Initially conceived by a TV channel in Siberia, the rally has been co-opted by the Putin regime, which this year informed participants that they would be welcome to carry images of soldiers killed in Ukraine. On Monday afternoon, Moscow authorities will seal off streets in the city centre to make way for a rally by the “Immortal Regiment”, where civilians carry photographs of family members killed in the war. “Today, our soldiers, like their ancestors, are fighting side-by-side to rid their native land of the Nazi filth,” he said. In a speech on Sunday to former Soviet nations on the 77th anniversary of the fall of Nazi Germany, Putin made the link explicit. ![]() However, in recent years, the Kremlin has increasingly used the anniversary to glorify the Soviet past and its own military adventurism. It has long been one of the most revered days in the national calendar, commemorating the defeat of Nazism and the enormous loss of life sustained in the Second World War. Russia celebrates Victory Day on May 9, a day after Britain and the US, as Joseph Stalin demanded a separate letter of surrender from the Germans which arrived a day later. Last month, the Russian president condemned weapons supplies to Kyiv, promising to use his entire arsenal “lightning-fast” if red lines are crossed. Putin, who will address the nation on Monday morning, may choose to repeat his threats of a nuclear strike on the West if it escalates its support for Ukraine. The “doomsday plane” has no external windows, except in the cockpit, and features a dome that supposedly prevents exposure to electromagnetic pulse attacks. The giant aircraft will be accompanied by the Tu-96 “Bear” and Tu-160 “White Swan”, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The Ilyushin Il-80 plane, known as “the flying Kremlin”, will take part in a fly-past over Red Square in a clear warning to the West. ![]() Russia’s “doomsday plane” designed to protect Vladimir Putin in the event of a nuclear attack will make its first appearance in a decade at Moscow’s Victory Day parade on Monday.
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