Red Square parade marks WWII victory
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-09 14:59

A grand military parade got underway on Moscow's Red Square to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, with more than 50 world leaders gathered to commemorate the defeat of Nazism.

(L-R) Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush attend the wreath laying ceremony at the Unknown Soldier Tomb outside the Kremlin wall in Moscow May 9, 2005. [Reuters]

The parade, the centrepiece of a day of ceremonies marking the end of Germany's aggression across the continent in 1945, has been clouded by stormy debate over Moscow's post-war occupation of central and eastern Europe.

Russian World War Two veterans sit in a vehicle as they take part in the military parade on Red Square in Moscow, May 9, 2005. [Reuters]

US President George W. Bush sat next to his Russian host Vladimir Putin on a huge blue tribune set up in Red Square, in the shadow of the Kremlin and flanked at one end by the onion domes of St Basil's Cathedral.

Russian fighters fly over St. Bazil's Cathedral in Red Square in Moscow during the military parade May 9, 2005. [Reuters]

In a keynote speech to the parade, Putin vowed that the world must never again be drawn into either a Cold War or a real war, while also paying tribute to US and west European support in defeating Hitler's Germany 60 years ago.

"There is no alternative to our brotherhood and our friendship," he said.

The parade started with a drive-past inspection of long ranks of Russian troops by Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was hailed with loud "hurrahs" as he saluted them from an open-topped Soviet-era Zil limousine.

Against a backdrop of rousing marching music, Russian guardsmen goose-stepped the length of the square, which for decades was the scene of grandiose set-piece displays of force by the then Soviet Union.

Soldiers with flags showing the portrait of Lenin march towards Red Square in Moscow to attend the military parade marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in WW II. [AFP]

Hammer and sickle flags could be seen fluttering in the breeze among the ceremonies Monday, commemorating the insignia of the former Soviet forces.

Rain which had threatened to overshadow the ceremonies held off as the parade got under way, also watched by ranks of veterans in full regalia who were among the privileged guests.

While the official programme centers on commemorating the Allied victory 60 years ago, it is the unscripted crescendo of recriminations, between Russia and the many countries it dominated from the end of the war until recently, that may determine how this week's events are remembered.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan before attending a military parade on Red Square in Moscow, during celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in WW II. [AFP]

Moscow has refused to apologize for the Soviet occupation of countries in central and eastern European, including notably the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Now independent, they were among eight former communist nations to join the European Union (EU) last year.

Of the three Baltic countries, only Latvia was represented at Monday's Moscow ceremony, with Lithuania and Estonia declining Putin's invitation.

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