In 2005, Vladimir Putin named the disintegration of the USSR ‘the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century’. Was this an evaluation of a historical event or a directive for policy-shaping? Interpretations of history have always played an important role in the shaping of state identities, but they are also used to justify (geo)political aims, forge international coalitions, and influence public opinions at home and abroad. To a great degree, Russian propaganda has been investing in creating a symbolic imaginary based on a politically motivated understanding of the role of the Soviet Union in the history of the twentieth century. Textual strategies causing affective reactions from the point of view of cultural memory are being used to direct the audience’s interpretative paths. In interpreting emotionally loaded strategic historical narratives, I proceed from a semiotic cultural psychological framework that makes it possible to demonstrate how two mutually opposing narratives concerning Ukrainians—as Nazis and as a brother nation—exist in the Kremlin’s official treatment of history.