The parade marking the end of the Second World War was attended by veterans and over 20 global leaders including China’s Xi Jinping, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as well as leaders from the former Soviet Union, Africa and Asia.
Russian military vehicles roll in Red square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow today (Vladimir Astapkovich/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP)Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre right, and Chinese President Xi Jinpin, centre left, watch as Myanmar’s servicemen are reflected in a stand’s glass, during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on 9 May 2025 (Photo: Sergei Bobylev/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP)Vietnamese servicemen march during the 2025 Victory Day military parade (Photo: Ilya Pitalev/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP)Nato troops march through Moscow in 2010
An event that once drew together leaders and troops from across Europe, including Nato countries – most notably during the 2010 parade when American, British, French, Polish, and even Ukrainian and Moldovan soldiers, marched through Red Square – this year’s gathering reflected Russia’s deepening rift with the West.
2010: British troops march along the Red Square during the general rehearsal of the Victory Day parade in 2010 (Photo: Konstantin Zavrazhin/Getty Images)2010: US soldiers in Red Square during a Victory Day parade rehearsal in Moscow in 2010 (Photo: Alexander Nemenov / AFP) 2010: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese President Hu Jintao, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are among the leaders attending the Victory Day parade on May 9, 2010 at Red Square in Moscow (Photo: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)Moldova troops march in the Victory Day parade in May 2010 at Red Square (Photo: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)Video of the 2010 parade captures jarring footage of Ukrainian troops marching through Red Square in a parade alongside soldiers from other nations including Russia, Belarus, Britain and the US.
In their place are representatives from countries that have maintained or even strengthened ties with Russia despite Western-led sanctions. The parade has become not only a display of military might but a political stage, shaped to showcase Russia’s alternative diplomatic network and to underscore its narrative of resistance against what it portrays as Western domination and historical revisionism.
This year the only European leaders present were Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovakia’s Robert Fico.
2010: A British and a Russian soldier in Red Square during the general rehearsal of the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 06, 2010 (Photo: Konstantin Zavrazhin/Getty Images)French soldiers march through Red Square during the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, 2010 (Photo: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)Polish soldiers march through Red Square during a parade rehearsal in 2010 (Photo@ Alexander Nemenov / AFP)North Korea was represented by its ambassador to Russia rather than leader Kim Jong Un. North Korean troops, who have been fighting alongside Russian troops against Ukraine, did not march in the parade, but some North Korean soldiers in uniform were spotted watching the parade in Moscow.
“Despite the hostile attitude towards Russia from a number of Western countries, we are very successfully holding a very large-scale event,” said the Kremlin’s top foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov.
They want to show that “the victory is theirs, specifically Russia’s”, he said. “That sidelines Ukraine’s huge contribution to the defeat of the Nazis.”
Russia invited European countries to take part in the Victory Day festivities but the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned EU leaders not to participate in the events in Moscow.
Troops march towards the Red Square for a Victory Day military parade rehearsal in 2025 (Photo: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu/Getty Images)“It’s only Europe and North America that are isolating themselves from Russia, rather than the other way around. But even that’s broken if Robert Fico and Alexander Vucic from Serbia appear in Moscow”, said Hall.
“The key thing for Putin is to highlight that he’s not isolated, that Russia isn’t isolated, that heads of government and foreign countries are still coming to Moscow, that this is still a big draw”.
Russia and China ‘side by side’
The policies of the new US administration may have contributed to the sense of emboldening felt by some authoritarian alliances, Tollast said.
Seeing Russia and China “side by side … doesn’t chime very well with the messaging of Donald Trump that China is a major strategic competitor to the US and the overall message of his administration that it is a country that should be challenged militarily”, he said. “It’s not a very good look for Trump.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in the Kremlin on May 8, 2025 (Photo: Getty Images)Countries like Vietnam, for example, which have maintained good ties with both Russia and the US, might be “drifting closer” to the side of that global alliance, Tollast said.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrives in Moscow for Victory Day celebrations (Photo: Ramil Sitdikov/Anadolu/Getty Images) square RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR UK announces fresh Russia sanctions aimed at Putin's shadow fleet
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The message will also convey “that the Russian-Chinese relationship remains as strong as ever, that the Russian military is as strong as ever, and that supporting Ukraine is not going to lead to a winnable war”, Hall said.
Putin may however, “try and say some nice things about Donald Trump as well, that it was the Soviet Union or Russia and America that won the Second World War, and that these two countries should sit down as great powers and sort out the world’s crises, and little powers like Ukraine and other countries, Germany, Britain, just need to accept it”.
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