Vladimir Putin presided over the first, though scaled-back, Victory Day parade to be held since Russia’s war against Ukraine has outlasted the Soviet Union’s entire campaign against Nazi Germany, delivering a defiant message, justifying his war in Ukraine, and denouncing Nato.
Victory Day, marking Soviet Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War – as it prefers to call it – against Nazi Germany, is Russia’s biggest holiday, and the military parade in Moscow’s Red Square is by tradition the prime showcase of the country’s military power.
Yesterday, however, for the first time in years, no armoured vehicles or ballistic missiles featured in Victory Day parade. Military personnel marched in droves across Red Square, but under tight security and in a muted atmosphere of strain and anxiety.
Internet services were switched off across the city, against the background, as one report put it, of Ukraine’s “continu[ing] to rattle the Kremlin with long-range drone and missile strikes – forcing organisers to strip the event of its usual pageantry”.
Nevertheless, Putin put a defiant face on events, linking the cataclysmic events of the 1940s with his own war against the former Soviet state of Ukraine, saying: “The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers carrying out the goals of the special military operation today [his term for the war against Ukraine]. They are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the whole bloc of Nato. And despite this, our heroes move forward.”
The Guardian reports: “With no victory in sight and no timeline for an end to the current war, the mood inside Russia is souring. Mass internet blackouts in the weeks before the parade, imposed by security services and justified as necessary precautions, have fuelled public anger and dragged on Putin’s approval ratings.
“After years of war-fuelled growth, driven largely by mass military spending, the Russian economy is now showing signs of strain. Growth has slowed sharply, with rising inflation squeezing ordinary Russians and businesses alike, while the budget deficit climbs to record highs.”
On the battlefield, neither side seems close to a breakthrough – yet Putin appears to remain unwilling to compromise.
The BBC reports that foreign guests in attendance included Belarus’s leader Alexander Lukashenko, Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim and Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the only representative of the EU to attend, was also pictured meeting Putin at the Kremlin ahead of the parade.
Markedly fewer world leaders turned up compared to last year’s 80th anniversary parade, which featured 27 leaders including China’s President Xi Jinping and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Sources: The Guardian, BBC
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/3234710388]