DC’s March of The Immoral Regiment

A group of Russian citizens have received permission from authorities in Washington, DC to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany with a march of the “Immortal Regiment” (Бессмертный полк). This march is scheduled to begin today (Saturday, 3 May 2025) at Lafayette Square, near the White House, and continue along Pennsylvania Avenue to the World War II memorial.

 March participants will be accompanied by an orchestra, and marchers will sing patriotic songs and carry portraits of Soviet heroes and family members who lost their lives in that conflict. A concert is planned to occur at the World War II memorial.

 The Russian government has held a massive “Victory Day” military parade in Moscow on 9 May each year since the end of World War II. (My mother-in-law, as a child, was in attendance at the first one, on 9 May 1945.)

 Speaking as someone whose own father is a decorated World War II hero now buried in Arlington National Cemetery, and as the husband of a former Soviet citizen whose own family suffered losses during World War II, I can solemnly appreciate the desire of today’s descendants to commemorate the sacrifices of their family members in World War II.

 Unfortunately, since 2000, under former KGB officer Vladimir Putin, the increasingly autocratic Russian government has made a concerted effort to manipulate the thinking of American citizens through a systematic strategy of disinformation and propaganda. As a former intelligence officer and (now) academic, I have studied those efforts with growing concern. Consistent with that concern, I interpret today’s march as a shameless attempt by the Russian Federation to exploit, for political purposes, the legitimate sentiments of those descendants of Soviet-era heroes seeking to honor ancestors who made enormous sacrifices in their struggle against Nazism. It’s not accidental that this is the first time the Immortal March has occurred in Washington, DC since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago.

 Since 2000, under Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian leadership, Russia has relentlessly devolved into precisely the type of imperialistic, intolerant, racist, and brutal regime that the Soviet Union (along with the U.S., U.K., and dozens of other countries) collaborated to defeat in 1945: In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, journalists are murdered. Political opponents are harassed, jailed, driven into exile, or killed. Those who protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

 The sad reality is that Vladimir Putin’s Russia has become Nazi Germany, version 2.0. Therefore, any Russian marchers in Washington, DC today who support the Russian government’s current behavior in Ukraine and Georgia – both of which sovereign countries are former Soviet republics now 20% occupied by Russian invaders – should really be viewed as part of an Immoral Regiment.