RUSSIA - ANNIVERSARY
Russia flexes muscle at V-day parade
Friday 09 May 2008
Russia is holding an annual World War II victory parade on Red Square that, for the first time since the Soviet era, features heavy weaponry including strategic bomber planes and 100-tonne Topol nuclear missile launchers.
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By AFPRussia holds a massive World War II commemoration parade on Friday highlighting Moscow's assertiveness after the inauguration of President Dmitry Medvedev.
The Red Square parade comes after Washington on Thursday said Moscow had expelled two of its diplomats, adding to a sense of Russian defiance a day after Medvedev's inauguration.
The new Russian leader will preside with his predecessor Vladimir Putin in a Victory Day show of soldiers and weapons that in the Cold War years was used to send a warning message to the West.
For the first time since the 1991 Soviet collapse the parade features not only goose-stepping soldiers but heavy weapons including strategic bomber planes and 100-tonne Topol nuclear missile launchers, the defence ministry said.
Medvedev is widely considered heavily dependent on his predecessor, Putin, who was confirmed in the prime minister's post on Thursday.
Earlier Putin said that the parade, commemorating the 63rd anniversary of Soviet victory in World War II, was not "sabre-rattling" but "a demonstration of our growing defence capability."
But tensions were underlined as the United States said Moscow had ordered the expulsion of two of its military attaches from Russia.
Russia's foreign ministry declined to confirm the move. State Department spokesman Gonzo Gallegos denied it was linked to the US expulsion of two Russian military attaches, one in November and another on April 21.
But analyst Yevgeny Volk said he thought the expulsions were timed to reinforce the impression that under its new leadership Russia will not soften its stance on issues ranging from NATO enlargement to missile defence.
"Russia wants to show it is strong and doesn't take seriously American criticism and does what it wants.... The military parade is just designed to show the military might of Russia to the United States," said Volk, who heads the Moscow office of the US Heritage Foundation.
Tensions have been particularly high over Russia's pro-Western neighbour Georgia, which has received US backing for its bid to join the NATO military alliance.
On Thursday Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said his country and Russia had come close to war "several days ago" over the Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia, which Moscow backs.
Saakashvili insisted that Georgia did not want war, saying that "for armed conflict you need two sides, and the Georgian side does not want this."
The United States has tried to play down Russia's recent military assertiveness, such as the resumption of Soviet-style long-range bomber flights last year.
On Tuesday Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said of Friday's parade in Moscow: "If they wish to take out their old equipment and take it for a spin, and check it out, they're more than welcome to do so."
Ahead of the parade the cobbles of Red Square were specially reinforced to cope with tanks and other heavy weaponry, while the Kommersant newspaper said nearby subway tunnels had been reinforced to prevent them collapsing.
Twelve air force planes were to ensure clear skies over Moscow with the use of cloud seeding technology.
There are no reactions so far.
