Russia on Friday celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, as President Vladimir Putin presided over a massive parade of tanks, missiles and troops through Red Square and welcomed over two dozen world leaders — the most since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
Victory Day, which Russia marks on May 9, is the country’s most important secular holiday The parade and other festivities underline Moscow’s efforts to project its global power and cement the alliances it has forged while seeking a counterbalance to the West amid the conflict in Ukraine that is grinding through a fourth year.
Friday’s parade was the largest since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and drew the most global leaders to Moscow in a decade, including high-profile guests like Chinese President Xi Jinping, who sat next to Putin, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Their attendance underscored how Putin has tried to emphasize the failure of the West to turn Russia into a global pariah.
Addressing the crowd in Red Square, Putin praised Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, saying that “we are proud of their courage and determination, their spiritual force that always has brought us victory.”
Putin, who has ruled Russia for 25 years, has turned Victory Day into a key pillar of his tenure and has tried to use it to justify his action in Ukraine.
For Putin, Victory Day celebrations have become “a civic religion that boosts patriotism, nationalism, nostalgia, and justifies both his repressive regime at home and Russia’s increasingly expansionist foreign policy abroad, particularly including towards its neighbors,” Gabuev said.
The parade featured over 11,500 troops and more than 180 military vehicles, including tanks, armored infantry vehicles and artillery used on the battlefield in Ukraine. As a reminder of Russia’s nuclear might, huge Yars nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles launchers rolled across Red Square.
Fighter jets of Russian air force’s aerobatic teams flew by in close formation, followed by jets that trailed smoke in the colors of the national flag.
