Ballistic missiles rolled over Red Square, warplanes flew overhead and scores of foreign officials looked on indifferently. Russia’s annual commemoration of the end of World War II featured a traditional ceremony on Thursday beloved by millions of Russians, reflecting broader efforts by President Vladimir V. Putin to steer to normalcy while condemning the people to a long and distant war.
At last year’s Victory Day celebrations, as Russia struggled on the battlefield, Putin said the country was engaged in a “real fight” for survival and accused Western elites of trying to “disintegrate and destroy Russia”. On Thursday, he mentioned the war in Ukraine only once, using his original euphemism for the invasion, “special military operations.”
And on Russia’s most important and deeply emotional secular holiday, he spent more time on traditional remarks about the sacrifices of Soviet citizens in World War II than on attack modern enemies.
Yet he did not completely ignore those opponents, reviving familiar criticism and grievances over what he said were efforts to weaken Russia and accusing the West of “hypocrisy and lies.” lie”.
“Revanchism, abuse of history, attempts to justify the modern heirs of Nazi Germany – these are all part of the policies used by Western elites to fuel more and more new regional conflicts,” Putin said in an eight-minute speech.
The ceremony itself was a bit more expansive than last year’s simpler proceedings, a sign of a nation that has recovered from the initial shock of the war and now holds the advantage on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Nine thousand military personnel marched through Red Square as snow fell, compared with eight thousand in 2023. There were a few dozen more units of military hardware on display and a few more foreign officials present.
The city center, usually crowded with revelers celebrating the holiday, was virtually blocked by security forces. According to the national meteorological service, the temperature in Moscow on this day was the coldest recorded since 1945.
Last year, Mr. Putin only welcomed presidents of former Soviet republics who fought with Russia against Nazi Germany in World War II. This year, foreign heads of state including the presidents of Cuba, Laos and Guinea-Bissau, highlighted Russia’s persistent influence over developing countries despite Western efforts to isolate him Putin diplomatically.
Putin’s closest foreign ally, President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, also attended, bringing along his pet dog, a beagle named Umka. join him in the front row of the parade stand.
Most symbolically, this year’s parade once again featured fighter jets, leaving a streak of the Russian flag’s colors over central Moscow. This was canceled last year amid escalating attacks on the Russian capital by Ukrainian drones.
Since then, these attacks have subsided as Russia has strengthened its air defenses and improved its drone capabilities. As the parade was ending, drones attacked an oil refinery in the Ural Mountains, 750 miles east of Moscow. Local governor claims that it continues to function normally.
More broadly, over the past year, Russia has stabilized its economy, expanded military production, and organized a steady stream of recruits, allowing it to regain the initiative on the battlefield after a disastrous first year. of the full-scale war in Ukraine.
Thursday’s parade was still a far cry from the grandeur of the pre-invasion Victory Day, when more than 10,000 Russian soldiers traditionally marched in tightly choreographed rows, and tanks and planes and Russia’s newest helicopters parade through Red Square.
But this year’s slightly expanded parade still seemed to signal that the worst upheaval in Russia’s war in Ukraine was over, that the conflict had shifted to a brutal but predictable pattern. .
Mr. Putin, who was sworn in for a fifth term as president on Tuesday, has largely succeeded in turning the fighting over to volunteers drawn to the front by high military salaries and legal benefits such as criminal amnesty and expedited issuance of Russian passports. This has allowed most Russians to stay away from war and benefit from an economy boosted by military spending.
In his speech, he tested his usual revisionist historical views on the rise of neo-Nazism in the West. At one point, he wrongly equated Nazi Germany with all of Europe, in an apparent attempt to draw parallels with his current deadlocked relationship with the European Union.
And he seemed to hint at Russia’s nuclear capabilities against the West. Kremlin orders earlier this week for its forces to conduct exercises on the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons.
“Russia will do everything to avoid a global conflict,” Mr. Putin said. “At the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in a state of combat readiness.”
Traditionally, missile systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads are flown across Red Square as part of military equipment demonstrations.
The parade attracts a select number of spectators every year. This year, the audience was filled with patriotism and support for the Russian Army, the president, the war and the memory of deceased ancestors.
“I always cry during the parade and this time I cried too,” said Alyona Britkova, 44, a public relations manager from Moscow. “I cried because I was proud of my country and my army. And in memory of my grandfather,” who she said was a member of the Soviet Army who fought all the way to Berlin.
Ms. Britkova said she sees the invasion of Ukraine as a continuation of the same war, a false narrative that Mr. Putin has promoted to justify violence.
Oleg Matsnev Research contribution from Berlin.
