How Victory Day became central to Putin’s idea of Russian identity

Russian military vehicles move along Tverskaya street, Moscow, during a 4 May rehearsal for Monday’s Victory Day military parade in Red Square. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

In cities across Russia on Monday morning, tanks and missile trucks will growl their way along the main streets. Soldiers will march across central squares. Fighter jets will roar overhead.

Victory Day, when Russians celebrate the 1945 endpoint of what they still call the “great patriotic war”, has gradually become the centrepiece of Vladimir Putin’s concept of Russian identity over his two decades in charge.