Vladimir Putin has marked the 79th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa – Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union – with a visit to the new Orthodox cathedral built for Russia’s armed forces in Kubinka, outside Moscow.
Monday morning’s event emphasized the close connection between church and state in contemporary Russia. June 22 is an important memorial day, as the USSR sustained around five million military casualties in the five months that followed the surprise German attack. In total, an estimated 27 million Soviet citizens died in the conflict, the majority Russian. Putin said that the memory of World War Two (also known as the ‘Great Patriotic War’) for the people of Russia is “absolutely sacred.”
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