ASSESSMENTS

Victory Day: Showing Strength at a Time of Weakness

May 8, 2015 | 09:15 GMT

A woman in Moscow on May 7 walks past a billboard extolling 70 years since the victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II.
A woman in Moscow on May 7 walks past a billboard extolling 70 years since the victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II.

(SEAN GALLUP/Getty Images)

Forecast

  • Russia's commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany will culminate in one of the largest military parades in Russian history.
  • Most of the world leaders invited to this year's celebrations declined the invitation.
  • The parade comes as Russia faces economic and political crises and animosity over the conflict in Ukraine.
  • Russia will use the parade to emphasize its new alliances and to display its military might.

Victory Day is one of Russia's largest holidays. The Great Patriotic War was the Soviet Union's greatest moment of glory and highest sacrifice, and its end was the Russians' greatest victory. The Soviet Union rose out of a disastrous economy and a series of famines to face and defeat an invasion by what was then Europe's best army. ...

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