Russia's VE day: A spectacular show, but few A-list guests

Tanks, ballistic missiles and thousands of troops took over Red Square in Moscow as Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, staged the largest military parade in modern Russian history to mark 70 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. His country’s faltering relationship with the West cast a shadow over the event, however.

While the display of manpower and military hardware – some of which was being shown for the first time, including the Armata battle tank – was a stunning spectacle, and Mr Putin welcomed more than two dozen foreign dignitaries to the parade, the day was as much about who did not attend as who did.

Barack Obama of the United States, David Cameron, François Hollande of France and a number of other European leaders boycotted the ceremony in protest at Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is due to meet Mr Putin today and attend a wreath-laying ceremony in Moscow, having also avoided the parade.

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, was the most important guest on the podium next to Mr Putin. Other presidents in attendance included Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, Raul Castro of Cuba, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Yana Meltseva, a young woman in her twenties, was indifferent to the refusal of Western leaders to attend. “It doesn’t really bother us, we’re fine without them,” she said.

In an opening speech, Mr Putin paid tribute to “our fathers and grandfathers” who fought in the Soviet army and thanked Britain, France and the US for their contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Western nations accuse Russia of aiding pro-Russian separatist rebels in a months-long conflict against Ukrainian government forces in which thousands have died – which Russia denies. But Mr Putin took the opportunity to take a swipe at his one-time allies.

“We have seen attempts to create a unipolar world [that] … undermines the sustainability of global development,” Mr Putin said, echoing earlier comments in which he had accused the US of trying to impose its will on others. “The principles of international co-operation have been ignored more often in the last decades – the principles that were hard won by humankind following the global hardships of the war.”

At a ceremony in Kiev, the Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, said: “We will never again mark this day with the Russian scenario which cold-bloodedly uses our victory day as an apology for its expansionist policies and for keeping its neighbours in its orbit and recreating empire.”