Authors

Joakim Aalmen Markussen¹;  ¹ UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway

Discussion

This article explores how changes and developments of Kremlin’s WWII memory politics has impacted the use of Soviet and Russian war memorials by Russian diplomats in Northern Norway between 2014 and 2023. It examines the growing interest of Russia’s consulate general in Kirkenes in organizing joint commemorative events with local Norwegian politicians, notably on Russia’s Victory Day on May 9th. Since 2014, memory policy has increasingly become a constituent of security policy in Russia, and challenges to the official narrative of World War II are viewed as threats to national identity and integrity. The Consulate General has promoted the official Russian narrative of the Soviet Victory at an increasing number of memorials in Northern Norway and incorporated the use Russian military-patriotic symbols like St. George ribbons during its commemorations. This article suggests that Russia has aimed to symbolically appropriate the interpretation of Soviet and Russian war memorials and that the Consulate General, through its progressively assertive memory policy, has worked to inscribe Norway as an ally in Russia’s ongoing memory wars in Europe.