As an ex-communist, Russian president, Vladimir Putin will be respectful of the revolutions of that shaped his country, but will not endorse too much freedom, says Geoffrey Roberts.

German chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday paid tribute to Soviet soldiers killed in WWII as she called for co-operation with Russia amid tensions over Ukraine.

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.