MOSCOW -Leaders of the victors and the vanquished united yesterday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hosting President Bush and dozens of others in a Red Square celebration replete with goose-stepping soldiers, a hammer-and-sickle flag and other symbols of the Soviet era.
At a lavish military parade, Putin evoked the alliance that brought victory, but he also stressed the Soviets' huge sacrifice in defeating Adolf Hitler's Germany.
I bow low before all veterans of the Great Patriotic War
he said, using Russia's name for World War II, which killed an estimated 27 million Soviets during nearly four years of bitter fighting after the Nazi invasion of 1941.
Amid strict security that closed the heart of Moscow to ordinary citizens, Putin watched the parade from a podium in front of Lenin's tomb flanked by Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. On the Kremlin wall, the word victory was emblazoned in several languages, including those of the war's losers.
Putin described May 9, 1945, commemorated in Russia as Victory Day, as a day of victory of good over evil freedom over tyranny.
Beneath overcast skies, the parade began with four goose-stepping soldiers in ceremonial gold-embroidered uniforms carrying a replica of the red hammer-and-sickle banner unfurled atop the Reichstag in Berlin after the building was seized by Soviet troops a week before the Nazi surrender. Veterans adorned with gleaming medals rode by in green trucks.
Soldiers in modern and World War II-era uniforms, infantrymen with red flags topped by Soviet insignia and tank troopers with black padded helmets marched in tight formation, the slap of their boots echoing across the cobblestones. Jets streamed smoke in the Russian flag's white, blue and red colors above the square after Putin's speech.
While Russians often have complained that the Soviets' wartime role is underrated in the West, Putin said that we have never divided the victory between ours and their's and we will always remember the help of the Allies
listing the United States, Britain, France and those who fought fascism in Germany and Italy.
Today we pay tribute to the courage of all Europeans who countered Nazism
Putin said.
However, he added, the most cruel and decisive events unfolded on the territory of the Soviet Union. Listing battles such as Stalingrad, Kursk and the siege of Leningrad, where he was born in 1952, Putin said that the Red Army put a victorious end to the war with the liberation of Europe and the battle for Berlin.
Recent public bickering about the Soviets' postwar domination of eastern Europe and Western allegations of democratic backsliding in Russia was put aside for the celebration.
Putin and Bush smiled when the American president arrived for the parade. When Bush lowered his umbrella, despite the rain, to allow photographs, Putin laughed and did the same. The Russian leader reserved the seat next to him for Bush, calling him a guest of special importance.
After the parade, Bush walked next to Putin as the international leaders strolled to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and laid red carnations alongside a carpet of red roses spread in honor of those killed in World War II. They stood silently before an eternal flame at the tomb close to the red brick Kremlin wall before heading inside for a reception.
Speaking at the reception, Putin drew a parallel between World War II and today's threats from extremism and terrorism. We must strengthen our cooperation in the fight against this evil
he said.
He also said victory over the Nazis brought the right to freedom
to life itself
to an independent choice of a path of development
the kind of remark bitterly disputed in the Baltic states, which were annexed by the Soviet Union and gained independence only with its breakup in 1991.
The leaders of two Baltic nations, Estonia and Lithuania, stayed away, angered by Putin's portrayal of the Soviet Union as a liberator despite decades of occupation. Bush balanced his Moscow visit with a trip to Latvia, another Baltic nation, and flew yesterday to Georgia, a former Soviet state where a new pro-Western leadership is seeking to shed Russian influence.
After the reception, Putin and other VIPs gathered in Red Square for a concert that started with the tolling of the Kremlin bells and a moment of silence.
Security has been a concern in the capital because of attacks by Chechen separatists over the past three years, so central Moscow was closed to the public. Russians were urged to gather in homes or parks to mark the holiday.
Despite Putin's passionate praise, some veterans said the tightly controlled access to the celebrations showed a lack of respect.
Putin stole our victory! said Maya Sergeyeva, 79, a wartime nurse who was among 5,000 protesters who gathered under hammer-and-sickle flags at an opposition rally in Moscow.
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