Moscow celebrates wartime victory

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.

The heads of government joined Russian President Vladimir Putin on Red Square for a lavish military parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

Fighter jets screamed high over the square, streaming smoke in the white, blue and red colours of Russia's flag. Soldiers belted out patriotic wartime songs, and Mr Putin emphasised the Soviet Union's sacrifice in a speech during a pageant that recalled the days of communist might.

Flanked by US President George Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Mr Putin said his country would never forget the debt owed to the millions who died to defeat Nazism.

He called the Allied triumph over the Nazis a victory of good over evil.

"It obligates us to great responsibility and forces us to deeply recognise on what a... precipice the world stood at that time, what monstrous consequences violence and moral intolerance, genocide and persecution of others could lead to," he said, speaking from a stage that blocked direct views of Lenin's Mausoleum.

The Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people during the conflict known there as the Great Patriotic War. Few families were untouched, and May 9, 1945 celebrated in Russia as Victory Day, remains sacred across most of the former Soviet Union.

Mr Bush and Mr Putin put aside their public sniping of recent days over postwar Soviet domination and present-day democratic backsliding in Russia.

Continuing the chummy exchanges that marked their discussions and dinner the evening before, the two smiled broadly when Mr Bush arrived for the parade.

Mr Putin reserved the seat next to him for Mr Bush whom he called his guest of "special importance" above all others. Later, Mr Bush remained glued to the Russian leader's side as they strolled, red carnations in hand, to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

While Russians have often complained that the Soviet role is not fully appreciated in the West, Mr Putin said that: "We have never divided the victory between ours and theirs, and we will always remember the help of the allies."

Under overcast skies, white-haired veterans bedecked in gleaming medals, some waving red carnations, rode across the cobblestone square in green trucks as the audience cheered.

The ceremony, full of Soviet imagery, began with four goose-stepping soldiers dressed in ceremonial green and gold embroidered uniforms carrying a red flag with a hammer and sickle a replica of the banner of the Red Army's 150th Rifle Division, which was flown from the Reichstag on May 1, 1945, after the building in Berlin was seized.

The word "victory" was emblazoned on the Kremlin wall in several languages, including those of the vanquished.

Soldiers in modern and World War II-era uniforms infantrymen with metal helmets and red flags topped by Soviet insignia, sappers with dogs, tank men with black padded helmets marched in tight formation, the slap of their boots echoing across the cobblestones.

Mr Putin thanked the Soviet Union's allies for their role and called for unity among the former Soviet republics and the world.

He celebrated the postwar reconciliation between Russia and Germany. And amid mutual accusations between Russia and the West of meddling in former Soviet republics, he said Russia stands for the right of all nations to choose their own way in the world.

"We build our policies on the ideals of freedom and democracy, on the right of every state to independently choose its own path of development," Mr Putin said.

He and the other leaders laid red carnations and a huge carpet of red roses at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin Wall to honour soldiers who perished in World War II. They stood silently before the eternal flame burning at the tomb.

In a speech before raising a toast to veterans at a Kremlin reception, Mr Putin called World War II "the most tragic event of the last century."

The speech was perhaps an effort to quash questions raised in the West last month by his calling the demise of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."

Despite the show of unity, the celebrations have also sparked controversy and thrown a spotlight on the precarious international position of Mr Putin, who faces US criticism on his democratic record and is struggling amid growing Western influence in the former Soviet republics.

The celebrations also have raised the ire of Eastern European nations who see World War II's end as the beginning of their domination by Moscow.

The leaders of two Baltic nations, Estonia and Lithuania, were staying away, angered by Mr Putin's portrayal of the Soviet Union as a liberator despite decades of occupation.

Mr Bush pointedly balanced his Moscow visit with a trip to the Baltic nation of Latvia, which he celebrated as a young democracy, and a planned stop in Georgia, where a new pro-Western leadership is seeking to shed Russian influence.