On May 9, Vladimir Putin marked Russia's Victory Day in World War II by ... celebrating the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin has co-opted triumph against the Nazis to justify his aggression by claiming a delusional Nazi threat in Ukraine to justify the war. But this is nothing new.

Indeed, former Finnish PM Alexander Stubb says Russia never really moved on from World War II, relying on the narrative that "the rest of the world is out to get us" to drum up patriotic sentiment.