Russia rolled out an air defense missile system of the kind used to protect its base in Syria and some of the Russian jets flying missions there screamed overhead as it showcased its military war machine on Moscow's Red Square on Monday.
The grand parade, an annual fixture commemorating the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis in World War II, took place in bright sunshine as President Vladimir Putin looked on from a tribune filled with Soviet war veterans, some of whom wore rows of campaign medals and clutched red roses.
The Russian leader, whose forces annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and are now helping Syrian President Bashar Assad's army, watched as thousands of troops marched across the cobbled square to the strains of martial music.