Over the past two years, Vladimir Putin has insisted that participants in the 'special military operation' (SMO) constitute a new and genuine elite of Russia, demanding their promotion into the real administrative elite, while propaganda has been occupied with creating a cult of the 'SMO heroes' based on the late-Soviet cult of Great Patriotic War veterans. This political campaign is designed to erect a barrier against any attempts to rethink or question the necessity and legitimacy of the wa...
