President Vladimir Putin flew in to Crimea yesterday for the first time since it was annexed by Moscow, proclaiming as he marked the Soviet victory in the Second World War that incorporating the former Ukrainian territory had made Russia stronger.

Thousands of Russian troops have marched in Red Square in the annual Victory Day parade in a proud display of the nation’s military might amid the escalating tensions over Ukraine.

Goose-stepping soldiers, columns of tanks and a broad array of ominous-looking missiles poised on mobile launchers paraded through Pyongyang’s main square today in a painstakingly choreographed military pageant.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told a massive annual military parade in Red Square that the country will stand up for its positions.

PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev struck a conciliatory note at Russia’s Victory Day military parade yesterday, urging world powers to unite for peace and defending his decision to invite Nato troops to march on Red Square.

British, French and US troops strode across Red Square for the first time today in a Victory Day parade marked both by the usual impressive display of Russia’s military might and by an unusual emphasis on international co-operation.

PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev yesterday slammed the Soviet Union as a totalitarian regime that suppressed human rights, in the most damning assessment of the USSR by a Russian leader in recent years.

Iraq’s prime minister said today that the full withdrawal of US combat troops from cities and towns was a message that his country was ready to take over its own security, even as he appealed for national unity after a week of attacks left more than 250 people dead.

Missiles, tanks and other heavy weaponry rolled through Moscow's Red Square in the annual Victory Day parade today, reviving a tradition of the Soviet era and demonstrating Russia's growing military confidence.

Ethnic Russians marked the Second World War victory over the Nazis in peaceful celebrations today, nearly two weeks after Estonia was rocked by violent protests when the government moved a Red Army monument from central Tallinn.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today told the annual massive Victory Day commemoration in Red Square that desecrating war monuments harmed relations between countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today presided over the annual Red Square parade celebrating the Second World War victory over the Nazis.

WORLD leaders whose countries faced off on the battlefields of World War II paid tribute yesterday to the fallen soldiers and millions of civilian dead.

Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said in an interview published today that he and his security service had set the target of killing rebel warlord Shamil Basayev by May 9, the first anniversary of Kadyrov’s father’s assassination in a bombing at a Victory Day parade in the Chechen capital Grozny.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin's rise was powered largely by a pledge to defeat Chechen separatists.

CROWDS of mourners streamed to a village in the Chechen foothills yesterday to bury President Akhmad Kadyrov, killed by a bomb in Chechnya’s capital, and his widely-feared son was named a top official in the republic hours later.

Thousands of mourners flocked to Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov’s native village for his funeral today, a day after the Moscow-backed leader was killed by a bomb blast that cast Russia’s efforts to stabilise and control the war-ravaged region into chaos.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has vowed retribution after an explosion ripped through a stadium in the Chechnya’s capital during a Victory Day parade, killing its president Akhmad Kadyrov.

THE Kremlin-backed president of Russia's warring Chechnya region was killed yesterday when an explosion tore through a stadium in the Chechen capital where he was attending Victory Day observances, officials said.

Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was among at least 20 people killed in a bomb blast at a Grozny stadium where he was attending Victory Day observances, officials said.

A photographer for the Reuters news agency was among those killed in the Chechnya explosion.

Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov was among 10 people hurt today when a landmine exploded during Victory Day celebrations in a stadium in the capital Grozny.

Medal-bedecked Russian Second World War veterans gathered in Moscow today for a parade and parties celebrating the allied victory over Nazi Germany 58 years ago, a moment that still resonates powerfully in a country deeply affected by the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attacked the "scum" responsible for a remote-controlled mine blast which has left at least 32 people dead, including 12 children, near Chechnya.

Russia’s Communist Party chief today launched his harshest attack against President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of betraying the country to the West, ruining the national economy and driving people to poverty.