Xi of China and several other world leaders who are aligned with Putin against the West, saw a much bigger show of Russian military might than in previous years, with thousands of troops and armoured vehicles parading on Red Square, and a flypast overhead.
Drones — which have been used to such devastating effect in the Ukraine war — were part of the parade for the first time, in addition to tanks and intercontinental Yars missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
While the Kremlin claims that President Zelensky’s government is a “Nazi” regime, Andronnikov said the very opposite was true. “The atrocities by Russian servicemen in Ukraine resemble the actions of Nazi Germany, and Putin’s propaganda and symbols are reminiscent of those of the Third Reich,” Andronnikov, whose nom de guerre is Caesar, told The Times from a secret location. “Today we are fighting [Russian] Nazism that denies the very existence of Ukrainian state, the Ukrainian culture and the Ukrainian language, as well as the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own political course and live as they wish.”
The legion, which has been incorporated into the Ukrainian armed forces, is made up of Russians who were either living in Ukraine when the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 or moved to the country to take up arms against Putin’s invading troops. It has been outlawed by the Kremlin as a terrorist organisation and Russians are frequently sentenced to years in prison for real or invented contact with the group. It is believed to have several hundred fighters, including mortar squads. A number of its members have been killed in clashes with Russian forces.
A former fitness coach from Sochi, a city on Russia’s Black Sea coast, Andronnikov is wanted by Moscow on charges related to a 2023 border incursion by legion troops and would face up to 20 years in prison if captured by Putin’s forces. A self-avowed Russian nationalist who has said he supports democratic ideals, Andronnikov accused Putin of transforming ethnic Russians into “gun-carrying slaves” who enslave others. He also said that the legion enjoyed support inside the Russian military.
“It is not only ordinary Russians who get in touch with us, but government officials and people from the security forces,” he said. “Military officers pass on intelligence information to us and sooner or later this work will be crowned by the overthrow of Putin’s regime.” His claim could not be verified.
Andronnikov’s comparison of modern-day Russia to Nazi Germany is likely to make him even more of a figure of hate for pro-war Russians. Putin has described Ukraine as a neo-Nazi state even though President Zelensky is Jewish and his great-grandparents were killed when German troops set fire to their village.
There was nervousness in Moscow about possible Ukrainian attacks during the parade on Red Square to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, or the Great Patriotic War as it is known in Russia.
Xi, Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, and President Vucic of Serbia were among more than two dozen world leaders who joined Putin in Moscow in a show of support for Russia. Chinese troops also took part in the parade, alongside an estimated 11,500 Russian servicemen.
Putin said that Russia would never accept attempts to belittle the Soviet Union’s decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany, but that Moscow also recognised the part played by the Western allies in overcoming the Third Reich. “The Soviet Union took upon itself the most ferocious, merciless blows of the enemy,” Putin said. “We highly appreciate the contribution of the soldiers of the Allied armies, the members of the resistance, the courageous people of China, and all those who fought for a peaceful future to our common struggle.”
Kyiv said it would not be held responsible for the security of foreign leaders during the event, which came after days of Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital. “It will be a parade of cynicism. There is just no other way to describe it. A parade of bile and lies,” Zelensky said. He has also rejected Russia’s proposed three-day ceasefire over Victory Day, calling it a “theatrical performance”. Instead, he reiterated Kyiv’s support for a US proposal for a 30-day truce that Moscow has rejected.
In a message on social media on Friday, Zelensky added that “no matter the language”, freedom, equality, democracy and “respect for every life” was fundamental. It had been proven that “our unity is the greatest strength”, he added. He said that was demonstrated when “everyone in Ukraine came together for their future in Europe, and when all of Europe came together around Ukraine”.
Putin has ordered his military chiefs to launch an Oreshnik ballistic missile at Kyiv, in the event of any Ukrainian “provocations” during Victory Day, according to Russian Telegram channels
with links to the military. Putin has said the Oreshnik is “comparable in strength to a nuclear strike” if enough of the missiles are used at once. So far, Russia has only used the missile once, when it fired it into the city of Dnipro last year. It did not carry explosive charges, however, and Putin described its launch as a test run.
After 1945, Victory Day parades were held just three times during the Soviet era; in 1965, 1985 and 1990. It did not become an annual event until 1994, three years after the collapse of the communist regime, and it was not until 2008 that Putin transformed the parade into a show of modern Russian military strength, including nuclear missiles. Since then, the occasion has become a key element in the Kremlin’s bid to simultaneously distract and inspire Russians with relentless rhetoric about the defeat of Nazi Germany. Last week, in Kemerovo, a city in Siberia, newborns at a maternity ward were dressed in Soviet-era military caps as part of Victory Day celebrations, according to Russian media. “What is there to be proud of if Germany has been reborn, turned into an advanced, developed, democratic state with a high rate of economic development, and Putin’s Russia, the heir to the Soviet Union, the victorious country, still lives in poverty, lawlessness and can only be proud of the fact that it has once again killed Ukrainian women and children with a missile?” Andronnikov said.
Although he admitted that there were no signs so far that his fellow Russians were prepared to rise up against Putin, he said he was certain that it was only a matter of time before they did so. “Russians are not like Ukrainians; they do not flare up quickly. But when they do rise up, all those who defended Putin and his regime will have nowhere to hide,” he said. “I am confident this will happen. It’s just a question of when. And we are doing everything we can to try and bring this about.”