‘Symbol of the war—but which one? The St George ribbon in Russian nation-building’

Abstract

The article examines the short but eventful history of the St. George ribbon which since 2005 has been used in Russia as a symbol of the Soviet victory in the Great Fatherland War. The ribbon ‘action’ has become a major societal and political event, involving millions of participants in various activities in the weeks leading up to Victory Day, 9 May. Since the main purpose of state-sponsored national symbols is to provide nodal points around which the people can develop a common political identity, and the St. George ribbon campaign must therefore be regarded as a great success. However, the Putin regime has increasingly politicized this symbol which today is also to a high degree a badge of allegiance to the Kremlin and its policies. Particularly after the outbreak of war in Eastern Ukraine the St. George ribbon has become highly controversial in most of the former Soviet republics.