Washington, D.C. – May 3, 2025 Pro-Russia demonstrators gathered near the White House on Saturday for what is traditionally framed as a remembrance march honoring Soviet soldiers who fought in World War II. In Russia, this commemoration has long been co-opted by President Vladimir Putin as a major propaganda tool to glorify Soviet military power and bolster nationalist sentiment. Notably, before Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the USSR had been a formal ally of the Nazis under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—an agreement that allowed both regimes to carve up Eastern Europe, including Poland. The Soviets only turned against the Nazis once Hitler attacked them.

The march had not been held in Washington, D.C., since Russia's expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The recent political climate—marked by President Trump and Vice President Vance's public humiliation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the administration’s pro-Russian stance at the United Nations, repeated attacks on NATO allies, and open alignment with Russia’s demands of Ukraine—likely emboldened the demonstrators to return to the streets of the U.S. capital.

Waving Soviet flags and banners bearing the image of Joseph Stalin, the group marched triumphantly through the city. Stalin, widely regarded as a brutal dictator responsible for the deaths of 6 to 9 million Soviet citizens through purges and state-induced famines, became a Cold War adversary of the United States following WWII. Yet his image and legacy were visibly celebrated by marchers, some of whom chanted slogans associated with Russia’s military.

A group of pro-Ukrainian counter-protesters quickly assembled and physically blocked the pro-Russian group, preventing them from proceeding along their original route. After police intervened and separated the crowds, the pro-Russian demonstrators marched around the blockade, passing the White House while shouting the Russian military chant "Uraaaa!" as hammer-and-sickle flags fluttered overhead. The counter-protesters followed closely behind, chanting “Russia lies, children die,” and attempting to drown out the marchers' Soviet battle hymns.

At the nearby World War II Memorial, several bystanders expressed confusion about the demonstration. Two self-identified pro-Trump TikTok personalities wearing MAGA hats speculated that it was “probably a F@#* Trump rally.” One of them proudly described owning a Russian military hat and said he often wears it in his TikTok videos while playing the Soviet anthem, explaining that it’s his way of responding to critics who accuse him of being pro-Russian. When asked about the actual purpose of the protest, both admitted they had no clear understanding of its origins or significance.