With the Second World War a linchpin of Russia’s national identity, Putin has sought to use its memory in a bid to legitimize the invasion; historians call it a cynical distortion p Why Putin uses WWII, the Holocaust and Nazis to justify his war with Ukraine With the Second World War a linchpin of Russia’s national identity, Putin has sought to use its memory in a bid to legitimize the invasion; historians call it a cynical distortion p p