Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev
speaks during the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in front of
St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow May 9, 2008. Warplanes screamed over Red
Square and missile launchers rumbled past ranks of soldiers on Friday when
Russia celebrated victory over Nazi Germany with a show of military might
not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union.(Xinhua/Reuters
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
by Yu Maofeng
MOSCOW, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Russia conducted a military
parade on Red Square Friday to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of its victory in
World War II.
The military parade started at 10 a.m. local time
(0700 GMT)with a solemn show of the Banner of Victory.
Russia's new President and commander-in-chief Dmitry
Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other leaders were on the central
tribune to observe the parade.
The commander of the parade, commander of the Moscow
military district Gen. Vladimir Bakin, reported to Defense Minister Anatoly
Serdyukov about the readiness for the parade. Then the two military leaders
reviewed parade arrays in a car.
Different from his predecessor Putin, Medvedev made a
mild speech at the parade. "Our army and fleet are growing stronger, as Russia
itself," he said.
He warned not to repeat the history of World War II,
noting "world wars are fueled by those whose irresponsible ambitions overpower
the interests of countries and whole continents, the interests of millions of
people."
"We need to remember the lessons of that war and work
everyday so that such tragedies never happen again," he said.
The supreme commander of armed forces pledged to
fight against extremism and terrorism and warned against attempts to revise
borders and ignore international law.
"It is necessary to take an extremely serious
approach against any attempt to sow racial or religious enmity, foment the
ideology of terror and extremism, and interfere in other states' affairs, not to
mention attempts to revise borders," he said.
"We cannot tolerate disrespect for international law
- the law that has been hard-won by the entire international community, without
which no safe life and fair world order is possible," he added.
"Congratulations on the holiday, the victory day,"
said Medvedev who took office Thursday.
More than 8,000 soldiers and officers of the Moscow
garrison took part in the parade, the first involving heavy military equipment
such as tanks and strategic bombers since 1991.
The Russian Armed Forces showcased more than 200
units of military equipment such as tanks, infantry combat vehicles, armored
personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery mounts, air defense combat vehicles
and land-based mobile missile systems.
More than 30 aircraft, including strategic bombers,
tanker planes, military cargo planes, fighter jets, assault aircraft, frontline
bombers and helicopters took part in the parade together with aerobatics teams
Russkiye Vityazi and Strizhi.
The air fleet flew over Moscow at a height of about
300 meters as part of the parade.
"It is not sabre rattling. We are forcing nothing on
anybody," Putin said at his last meeting with government officials as president
on Monday.
MOSCOW, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Russia's lower house of
parliament, the State Duma, approved Vladimir Putin as prime minister on
Thursday.
Lawmakers voted 392-56 for Putin's appointment. He was
backed by three of the four Duma factions, namely the United Russia, the Just
Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party. Only the Communists
opposed. Full story
MOSCOW, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Vladimir Putin, the
candidate for prime minister, said on Thursday that the amount of new military
hardware put into service in the Russian Armed Forces are not sufficient. Full story
