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Who will come to the parade in honor of Victory Day in Moscow, and who ignore the invitation? What should the Russians learn by looking at the latest Russian tanks and the ceremonial step of Indian grenadiers? - Understand The New Times
The upcoming parade on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, according to the plan of the Russian authorities, is designed to become the main spectacle of the year in the strength of emotional impact. According to official sources, more than 15 thousand military personnel, 194 units of armored vehicles will pass through the paving stones of Red Square, 150 aircraft will fly over the capital. Similar events are scheduled in 28 cities of the country - with the participation of 78.5 thousand people and almost 2 thousand units of equipment. 
The population of the country and the rest of the world should not have any doubt in the parade: our army is the strongest and most modern, its re -equipment is in full swing. The parade as a continuation of politics is a proven method of authoritarian regimes. On October 1, 2009, in Beijing, on Tiananmen Square, a parade on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the PRC, when China demonstrated the latest volley systems that had no analogues in the world: the members of the CPC Central Committee of the CCP, who watched the spectacle, cried with delight and pride, and all Chinese newspapers were sent “declining” even about the approximate value of arms systems-about the approximate cost of weapons systems. The country could not understand them like that.
However, the communist China and then and now calm for its international renom - “trade wars” (with the West) and territorial disputes (with neighbors), he leads without the participation of “polite people”, although sometimes demonstrating military force. Russia is in a fundamentally different situation. After Crimea and Donbass, her military power became the personification of its readiness to violate international rules of conduct. And exactly for this reason, on the rostrum on May 9, near Vladimir Putin, there will be no leaders of the countries - the allies of the USSR in World War II. As there will be, with rare exceptions, the leaders of European countries, the Main Theater of Military operations in 1939-1945.
In mid -March, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: 68 invitations to foreign leaders were sent, 26 confirmed their readiness to come to the Moscow parade, including three of the four leaders of the BRICS countries: President of China Jinping, President of India and South Africa - Pranab Mukerji and Jacob Zuma.
However, NT diplomatic sources said that 26 is “the figure is slightly high, they included those who have not yet refused, but have not confirmed their participation in Moscow celebrations.” In reality, "those who will arrive absolutely - so far 16-18 people." Plus, UN Secretary General Pan Hi Moon - On his arrival on May 9 to Moscow became known on April 23. By the way, the newly -minted allies of Moscow, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, did not confirm their participation for this day.
But there were other times. On May 8, 2005, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of Victory, Vladimir Putin took George Bush in the Novo-Ogarsia President of the United States and let him ride on the 1956 VOLGA rare. On May 9, 2005, in Moscow, in addition to Bush, Jacques Shirak, Gerhard Schroeder, Silvio Berlusconi, Japanese Prime Minister Junitiro Koizumi, British Prime Minister Tony Blair represented his deputy John Prescott.
On May 9, 2010, during the parade on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Victory of Putin and Angel Merkel, they sat nearby, and Putin in Russian-cameras recorded this-explained to Ms. Chancelline the meaning and order of everything that was happening. In 2015, Merkel, according to a preliminary agreement, will come to Moscow on the 10th-in order to honor the memory of the unknown soldier who died in the war to the grave of an unknown soldier.
By the way, only 23 world leader also arrived at the 2010 parade. Barack Obama did not arrive, the then owner of the Champs Elysees Nicolas Sarkozy chose to stay at home due to a sharply aggravated economic situation, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown just lost the elections ... The difference is that there were no good reasons for non-widespread, but there were no demonstrative refusals, there were no Afront, as it is now.
And one more, in his own way, a remarkable bar: 5 years ago, the head of the DPRK Kim Jong I did not respond to the invitation-his current successor Kim Jong-un will come, and “organizational details of the visit are already being worked out,” which was announced on April 21 by the assistant of the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov. It is clear that the main thing here is to ensure the safe movement of the armored train of the DPRK leader from the hills of Manchuria to Moscow, canceling dozens of electric routes on this occasion. What can you do: Russia has new allies. 
And the tasks of propaganda
The foreign policy tasks that the parade solves are closely intertwined with internal, purely propaganda. The viewers watching the parade must catch several key messages at once.
First of all, the leaders of the countries who will stand on the rostrum next to Putin are not just guests. For a Russian, this is a map of the world that can withstand the "US dictatorship". In this sense - contrary to all critical remarks that sound abundantly in recent days - it does not matter what Vietnam or South Africa had to victory over Hitler Germany. It is important to demonstrate that Russia is not alone in its noble struggle against the world hegemon, but any talk about the country's international isolation are deprived of foundations. The ceremonial calculations from Armenia, India, China, Mongolia and Serbia will emphasize the topic of new allies.
Actualization of the past, combination, mixing of the past with the present is generally one of the key features of modern Russian propaganda. From the point of view of the directing of the action, today's conflict of Russia with former allies in the anti -Hitler coalition and the memory of the terrible war that Russia won - they are not opposed to each other and are not divided. They - for propaganda purposes - exist in parallel and equally. Thus, special significance also appears in the figures of the absent. Former allies did not just come. They made a choice, clearly showed on whose side they are now. Of course, we did not arrive today, in 2015, but in the context of that simultaneously ending and lasting war (it is not by chance that the system of images associated with the revival of fascism turned out to be so important for television coverage of events in Ukraine and even in Europe).
And the latest military equipment in this scheme turns out to be a visible embodiment of the country's readiness for any, even the most serious conflict. Unlike former allies, we did not betray the memory of the heroes who died in the fight against fascism (and they betrayed because we supported all the “Bandera”), we are not alone and well armed - this is what the Russian unprecedented military parade should tell the Russian.
But the jubilee events will not end with the parade. At three in the afternoon of May 9, the Immortal Regiment campaign starts. On Tverskaya and Red Square, more than one hundred thousand Muscovites with portraits of relatives who did not live up to an anniversary Victory Day will be held. The action has been held for several years and is positioned as a public initiative. But the march with construction in organized columns, access to the main square of the country, support of the city hall (photos, for example, can be increased and printed free of charge in the state multifunctional centers "My Documents") - the innovations of 2015. Memory and sorrow cease to be a private affair of a person, their manifestations are militarized. Civilians follow the military - also a system, demonstrating unity, cohesion and willingness to continue the work of grandfathers in confrontation of threats hanging over the country. 
Photo: Grigory Dukor/Reuters, Danish Ismail/Reuters, Vladimir Smirnov/Tass