One tank. According to press reports and news broadcasts from Moscow, a solitary T-34 dating back to the second world war was the only tank that trundled past the Russian president as he marked a scaled-down Victory Day on May 9 this year.
As we have previously noted here, Victory Day parades are a big deal for Vladimir Putin. During his time in power he has transformed them from a solemn (if obviously martial) commemoration of the part the Red Army played in the defeat of Nazism in the second world war to a macho demonstration of imperial might. It’s now one of Russia’s most important national celebrations.
A clearly piqued Putin told the (rather smaller than usual) crowds in Red Square that “a real war has again been unleashed” on Russia, a reprise of his oft-articulated theme that the whole thing is actually a conflict forced upon the motherland by evil forces in the west.
