Bush and Putin unite for VE commemorations

George W Bush was given a seat of honour today in a reviewing stand next to Lenin’s tomb to watch goose-stepping soldiers and flags adorned with the Soviet hammer-and-sickle that recalled days of communist might.

Russia’s 60th anniversary celebration of its Second World War victory with other Allied forces over Nazi Germany offered a rosy picture of the USSR’s war legacy, and has been accompanied by increased nostalgia for the Soviet Union’s wartime tyrant, Josef Stalin.