Russia parades its military might

Russia has celebrated its victory over Nazi Germany with a display of military might not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The annual Victory Day parade, which commemorates almost 27 million Soviets who died in World War Two, also showed Russia's revival and a military that the Kremlin says is still a force to be reckoned with.

As tanks and missile launchers rumbled over Red Square, President Dmitry Medvedev warned against the "irresponsible ambitions" that lead to war.

In his first major public event since taking over from Vladimir Putin, President Medvedev told 8,000 parade troops and guests that Russia will not tolerate "disrespect for international law".

He said: "We must treat very seriously any attempt to sow racial or religious enmity, foment the ideology of terror and extremism or meddle in other states' affairs, especially by redrawing borders."

Mr Medvedev sat next to Mr Putin, who is now the country's Prime Minister and who at times looked emotional during the parade. As president he ordered the revival of the Soviet tradition of showing off its military hardware through Red Square for the first time since 1990.

Earlier this week, Mr Putin denied the parade was intended to taunt world powers, saying: "It is a demonstration of our growing potential in the defence sphere. We are able to protect our people, our citizens, our state, our wealth - which is not inconsiderable".

As supersonic fighter jets and bombers screamed overhead in formation and impeccably uniformed, goose-stepping honour guards saluted the Russian flag, war veterans boasting chestfuls of medals applauded, some with tears in their eyes.

Yakob Vasilyevich, a former WWII fighter pilot watching the parade, said: "We can sleep easily at night with an army like this. Europe has always coveted our territory, just look at Hitler and Napoleon."

Gesturing to the Tu-160 supersonic bomber whistling overhead, he added: "That can carry ten nuclear bombs - if we used them, it would be as if Europe had never existed."

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?