Russian military parade marks 80 years since victory over Nazis

Russia has marked the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II with a massive military parade on Red Square in Moscow.

Attended by President Vladimir Putin, alongside foreign leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the “Victory Day” spectacle, celebrated on May 9, is Russia’s most important secular holiday.

The parade and other ceremonies underline Moscow’s efforts to project its global power and cement the alliances it has forged while seeking a counterbalance to the West amid the conflict in Ukraine that has dragged into a fourth year.

The fight against the Nazis in World War II – known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War – is a rare event in the nation’s divisive history under communist rule that is revered by all political groups. Putin has used that sentiment to encourage national pride and underline Russia’s position as a global power.

The Soviet Union lost 27 million people as it fought Germany’s forces in 1941-45, an enormous sacrifice that left a deep scar in the national psyche.