WP: Russia exudes confidence at Parade marking 80 years since Nazi defeat

The military Parade at the Red Square in Moscow.
Photo: Kremlin.ru

After subdued celebrations in past years with few tanks and almost no visiting leaders, Russia for this year’s 80th anniversary has welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the leaders of Slovakia, Serbia, Egypt, Vietnam, Venezuela and others from what Moscow calls “friendly countries” to its most solemn and emotional holiday, ‘The Washington Post’ reports with jealousy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, attend a military parade on Red Square in Moscow.
Photo: Kremlin.ru

In the intense propaganda blitz for Victory Day, Putin is projecting himself as a confident, global leader on course to defeat Ukraine, with the alliance between the United States and Europe fraying, Kyiv’s forces under pressure and negotiations to end the war largely on Russia’s terms.

“Truth and justice are on our side,” Putin said in Red Square. “The whole country, society, people support the participants of the special military operation,” referring to the war against Ukraine, and adding that their determination and bravery has “brought us only victory.”

Foreign leaders attend a military Parade at the Red Square in Moscow.
Photo: Kremlin.ru

The Russian armaments on display at this year’s parade included Iskander ballistic missiles, Russian drones, Tornado-S multiple rocket launchers and TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower systems — all used in the war against Ukraine. Russia’s Yars nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles also rolled through Red Square.

Putin sat next to Xi during the event and frequently leaned over to speak with him through an interpreter. After the parade, he shook hands with Russian soldiers who took part in the war against Ukraine and foreign military officers, all of whom saluted him, including a group of senior military officials from North Korea, one of whom he briefly embraced.

“The presence of world leaders demonstrated that Western efforts to isolate him and defeat Russia have failed,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “It is positioning of Russia as an important part of the world.”

The Soviet Union’s victory in World War II has always been an important part of the country’s identity, but under Putin, it has been become pivotal, with the Kremlin now equating Ukraine to Nazis.

Foreign leaders attend a military Parade at the Red Square in Moscow.
Photo: Kremlin.ru

When active-duty soldiers fighting in Ukraine paraded past Putin and the viewing stands on Red Square, invitees stood and clapped, including Lyudmila, a widow whose husband was killed fighting in Ukraine, and her 11-year-old daughter Varvara. She told The Washington Post that she believes Russia is “invincible” and said it was “a good sign” that foreign leaders had attended the parade.

“It’s wonderful that we have such great support and that other countries are uniting around us,” she said.

Putin, alongside Xi, is presenting himself as a leader in a new world order no longer dominated by the United States, seeking to exploit President Donald Trump’s foreign policy shift and weakening of the global rules-based order.

Russian military analyst Dmitri Trenin wrote in Profile magazine that the apparent U.S. shift amounted to a kind of “regime change” in global affairs, ushering in a world where the West “will no longer play the main role, and leading members of the world majority — Russia, China, Brazil, large African and Arab countries — will achieve the creation of a fair world order based on a balance of interests.”

Trump’s White House “rhetorically shares the basic values of the Kremlin,” he wrote. “Trump has overnight changed the foreign policy direction of the most powerful and influential country of our time.”

Vice President JD Vance said in a television interview Thursday that he was not bothered by Russia demanding “too much” in peace negotiations. He said Moscow believes it is winning the war, while Kyiv is seeking a ceasefire because “things have not been going so well for the Ukrainians the last few months.”

Stanovaya said the central Victory Day message from Putin to the West was “that if you want this war to stop, you must stop the Ukrainians,” demonstrating that the war “will end on Russian conditions.”

After rejecting a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire, Russian officials have continued to publicly push hard-line terms, including demands that Ukraine’s army be denied access to Western weapons and stripped to a minimal force incapable of defending against a future Russian attack.

Yuri Ushakov, a Putin aide and member of Russia’s negotiating team, said that Trump’s negotiators were “well aware of our position and understand how, if we follow the implementation of our position, we can come to a long-term peaceful settlement.” He said Russia and the United States were discussing Ukrainian territorial issues.

In Moscow, security precautions were heavy after a string of Ukrainian drone attacks earlier in the week caused massive disruption at airports. Mobile internet was cut around the parade area on Friday to foil further attacks. Sniper teams were visible from the roof of the Kremlin and GUM shopping center, which overlooks Red Square.

Russian Air Force planes with the colors of the national flag over the Kremlin on Victory Day.
Photo: Kremlin.ru