The Russian president is seeking to use the event to depict himself as a global leader despite Western efforts to isolate him and a failure to win the war in Ukraine.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday celebrated his country’s victory 80 years ago against Nazi Germany, presiding over a huge military parade in Moscow, joined by China’s top leader, Xi Jinping.
With the event, Mr. Putin was trying to project himself, along with Mr. Xi, as a leader of an emerging alliance of anti-Western and nonaligned states. The Chinese leader was sitting next to him on a stand overlooking Red Square, watching the parade.
More than 20 other international dignitaries were also attending, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil; Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia; and President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia. Some viewed the large number of foreign leaders as a sign of Russia’s global clout despite Western efforts to isolate Mr. Putin after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In a speech at the parade, Mr. Putin referred only briefly to the continuing war in Ukraine, saying that Russia has been engaged in a “righteous fight,” and that “the whole country, society and people support the participants of the special military operation,” using the phrase the Kremlin uses to describe the war.
Speaking from a giant stand that covers Lenin’s mausoleum, Mr. Putin linked the country’s past victories with its current conflicts.
“Our fathers bequeathed to us to firmly defend our national interests, our thousand-year-old history, culture and traditional values,” said Mr. Putin, whose father fought in the world war.
But three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the display of military might did not reflect Russia’s record on the current battlefield. The country’s military has not achieved a decisive victory in Ukraine, and it has made only incremental gains in recent months. The Russian economy has also been slowing because of falling oil prices and interest rates that have been kept high as the country tries to tame inflation.
Over the past three years, Mr. Putin has tried to use the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany to legitimize his invasion of Ukraine. But a moment that has historically been the country’s biggest secular event and served to unite the country’s many factions has instead turned into another point of division.
Heavy-handed security measures were introduced across Moscow on Friday; the entire city center was blocked for traffic and metro stations were shut down in the vicinity of the Kremlin. Access to the internet has been sporadic, including through landlines. Many in Russia feared that Ukraine could use one of its long-distance drones to attack the city on the day of the parade.
