In all former USSR countries, May 9, “Victory Day”, commemorates the Soviet Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. This event and its symbolism are still instrumentalized by Russia, all the more so since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Russian discourse drawing numerous historical parallels between its war of invasion and the “Great Patriotic War”. In Kyrgyzstan, as in other former Soviet republics whose populations were mobilized during the Second World War, May 9 is still celebrated, although the government and a large part of the population want to distance themselves from the Kremlin’s narratives and its legitimization of the invasion of Ukraine.

While some Soviet flags and Saint George’s ribbons are still visible at these events, mostly worn by the older generations and the Russian and Slavic populations of Kyrgyzstan, most of the Red Army aesthetic codes displayed seem to have as their sole vocation, if not a continuation of well-established customs, the tribute to the fallen. At these May 9th ceremonies in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2022 and 2023, the speeches delivered from the podiums and the plays performed in the street never referred directly to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Still, they promoted messages of peace, insisting on the importance of never reliving for anyone the traumas suffered by an entire generation, whose faces are brandished by their descendants in remembrance.