From his military culture to the invasion of Ukraine, how Vladimir Putin “legitimizes himself” through the war

One “Wartime President”. The expression refers to the strongman of the Kremlin. Yet she does not describe Vladimir Putin in February, launching the invasion of Ukraine. This expression, “many have started” to use it five years earlier, when, for an electoral purpose, “the emphasis on militarization and preparations for war has become so commonplace”, says researcher Anna Borshchevskaya in a recent study*. Even in times of peace, the authoritarian Russian ruler honed his image as a warlord.

Vladimir Putin, steeped in a militaristic history and culture, placed strength at the heart of his presidency and his vision of Russian power. “Putin is not a tyrant who wakes up, but a man who practices war”points out the essayist Olivier Mongin to The cross.

How does the man who triggered the most important conflict in Europe since 1945 conceive of war? In his work Inside Putin’s head, Michel Eltchaninoff recounts the thinkers who may have influenced Putin’s vision of Russian power. The philosopher quotes Ivan Ilyin and his thought “consisting in justifying violence in the name of good”, Where Nikolai Danilevsky, for whom “popular mobilization in war represents a privileged ferment of cultural and political renaissance”.

“The philosophical sources of Putinism, however diverse they may be, all rest on two pillars: the idea of ​​empire and the apology of war.”

Michel Eltchaninoff, philosopher

in his book “In Putin’s Head”

War, then military culture, are also markers of Putin’s Soviet youth. His father was injured in World War II, and the future head of state grew up “in the ‘city-hero’ whose memory remains untouchable”Leningrad, writes Michel Eltchaninoff. “Vladimir Putin is the child of this everyday militarism”or “education was militaristic” and “Military service, with its atrocious hazing and manly initiation rites, was one of the most important moments of Soviet life”.

The streets of Leningrad will also teach him “one thing: if a fight is inevitable, strike first”relieves The world. Young Vladimir Putin grew up with notions of strength and virility, close to martial culture. “Putin comes from a consistently male background”emphasizes to franceinfo Cécile Vaissié, professor of Russian and Soviet studies at the University of Rennes 2. A universe “where values ​​are displayed in a very archaic conception of what a man is. Military values.”

The Putin years are marked by war. This is how they began at the dawn of the 2000s, with the second war in Chechnya. The then Prime Minister of Boris Yeltsin initiates an “anti-terrorist operation” following attacks in Russia attributed to the Chechens, despite doubts about the origin of these attacks. “This is also how Vladimir Putin built his image”analyzes Cécile Vaissié.

In 1999, “the FSB [les services de renseignement russes] wanted to build a presidential image for Putin”, recalls the researcher. The day after his arrival at the head of the government, in August of that year, the ex-KGB agent collected 1% of the voting intentions for the presidential election scheduled for June 2000. The candidate then became “photographing in uniform and with Russian soldiers, launches his phrase ‘kill the terrorists even in the toilets’…”

For Cécile Vaissié, “this created image of a young officer who will really take the fate of Russia into his own hands has pleased a number of people”. Voting intentions take off. “What will legitimize him as a leader capable of redressing Russia is this image of a strong man”, supports Isabelle Facon, Deputy Director of the Foundation for Strategic Research. First acting president after the resignation of Boris Yeltsin on December 31, 1999, Vladimir Putin was elected a few months later in an early ballot – in the first round.

“In his rise to power, Vladimir Putin legitimizes himself through a war. This is what will give him credibility, more than anything else.”

Isabelle Facon, specialist in Russian security and defense policies

at franceinfo

The memory of another war, the Second World War, or what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), will be a pillar of Putin’s power. On May 9, 2000, Vladimir Putin commemorates for the first time as president the victory of the Soviets over Nazi Germany. “You have not only destroyed the enemy and won. You have lifted a devastated country, you have rebuilt it again”, proclaims in front of veterans the leader, quoted by Anna Borshchevskaya in her study. For the researcher, “these words heralded the role military narratives would play in the Kremlin’s plans to restore Russia’s image as a great power, at home and abroad.”

“Vladimir Putin quickly spotted that, in his effort to find a unifying project for Russian society, the Second World War was extremely promising”notes Isabelle Facon. The new president takes the lead in parades during commemorations, photos of his father in hand. “We are starting to celebrate May 9 with military parades that did not take place before, military hats are sold everywhere, like children’s uniforms”continues Cécile Vaissié, referring to “a growing militarization of society”.

“Putin had an ingrained fear that Russia would explode like the Soviet Union. He took measures like education in patriotism, which was very militarized. What could young Russians be proud of? Two things: the conquest of space, and the victory of 1945.”

Cécile Vaissié, professor of Russian and Soviet studies

at franceinfo

In her study, Anna Borshchevskaya recalls “the essential role” played by Russian schools in disseminating a new vision of the Second World War, centered around the Soviet victory. “The world, in this story, owes the victory mainly to the Red Army”, points out the researcher. A patriotic account which is accompanied by a rehabilitation of the figure of Stalin – and a justification of his purges.

This memory also served the Kremlin’s discourse with regard to Western countries. “‘The Western Adversary'” has thus been “accused of wanting to question the importance of the USSR in the fight against Nazism”, notes Isabelle Facon. To justify his invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin willingly advances the idea of ​​a “denazification” of the Ukrainian state. As a reminder of this Russian greatness in the face of the Nazi enemy.

If the memory of a war brings people together, the display of military power plays another role, just as precious, for Vladimir Putin.

Showing off a strong military has often given Moscow a certain place on the international stage. “Under Vladimir Putin, the army has become a leading actor in foreign affairs”, notes the Swedish Defense Research Agency*. Its role remained limited at the beginning of the Putin years, but a shift took place towards the end of the 2000s. “The military’s ability to influence foreign policy decision-making has increased significantly,” in particular by strengthening the military tool, underlines the Swedish agency.

“With the war in Georgia (in 2008), we see that the Russian army is undisciplined, poorly equipped and poorly organized. Its reform in 2009 is a priority for Vladimir Putin.”

Isabelle Facon

at franceinfo

The Russian President is convinced that “If Russia had had a better armed army in the 1990s, its positions on the international security order would have been taken more seriously”, continues the specialist. Once the reform is launched, the Russian forces gain planes, tanks and missiles, and new bases are opened, specifies France 24*. The Russian army is now the second strongest in the world.

Vladimir Putin works on this image. “He has done a real job of communicating his military power, with major exercises, the signing of defense agreements in Africa, the Middle Eastillustrates Isabelle Facon. In recent years, the military tool has been the main embodiment of Russia’s return to the international scene.” The intervention in Syria, from 2015, thus marks “Russia’s Return to the Middle East”. The annexation of Crimea in 2014, then the invasion of Ukraine, are part of “this conception that Russia is big if it has a lot of territories”, continues Cécile Vaissié. Vladimir Poutine, “very irritated by the fact that Ukraine wants to turn to the European Union, wanted to assert itself as a head of state in the Stalinist line, capable of reconquering territories”. And so, “to remake a warlord image”.

* These links refer to pages in English.