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Russia Flaunts Its Military Muscle

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The Washington Post

Published: May 10, 2008

MOSCOW - The bristling Red Square parade, once a Soviet standard, enjoyed a revival Friday as phalanxes of hardware, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, rumbled noisily over paving stones to deliver a loud message: The bear is back.

Moscow hasn't seen a show like this since 1990, when the Soviets last commemorated the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Within a year, the Soviet Union was no more.

In the mid-1990s, Russians began to celebrate victory in World War II with a parade on May 9. The festivities, however, were stripped of displays of weaponry until this year, the 63rd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Eight thousand goose-stepping troops, in their newly designed uniforms, as well as tanks, armored vehicles and missiles crossed the square Friday. Overhead, strategic bombers and fighter planes roared across the sky.

President Dmitry Medvedev, presiding over his first public ceremony, said Russia's military is "gaining in strength and power like all of Russia."

Drawing a ploy from the playbook of his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who stood beside him, Medvedev appeared to criticize the United States without actually naming the country.

"We must not allow contempt for the norms of international law," he said, warning against "intentions to intrude in the affairs of other states and especially redraw borders."

Russia, most recently, has criticized Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia, which the United States supported.

"The history of world wars warns us that armed conflicts do not erupt on their own," Medvedev said. "They are fueled by those whose irresponsible ambitions overpower the interests of countries and whole continents, the interests of millions of people."

At last year's parade, Putin appeared to compare the United States with Nazi Germany. The Kremlin later denied that was his intention.

Putin and Medvedev watched the parade from a reviewing stand - unlike Soviet leaders who used to stand on top of the mausoleum containing the mummified body of Vladimir Lenin, the first Soviet leader.

"This isn't saber rattling," Putin said. "We're not threatening anyone, and we don't plan to do so. We're not imposing anything on anyone. We have enough of everything. This is a demonstration of our growing potential in the area of defense."

Under Putin, defense spending has increased eight-fold to $40 billion annually. Russia has resumed long-range bomber patrols, which have buzzed U.S. ships in the Pacific and forced NATO jets to scramble around Western Europe.

For all the martial tub-thumping, though, the Russian military cannot be compared to its Soviet predecessor. The military is accused of huge waste and corruption that has prevented it from a large-scale modernization. The army also is regarded as such a bastion of brutality and hazing that most young Russian men try to avoid conscription.

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