Russia’s May 9 Parade in the press: “Like a defiant child”

The parade to “day of the victory” about Nazi Germany on Tuesday in Moscow revealed the weaknesses of the Russian military, according to British intelligence experts. Russia’s 15-month war of aggression in Ukraine poses material and strategic communication challenges, the Defense Ministry’s daily intelligence report in London said on Wednesday. Of the 8,000 military personnel who attended the parade, most were members of auxiliaries, paramilitaries and cadets. The only regular troops ready for action were contingents of railroad troops and military police.

According to the British, there was another reason why Russia largely refrained from displaying tanks. Only one historic WWII T-34 tank took part in the parade. “Despite heavy losses in Ukraine, Russia could have mustered more armored vehicles”, according to the British. It is therefore likely that the Russian authorities wanted to avoid accusations from their own side, prioritizing parades over military operations.

Press review of Russia’s parade

Commentators from the international media also see the austerity version of the parade as an indication of Russia’s military weakening. The international press reviews:

“TheTimes” (London, United Kingdom): “In better times, the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow was the highlight of Vladimir Putin’s public relations calendar. An opportunity for the President of the Russian Federation to reminisce about the Great Patriotic War against Hitler and to showcase his country’s military might. But the event marking the 78th anniversary of the end of the war that claimed the lives of more than 20 million Soviet citizens lacked a sense of triumph. The war raging 600 miles to the south has produced no Stalingrad or Kursk, just bloody dead ends and humiliations. So instead of defeating Ukraine, President Putin presented his people with the consolation prize of victimhood. Russia, he said in a 10-minute speech, is the victim of a globalist elite that destroyed the Soviet Union, as well as terrorism and a “new cult” of Nazism. The tragedy is that this absurd analysis is still shared by far too many of his compatriots.”

“TheTelegraph” (London, United Kingdom): “The Russians have claimed the parade was scaled back for security reasons after the recent drone attack on the Kremlin, which they blamed on Ukraine. However, analysts believe the decision was made to cover up the significant casualties in people and materiel in Ukraine. (…) The conquest of Ukraine has not only failed, but the Russian army has got bogged down in a war of attrition in the east and is now expecting a counter-offensive. Putin disastrously underestimated the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people and the unity of the West in the face of aggression, while grossly overestimating the competence of the Russian military. However, even NATO had in fact assumed that Ukraine would not hold out for long, and all assumptions about Russian capabilities had to be revised.”

“La Republica” (Rome, Italy): “Victory Day, held annually on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, the most important official holiday in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and a pillar of his ideology, becomes proof of his defeat. It is the appearance of a leader on the defensive. (…) Blaming the West is his way of justifying the setbacks of the planned offensive. With no recent accomplishments to point to, Putin must reiterate the arguments of his weary anti-Western rhetoric and appeal to past triumphs. He also has no more empty threats to offer. Putin wants to demonstrate normalcy, but he doesn’t fly fighter jets because he fears attacks from the air, and he doesn’t have any modern tanks to demonstrate because they’re all waiting at the front for the dreaded ‘Ukrainian counteroffensive’. There is only one tank, a T-34, Soviet model, opening the column of vehicles, missiles and armored vehicles. (…) There is little to celebrate.”

“Extra Bladet” (Copenhagen, Denmark): “Putin is a liar. We know this. But it never ceases to amaze you how shameless he is. In his Red Square speech, he again referred to the war in Ukraine as a ‘military special operation’ – perhaps the most shameless of Putin’s lies. It is a mockery of the up to 354,000 young Russian and Ukrainian men who, according to leaked US documents, are said to have died and been wounded in the hostilities. The least one can do for the dead and those left behind is to call it by its name: it is war. And Putin started it.”

“Pravo” (Prague, Czech Republic): “Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions for power and his morbid longing for recognition have driven the Russian nation into a senseless war of conquest in which the descendants of the former liberators are dying by the thousands. The Moscow military parade was preceded by massive drone and artillery attacks on Ukrainian targets. Just like a year ago, this has given Putin nothing to boast about, only caused more civilian casualties. (…) Russia is like a defiant child that bangs its head against the wall and gets angrier the more it hurts.”