The event at the Russian Chapel under Vršič, where the commemorative ceremony is traditionally held on the last Sunday of July, was once again attended by a handful of former politicians, despite the fact that this year, the outpouring of affection for the Russian Federation has been much less on trend than in some of the previous years, when the event represented the culmination of the Russophile mood in Slovenia.
This time, we managed to catch the “eternal” Milan Kučan, the first President of the Republic of Slovenia and the penultimate chairman of the Central Committee of the Union of Communists; former diplomat and Kučan’s friend Saša Geržina; Tit Turnšek, former Minister and former President of the Association of the National Liberation Movement of Slovenia; and Zmago Jelinčič, President of the Slovenian National Party (“Slovenska nacionalna stranka” – SNS) and former MP, who did not hide his pro-Russian views in the pre-election debates. There were also some businessmen present who are linked to deals in Russia, such as Janez Škrabec and Željko Puljić.
This year’s event was organised in a slightly more shy matter, which is evidenced by the fact that this year, there was no big event organised, unlike in the previous years – once, even Vladimir Putin himself attended the ceremony, along with practically all of the left-wing representatives of our country – but this year, due to the war in Ukraine, this was merely a short commemorative event for members and friends of the Slovenia-Russia Association.
The Association wrote: “This Sunday at the Russian Chapel under Vršič, where a commemorative ceremony is traditionally held on the last Sunday in July, due to the war in Ukraine, this year there will only be a short commemorative event held for the members and friends of the Slovenia-Russia Association. No other programme or additional events are planned this year.”
The ceremony is not only of a reverent nature
The Russian Chapel is a monument near Kranjska Gora, located along the path to the Vršič Pass, which was built under difficult war conditions by the Russian prisoners. Every year, a commemorative ceremony is held there in memory of all those who died during the construction of the road to Vršič. At first glance, it is downright bizarre that in Slovenia, every year, we celebrate with pomp a reverent event which commemorates an obscure event in which soldiers of the side which was hostile to us at the time died, the majority of whom were ethnically Ukrainian, and not even of Russian origin. It is less bizarre, however, if we look at it through the prism of Slovenian political reality – especially on the left. The ceremony is not just of a reverent nature – it is, in fact, a purely political event, where Slovenian pro-Russian politicians of left-wing provenance demonstrate their allegiance to the idea of the Society of Friends of the Soviet Union, which was the basis for the Slovenian National Liberation Movement. It is a symbolic act of surrender out of subservience to the Russian Federation.
The hard Russophile core cannot get out of its own skin
The event has become more and more bizarre with each passing year, especially as Russia has become completely fascist and, in 2014, with the seizure of Crimea, became the only conquering colonial power in modern times. In the meantime, they also shot down a civilian aircraft. This year, however, the whole situation was apparently too much, and most of the mainstream left distanced themselves from the event because attending it would have been akin to a reverential reunion with Nazi bureaucrats in the summer of 1944. And yet, the hard Russophile core, led by the patriarch of the Slovenian communists, Milan Kučan, cannot seem to give it up.
Kučan has not been seen at a commemorative event for the victims of revolutionary violence in a long time
Kučan defended himself, saying that the event had no connection with the Ukrainian war. Of course, this is a gross misrepresentation – because it absolutely is connected to it, as this year’s symbolic event was also attended by representatives of Putin’s embassy in Slovenia, for which it has been previously whispered that it is mostly made up of secret agents of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the successor of the notorious criminal organisation KGB. The commemorative event at which the guests stood side-by-side with the hand-picked men of the world’s current main fascist-in-chief is simply not befitting of former high-ranking Slovenian politicians. Especially since it is a tribute to the opposing army, which is extremely unusual in the first place. Unlike the conciliatory current President of the Republic, Borut Pahor, we have never seen Milan Kučan at any commemoration of the slaughtered Home Guards or the innocent victims of revolutionary violence. But he did come to the Russian Chapel – to pay his respect to the soldiers of the enemy army of the First World War.
It would be better for Kučan and the others who attended the event to stop pretending and admit what it is really about. Kučan and his left-wing clique are open and shameless Russophiles – he already proved this at the “anti-war” protest, where he bizarrely said that both sides were to blame for the war in Ukraine. Namely, this happened at that protest, where his supporters protested against NATO instead of against Russia.
The letter of shame
The letter he signed with other like-minded people – namely, 18 prominent academics and politicians, including another former President of the Republic, Danilo Türk; columnist Vlado Miheljak; sociologists Rastko Močnik and Rudi Rizman; writer Svetlana Slapšak; and the Peace Institute (“Mirovni inštitut”) – also clearly shows the tendency to disarm Ukraine, stop sending arms there, and help achieve Russia’s victory as soon as possible, so that Kučan and his comrades from the former Forum 21 can go back to doing business with Putin in peace. The disgraceful letter, among other things, not at all subtly blames the war in Ukraine on NATO, which has unwisely expanded eastwards. It is, of course, not clear to the old communists that the new members themselves wanted to join NATO because they were – rightly, as it turned out – afraid of the Russian bear. They, just like Putin, understand only the language of force.
This year, the event at the Russian Chapel was intended as a counting of the ranks – an indicator to Russia and Putin which people in Slovenia its fascist power can still count on and which it must treat as enemies. Milan Kučan and his hard-left associates have decided that they prefer to be embraced by the fascist Russia than the Euro-Atlantic ties. Let us also remind you of the fact that years ago, Janez Drnovšek, another former President of the Republic and also Prime Minister, promised an American diplomat that Slovenia would be more pro-West and less pro-Russian, when the “Russian” forces led by Milan Kučan withdraw. Obviously, this will not happen by 2022. Kučan still has his candidate in the government today.
Andrej Žitnik
