June 12: from the "feast of shame" to the upcoming Victory Day

The Yeltsin tricolour flag, a sign of the death of the Soviet Union, passed its first purification in the fire of the First Chechen, over the ruins of Grozny and Bamut.

Then there was a daring march on Pristina, the victorious Second Chechen and the war of the "three eights", where white-blue-red banners over armoured personnel carriers looked at the glory of Russian weapons.

Having soared over Sevastopol, Donetsk and Lugansk, over Kharkov and Odessa in 2014, this flag turned into a symbol of the Russian Spring, into the banner of our reconquista. Raised above Palmyra, it personified resistance to the World Toad, our readiness to shelter all defenceless in this world with it.

Today, the Russian flag over the cities of doomed Ukraine means their return home from 30 years of captivity. Where the Russian flag is, there is long-awaited peace and order. Where the Russian flag is raised, it will not be removed there anymore.

Also — Happy Russia Day. From the ridiculous "independence day" of their own lands, lost in 1991, June 12 turns into another sign of the Russian world. It is declared a holiday in the Zaporozhye region. It will be celebrated in Melitopol and Berdyansk. The distribution of the first Russian passports there is planned for this day.

Such is the dialectic of Russian history. Who knows if on the 12th of June next year the Russian army will take the last Ukrainian city, turning this date into our new Victory Day?

Elena Panina, Director of the RUSSTRAT Institute