Putin basks in glory of victory parade
Vladimir Putin held a lavish military parade yesterday (Wednesday local time) celebrating the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, a day before a vote on constitutional amendments that would let the Russian president stay in power at least until 2036.
Putin’s approval ratings fell to historic lows during the pandemic lockdown and just 44 per cent support the constitutional changes, according to an independent poll.
The grand parade in Moscow’s Red Square is held annually on May 9.
However, the Kremlin had to postpone it this year due to the coronavirus epi- demic.
Some 14,000 troops marched past the stands saluting Putin, military veterans and foreign dignitaries while fighter jets took to the skies.
Putin declared a moment of silence at the start of the parade to commemorate the 27 million people that the Soviet Union is estimated to have lost in World War II.
‘‘Our duty is to remember about it, remember that the Soviet people took on the main burden of fighting Nazism,’’ he said, describing the Soviet victory in the war as a historic event that ‘‘determined the future of the planet for decades ahead and forever’’.
The parade this year was held exactly 75 years after Soviet troops came back from the war and threw flags and banners of the defeated Nazi Germany to the ground in Red Square.
Victory Day is Russia’s most revered holiday but as the celebrations grow more extravagant, Putin is increasingly being criticised for co-opting it to reassert his power domestically.
He was markedly reserved this year, however, simply reiterating his idea for a global security framework.