Western soldiers parade with Russians in a Victory Day first
Source: Agencies |
May 10, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
UNITED States, French and British troops strode across Moscow's Red Square for the first time yesterday in a Victory Day parade marked both by the usual impressive display of Russia's military might and by an unusual emphasis on international cooperation.
In recent years, the parade commemorating the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany has been used by Russian leaders to launch veiled criticism of the West, but President Dmitry Medvedev struck a different tone this year.
"Today at this solemn parade, the soldiers of Russia, the states of the CIS and the anti-Hitler coalition march together," he said in his address to the more than 11,000 soldiers on the vast square.
"Only together can we counter present-day threats. Only as good neighbors can we resolve problems of global security in order that the ideals of justice and good triumph in all of the world and that the lives of future generations will be free and happy."
Foreign leaders in attendance included Chinese President Hu Jintao, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Acting Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, whose predecessor died last month in a plane crash in Russia.
Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and France's Nicolas Sarkozy had been expected to attend, but stayed home in order to be available for possible developments in Europe's financial crisis.
Victory Day, Russia's most important secular holiday, always sees elaborate observances, but this year's was especially intense, with preparations and parade rehearsals dominating news reports for the past week.
Such attention appeared in part to be a tacit acknowledgment that even the youngest World War II veterans are in the last years of their lives.
Some of Medvedev's address carried that valedictory sentiment, assuring the veterans that recognition of their valor would outlive them.
"Time has great power, but it is weaker than human memory," he said.
"We will never forget the soldiers fighting on the front, the women replacing men in the factories, the children undergoing suffering unthinkable for their age. This war made us a strong nation," the Russian president said.
Tanks, armored personnel carriers and lumbering Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile launchers rumbled across the square, and warplanes and helicopters streaked overhead.
The display included World War II-era T-34 tanks and some military units wore period uniforms.
US, British and French troops each marched in units of about 75 along with squads from Poland and Turkmenistan.
Parades and other celebrations were held throughout the country.
Also yesterday, a bomb placed by the side of a road near a Russian military base in the city of Kaspiysk killed two people in a car and a sapper was killed when he approached another bomb in the city where a Victory Day parade bombing in 2002 killed 43 people.
A third explosive device was found and disabled yesterday at the entrance to a park in the city of Makhachkala.
Both cities are in Dagestan, which is Chechnya's eastern neighbor and has been plagued by insurgent violence for more than a decade.
In the week leading up to Victory Day, Medvedev several times raised Russia's complaint that other countries denigrate or misconstrue the Soviet Union's contribution to World War II.
In recent years, the parade commemorating the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany has been used by Russian leaders to launch veiled criticism of the West, but President Dmitry Medvedev struck a different tone this year.
"Today at this solemn parade, the soldiers of Russia, the states of the CIS and the anti-Hitler coalition march together," he said in his address to the more than 11,000 soldiers on the vast square.
"Only together can we counter present-day threats. Only as good neighbors can we resolve problems of global security in order that the ideals of justice and good triumph in all of the world and that the lives of future generations will be free and happy."
Foreign leaders in attendance included Chinese President Hu Jintao, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Acting Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, whose predecessor died last month in a plane crash in Russia.
Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and France's Nicolas Sarkozy had been expected to attend, but stayed home in order to be available for possible developments in Europe's financial crisis.
Victory Day, Russia's most important secular holiday, always sees elaborate observances, but this year's was especially intense, with preparations and parade rehearsals dominating news reports for the past week.
Such attention appeared in part to be a tacit acknowledgment that even the youngest World War II veterans are in the last years of their lives.
Some of Medvedev's address carried that valedictory sentiment, assuring the veterans that recognition of their valor would outlive them.
"Time has great power, but it is weaker than human memory," he said.
"We will never forget the soldiers fighting on the front, the women replacing men in the factories, the children undergoing suffering unthinkable for their age. This war made us a strong nation," the Russian president said.
Tanks, armored personnel carriers and lumbering Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile launchers rumbled across the square, and warplanes and helicopters streaked overhead.
The display included World War II-era T-34 tanks and some military units wore period uniforms.
US, British and French troops each marched in units of about 75 along with squads from Poland and Turkmenistan.
Parades and other celebrations were held throughout the country.
Also yesterday, a bomb placed by the side of a road near a Russian military base in the city of Kaspiysk killed two people in a car and a sapper was killed when he approached another bomb in the city where a Victory Day parade bombing in 2002 killed 43 people.
A third explosive device was found and disabled yesterday at the entrance to a park in the city of Makhachkala.
Both cities are in Dagestan, which is Chechnya's eastern neighbor and has been plagued by insurgent violence for more than a decade.
In the week leading up to Victory Day, Medvedev several times raised Russia's complaint that other countries denigrate or misconstrue the Soviet Union's contribution to World War II.
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