“This land was Russian, it still is, and it will remain so! This mythical phrase, we owe it to Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod. In April 1242, he struck down the soldiers of the Teutonic Order, originating from present-day Germany, who intended to conquer medieval Russia to convert it to Catholicism. Eight centuries later, the figure of Nevsky occupies an important place in the imagination mobilized by Vladimir Putin to justify his offensive in Ukraine, presented as a defensive measure to protect Russian-speakers in the face of Western danger.
“We are now fighting against Europe as our ancestors did,” says Oleg Yakhontov, a 56-year-old former paratrooper, who has just taken part in a historical re-enactment near the Estonian border. In September 2021, Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, inaugurated in person, a few meters away, an imposing metal sculpture representing the authoritarian Prince of Novgorod and his warriors.
“The figure of Alexander Nevsky is truly grandiose”, declared the Russian leader, hailing a “brilliant military commander” but also a “skillful diplomat”, who had allied with the Mongols as Moscow looks today towards China. . “Our president is continuing this work,” says Oleg Davydov, a 52-year-old engineer, with serenity. For him, Vladimir Putin embodies “the defense of the country, its strength, its confidence and its security”.