Organiser of WWII Victory Day rally in Naas says it was celebration of ancestors, not Russian war in Ukraine

One of the organisers of last Sunday’s Victory Day rally at Naas Racecourse has said it had nothing to do with support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Artur Belgard maintained the gathering was exclusively a celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union in 1945.

Representatives from 22 countries, mostly from the old Soviet Union, attended the event and the Russians there were in a small minority.

Video footage has emerged from the gathering showing a woman with a T-shirt depicting the letter “Z” which conveys support for the Russian war in Ukraine.

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Mr Belgard, who is Latvian and one of six organisers of the event, said the woman was the only one wearing symbols of support for the Russian invasion out of the approximately 700 people present.

The request for garda convoy assistance from the M7 to the racecourse specifically stated that any vehicle bearing the letters “Z” or “V” would be removed from the convoy.

He defended the presence of Russian flags at the event and also the presence of the black and orange ribbon of St George which many people in Ukraine associate with support for the Russian invasion.

Mr Belgard said the ribbon goes back to 1769 and is still used by Eastern European people from countries of the old Soviet Union. Flying the Russian flag does not convey support for the war, he believes, as most Russian exiles in Ireland have left the country because of President Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial regime.

He also wrote a letter to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in advance of the convoy to Naas Racecourse stating that such commemorations had been in Ireland for the previous 15 years and were a gathering point for people from the old Soviet Union to remember the victory over fascism and the deaths of an estimated 27 million citizens in the war.

He stated: “We have a huge request to you not to connect this memorable day with terrible events that are happening in Ukraine at the moment.

“Our car convoy is an exclusively peaceful action in memory of those who died in the second World War.”

Images from the rally featured in a round-up of international events marking Victory Day on the Russian evening news.

The event was criticised by the Ukrainian embassy in Ireland which described the gathering as a form of “hybrid warfare ... to promote symbols that endorse Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”

Mr Belgard said the criticism is unfair to the people who attended who were carrying on a tradition from their own countries.

Among those present who addressed the rally was 96-year-old Mikhail Grigorievich Kozuhov from Belarus who fought in what Eastern Europeans call the “Great Patriotic War”. He wore the Ribbon of St George.

Mr Belgard stressed that the presence of many Ukrainians at the event carrying Ukrainian flags was proof that it was not designed as a pro-Russian rally.