The religious fever of Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day

On Easter Sunday Vladimir Putin released a seemingly boilerplate message celebrating Christian “joy and love”. The missive ended, however, with a jarring statement that expressed thanks for the Russian Orthodox Church’s “support for the defenders of the Fatherland” – an unmistakable reference to the soldiers waging war in Ukraine. Hours earlier, the Russian president had declared a 30-hour truce for “humanitarian” reasons to mark the Christian holi