President Vladimir Putin is set to preside Tuesday over Victory Day celebrations overshadowed by Russia’s battlefield failures in Ukraine, confrontation with the West and fear of new attacks at home.
But in a major coup for the Kremlin, at least six post-Soviet leaders including the prime minister of Armenia and the president of Kazakhstan are expected to attend the military parade that fetes the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
Putin, who has become the target of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, is expected to address thousands of troops standing at attention in Moscow’s Red Square amid ramped-up security.
However, after 14 months of fighting in Ukraine, Russia has little to show for its military campaign, with troops failing to take control of the eastern town of Bakhmut, its military leadership riven by conflict and Kyiv preparing to go on the offensive.বিস্তারিত