Around Russia, war banners disappear from official buildings and house walls.
“Nothing in Moscow is reminiscent of the war anymore,” said parliamentarian Sergei Mironov.
Experts see the purge as a move by the Kremlin to make people “forget” the invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian forces are now concentrating entirely on the Donbass and on occupying and expanding the areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk breakaway regions.
At the same time as the invasion resulted in a positional war on the front, a recently common feature of the Russian street scene has disappeared.
In the past week, banners with the Z symbol and other tributes in support of Putin’s war have been taken down in several cities around Russia. writes The Moscow Times.
Everything about the war cleaned up
Sergei Mironov, Russia’s Justice Party leader and parliamentarian, said Moscow’s local authorities had ordered him to take down a banner in support of the war from the party’s headquarters in the capital.
It is not the only war banner taken down in Moscow, writes The Moscow Times.
According to the newspaper, other tributes to the invasion have disappeared from buildings in cities such as St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Kirov.
Party leader Mironov says that they were forced to take down banners after residents complained about the message, according to the explanation they received from the authorities.
– Nothing in Moscow is reminiscent of the war anymore, he says.
On Thursday, pictures were spread on Telegram when employees took down a large banner over the entrance to the head office of Russia’s state railway company in Moscow.
Celebrate National Day without “Z”
“For the President! For the army! For victory! ”Was the message.
June 12 is Russia’s national day. Before the celebration in Moscow, the capital has been decorated in the Russian colors white, red and blue.
But signs and banners alluding to the war shine with their absence.
According to The Moscow Times, there is no sign of major domestic opposition or rebellion against the Z symbol.
But the removal of official war tributes could be a new strategy by the Kremlin for how the invasion should be perceived by the public, the newspaper writes.
– It can be a kind of repackaging. The war has clearly stalled, both politically and militarily, says political analyst Abbas Gallyamov, who was once Putin’s speechwriter. to The Moscow Times.
Draw for possible defeat
He believes it could be a way for Putin and his immediate circle to prepare the public for military defeat – or at least for the victory not to be as clear as expected.
– When visual symbols are removed, the public’s interest decreases and people do not pay attention to what is really happening, Gallyamov says.
During the first massive offensive against Kyiv, the Z symbol began to be used by people who wanted to pay tribute to the troops on cars, house walls and clothes.
Following the withdrawal from the northern and western parts of the country, fighting is now concentrated in smaller parts of eastern Ukraine.
– It is possible that the PR strategy has been changed due to the new phase of the war where the focus is on the “exempt” areas, says Andrei Kolesnikov, expert on Russian politics, to The Moscow Times.
Heavy for Ukraine
While Russia is in many ways considered to be stuck in the Donbass, Ukraine is suffering heavy losses during the protracted civil war in the east.
– It’s an artillery war now. The future is decided on the front and we lose when it comes to artillery. It all depends on what we get from the West. Russia has 10 to 15 artillery pieces for each of us, says Vadym Skibitsky, of the Ukrainian military intelligence service. to The Guardian.
He believes that the country needs rocket artillery weapons from the west to be able to knock out the Russian positions from afar.
Ukraine will have a forward-looking meeting with NATO in Brussels on 15 June. Then you are expected to present a wish list.