Russia marks VE Day anniversary in style

SOLDIERS marched and medal-bedecked veterans waved from military trucks rolling down a main Moscow street lined with police and overflown by helicopters yesterday, as Russia began a pomp-filled, high-security celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

Dozens of foreign leaders, including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, have been invited to today’s ceremonies, prompting some of the strictest security measures Moscow has seen.

City authorities had long been urging Muscovites to leave town over the weekend, as some parts of the city centre as well as roads leading to airports were blocked off and accessible only to people with special passes.

About half a dozen tanks, including at least one WWII-era T-34, stood on a street near Red Square, awaiting today’s military parade, which will be watched by the foreign guests. The pavement was marked by tank tracks.

Grey-haired veterans rode on open military trucks down Moscow’s main thoroughfare on their way to a dramatic recreation of the arrival of trains bearing victorious Soviet troops to the Byelorussky railway station, complete with a period locomotive.

Soldiers stomped alongside as Russians lining the street, holding flags and balloons, chanted “Thank you” and shouted congratulations. Women in the parade wore traditional Russian costumes or war-era clothing.

“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude, pride and love for my motherland and the veterans,” said Margarita Kremer, 60, a Moscow teacher in the crowd.

“I can hardly hold back the tears,” said another onlooker, Galina Filippova, 50. “My late father fought in the war, and this is a chance for me to remember him.”

Few Russian families were untouched by World War II, in which the Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people.

After the ceremony at the railway station, veterans were to march to their traditional meeting place on the plaza outside the Bolshoi Theatre. There they were scheduled to meet with President Vladimir Putin and leaders of other ex-Soviet republics.

Putin has invited more than 50 world leaders to the VE Day commemoration, including US President George Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, and French President Jacques Chirac.