To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy. By clicking on the "Accept & Close" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal. You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy.<doc-sep>Moscow -- Russia marked its annual national Victory Day holiday Thursday with the usual large military parade overseen by President Vladimir Putin, as well as huge commemorative processions that have recently become a feature of the event. Putin watched thousands of troops and dozens of tanks and armored vehicles as they passed through Red Square, before hosting a reception at the Kremlin where he showed a softer side. He was photographed there warmly embracing his childhood schoolteacher, Vera Gurevich. In his address to the crowd, Putin pledged to strengthen Russia's armed forces. The parade, which celebrated the 74th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War, featured 13,000 troops and 130 pieces of military equipment, from WWII-era T34 tanks to massive Yars ICBM carriers. A Soviet-era tradition that Putin revived early in his presidency after a pause following the Soviet Union’s collapse, the parade also shows off some of Russia’s most advanced military hardware. This year's showcase included Russia’s new Armata tanks as well its S400 anti-aircraft missiles. In his speech, Putin said that “we have done and will do everything necessary to ensure the high combat capability of our armed forces.” But he added: "At the same time, Russia is open for cooperation with all who are ready to resist terrorism, neo-Nazism and extremism." This year's celebration was slightly more low-key, with no world leaders in attendance beyond Kazakhstan’s recently resigned president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The traditional military flyover was also canceled due to bad weather. Organizers normally try to ensure clear skies by using planes to seed the clouds so it rains before the event instead of during -- but the technique only seemed to produce sunshine later in the day. The American actor Steven Seagal -- who Putin made a special envoy for humanitarian affairs with the United States in 2017 -- also watched the parade. Long Russia’s most important secular holiday, Victory Day has in recent years taken on increased significance as the country has taken a more militaristic and nationalistic turn under Putin. Since Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014 and the resulting rupture with the West, authorities have increasingly turned to celebrations of Russian military power to unify the country behind Putin. Thursday's Victory Day celebrations included a military parade at Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria, the hub for Russia's air campaign in support of Bashar al-Assad’s government. Syrian army troops joined Russian troops and armored equipment for the event. Celebrations were also held in dozens of other Russian cities, as well as in other former Soviet countries. Hundreds of thousands of people across Russia also took part in the so-called ‘Immortal Columns,’ huge processions of marchers holding up placards with photographs of their relatives killed in the war. The marches are a recent innovation, first held on a large scale in 2015, and some critics have accused the Kremlin of co-opting what was initially a grassroots movement into a propaganda exercise. The holiday, however, evokes strong emotions in a country where almost every family lost someone during the war. An estimated 27 million Soviet citizens died in World War II, dwarfing the losses sustained by U.S. and European allies. In contrast, the U.S. is estimated to have suffered around 415,000 casualties. "The memory of victory, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, is the glue of the nation, binding together the most diverse of ages and social groups,” Andrey Kolesnikov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, wrote Wednesday in an op-ed for The Moscow Times. But, Kolesnikov wrote, the holiday "is also the main marketing tool employed to legitimize Russia’s current political regime” in the person of Putin. “He is the thread woven through time sustaining this glory. In turn, anyone who criticizes Putin is implicitly criticizing Russia’s great history and its heroic victory.”<doc-sep>MOSCOW -- Russia on May 9 commemorated the 74th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with a military parade on Moscow's Red Square and celebrations in every town and city from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev attended the parade held in the capital in the morning, before crowds of people descended on the city for the annual Immortal Regiment march to commemorate the 27 million Soviet civilians estimated to have died in the war. In his speech before troops and dignitaries on Red Square, Putin said "the main liberator of Europe" from Nazi Germany was the Soviet Union and called the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, "an ancient Russian capital." Critics say his government has increasingly sought in recent years to nationalize the victory over Nazi Germany. "The victory was earned by the bravery of those who participated in defending ancient Russian capitals -- Kyiv and the Great Novgorod, by the courage of the defenders of Smolensk, Odesa [a Ukrainian Black Sea port city], Sevastopol [a city in Ukraine’s Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014], and the unlimited stamina of the residents of the blockaded Leningrad," Putin said. The Russian president also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin. Moscow managed to defy dismal weather forecasts by deploying cloud-seeding technology to disperse cloud cover in the hours preceding the morning parade. Temperatures in the early afternoon rose to a humid 25 degrees Celsius as hundreds of thousands of people descended on the central Tverskaya Street, clutching portraits of dead relatives who had fought in the war. The annual Immortal Regiment march is held in every major Russian town and dozens of foreign cities where Russian-speaking communities live and attracts millions of participants each year. Critics say the Kremlin has hijacked it since its inception in 2012 as a grassroots movement to honor the dead. They also cite the annual military parades across Russia as a show of strength by Putin's government and argue that the Kremlin uses the celebrations to stoke patriotism but pays little attention to the needs of aging World War II veterans. Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier that 13,000 troops and 130 pieces of advanced military hardware took part in the parade, which was broadcast nationally on state-run television. According to the ministry, representatives from all of Russia's armed forces and the National Guard participated. However, the Kremlin's flight control center said combat aircraft did not take part in the parade because weather conditions were unfavorable. Nazarbaev's presence alongside Putin came as a surprise. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had said earlier that no foreign leader would attend the event. Although Nazarbaev resigned as Kazakhstan's president on March 19, he retains the title "Leader of the Nation." Putin and other Russian officials wore the ribbon of St. George, a centuries-old military symbol that decorated postcards and posters in the Soviet Union and was revived in 2005 as a physical prop representing victory in World War II. In recent years, the ribbon has come to be seen in some former Soviet republics as a symbol of Russian nationalism, not least in light of its widespread use by the pro-Russian separatists who have occupied swathes of territory in eastern Ukraine since 2014. Since 2017, the ribbon of St. George has been officially banned in Ukraine as a symbol of "Russian aggression." Rather than the ribbon of St. George, Nazarbaev wore a blue ribbon representing Kazakhstan's national flag. Russia's land forces commander, Army General Oleg Salyukov, opened the parade and reported to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who then led the event. Victory Day celebrations were also being held in several other former Soviet republics. But feelings of unity with Moscow inspired by memory of a common enemy during the war are fading -- and many of Russia's neighbors are wary of its perceived appetite of expansion following its military intervention against Ukraine. The way the end of the war is commemorated in other former Soviet republics now differs from country to country.<doc-sep>Advertising Read more Moscow (AFP) President Vladimir Putin vowed to ensure Russia's military capabilities as the country on Thursday marked World War II Victory Day, a commemoration that has become increasingly important over his two-decade rule. The president's speech to thousands of soldiers and veterans on Red Square came at the start of an annual parade that sees hundred of pieces of military hardware roll through the streets of Moscow. "The lessons of the past war are relevant once again. We have done and will do all that is necessary to guarantee the high capabilities of our armed forces," he said. Those in the modern Russian army remember the "oath" of Soviet soldiers who fought Nazi Germany, he added: "I die but I will not surrender". The two-day public holiday to celebrate the 1945 victory comes this year amid heightened tensions with the West and fears of a new Russia-US arms race. Moscow also recently said it would build up its military presence in the Arctic, seeking to assert its influence in the strategic region. Parades and celebrations took place in towns and cities across the country, from the European exclave of Kaliningrad to the Far Eastern Sakhalin island, near Japan. However a fly-by planned for the capital was cancelled because of poor weather, news agencies reported. State television broadcast marches from around the former USSR, including from the unrecognised republic of Lugansk -- a Ukrainian breakaway region run by Russia-backed separatists. The conflict between Kiev's forces and the separatists has cost some 13,000 lives over the last five years. Almost half of Russians said they planned to attend a Victory Day event this year, according to state pollster VTsIOM. ? 2019 AFP<doc-sep>
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the annual massive military parade in Red Square that the country will continue to strengthen its armed forces MOSCOW -- Russia will keep strengthening its armed forces, President Vladimir Putin promised Thursday, speaking at the annual military Victory Day parade that flooded Red Square in Moscow with celebrants, soldiers and military equipment. The parade marked the 74th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. It included about 13,000 servicemen and 130 pieces of military equipment, ranging from a T-34 tank — renowned for its effectiveness in World War II — to lumbering Yars intercontinental missile launch units. For the second time in three years, the parade did not conclude with an aerial display of helicopters and warplanes speeding above the square due to heavy clouds and concerns about storms. Putin said later that he regretted the aircraft could not perform but added "there's no need to risk the safety of the pilots and the people on the ground." Among the guests were recently resigned Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Steven Seagal, the American actor who obtained Russian citizenship in 2016 and later was named a special envoy for humanitarian ties with the United States. "We have done and will do everything necessary to ensure the high combat capability of our armed forces," Putin said in his speech. "At the same time, Russia is open for cooperation with all who are ready to resist terrorism, neo-Nazism and extremism." In the afternoon, an estimated half a million people streamed down one of Moscow's main thoroughfares, many holding photos of relatives who fought or suffered in the war. The Soviet Union is estimated to have lost 26 million people in World War II, including 8 million soldiers. Dozens of other Russian cities also held parades for the country's most significant secular holiday. In neighboring Ukraine, which also observes the holiday, outgoing President Petro Poroshenko struck out at Russia. "For five years, the descendants of the glorious victors over Nazism have defended with arms the freedom of the Ukrainian people and their civilization choice from Russian aggression," Poroshenko said. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backs separatist rebels who have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the country's east for the past five years, a conflict that has left over 13,000 dead. TV actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy roundly defeated Poroshenko in Ukraine's April 21 presidential runoff. ——— A previous version of this story corrected the day to Thursday, not Friday.