Putin enlist Russian pride for the war in Ukraine during the Moscow parade

It was a Russian war show designed to instill pride at home, impress the allies and intimidate enemies.

Friday, the military parade in Moscow marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany was the largest celebration of Russia of the party for years, and it has at least reached the first two goals.

More than 180 pieces of military equipment have scolded the cobblestones in the red square by a cold but sunny morning, including some of the latest artillery systems, drones and armored vehicles of Russia used in its invasion of Ukraine. Over 11,500 soldiers in developed uniforms shouted: “Hourra!” As they passed the Kremlin walls. And a formation of bombers exuded exhausts which painted the sky above the domes of onion of the Cathedral of Saint-Basil in red, white and blue of the Russian flag.

“It’s very impressive – you should be proud,” said Badr Abdeatty, Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs, walking from the spectator’s stand.

Part of me was.

I was born in Siberia in the last years of the Soviet Union and I grew up watching classic Soviet films on the Second World War and attending the parades of the much more humble victory day in my hometown, where I won my first pocket money by collecting empty bottles of beer on the street. The Soviet defeat of the Nazis has been the main myth of the construction of the nation Russia since its emergence of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.