“Zelensky allowed the parade in Moscow”: experts analyzed how Russians reacted

4 min.503

Zelensky’s decree, which formally “sanctioned” the parade in Moscow, became an example of an information operation.

On May 8, 2026 – the day before the military parade in Moscow – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a resonant and ironic decree formally sanctioning the Russian celebrations, temporarily excluding the Red Square area from the list of targets for Ukrainian long-range weapons.

The appearance of this decree instantly shifted the focus of attention in the Russian media field: issues of parade security and possible attacks on the Russian capital became the dominant topics of discussion. Experts from the public organization “Join Ukraine” conducted a detailed study of the information space, analyzing 1,316 of the most popular publications in 612 Russian Telegram channels for the period from May 1 to 11, 2026.

The monitoring results showed that Decree No. 374/2026 was directly mentioned in 197 posts, which in total received over 10.3 million views.

The Genesis and Evolution of the Meme

It is noteworthy that the ground for the viral effect was prepared even before the official publication of the document. The first memes about the “parade permit” were recorded on May 2 on the “Ateo Breaking” channel in the format of an urgent news about the permission of Ukrainian drones to enter Red Square.

Later, on May 6, the topic was picked up by Oleksandr Nevzorov. He published two posts with a combined reach of about 800,000 views, where he focused on the changing roles in this war.

“Now Ukraine dictates the rules and conditions. Upyr and his parade can only count on the mercy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Nevzorov emphasized.

After the official publication of the decree on May 8, the topic spread across 68 channels in just one day, collecting 4.6 million views. Even after the celebrations ended on May 10, the wave of irony did not subside. The channel “Ross Name” published a funny continuation of the situation where Zelensky “allowed the sunrise” after consultations with the US president. Thus, the template “Zelensky allowed X” turned into a universal form for creating new political memes.

Audience reaction and “student silence”

Analysis of audience segmentation showed interesting dynamics: opposition resources were, of course, the most active. 16 such posts collected over 2.5 million views, which is twice as many as pro-government Z-channels with a similar number of publications.

Representatives of the pro-Kremlin camp mostly demonstrated restraint, trying, as usual, to devalue the Ukrainian initiative through direct threats.

The official Kremlin even tried to neutralize the ironic effect through the statements of the speakers. For example, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia does not need third-party permits, and Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov called the situation “a circus and a clownery.”

It was the thesis about “clown-likeness” that became a methodical guide for dozens of regional publics from Ivanovo to Stavropol, which simultaneously broadcast this position.

However, digital statistics indicate the defeat of the Kremlin’s rhetoric in this round:

62% of reactions to posts about the decree were laughter and irony;
31% of users expressed support;
only 5% of reactions were aggressive or angry.

This anger indicator was the lowest among all topics related to the celebration of May 9 in Russia this year.

(C)

“We see that Zelensky’s ironic decree has become a separate big topic for the Russian Telegram, which was picked up by extremely different audiences,” summed up Andriy Sukharyna, chief analyst at Join Ukraine. According to him, the Kremlin responded with a devaluation, but decided not to react symmetrically in the media, while the joke about “permission” began to live a life of its own in dozens of new variations.”

(C)UNIAN 2026