Putin Aims to Project Power at Military Parade Marking Victory Over Nazi Germany

Joined by North Korean generals and the leaders of China and Brazil, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday marked the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany with a Red Square military parade designed to place Moscow at the vanguard of a rising, non-Western world order.

The parade — at one point featuring drones used in Ukraine being trucked past the stands to the tune of a military band — punctuated a geopolitical moment for Mr. Putin in which Moscow’s global fortunes seem to be rising thanks to the Russia-friendly approach taken by President Trump.

But despite Mr. Trump’s apparent openness to dealing with Mr. Putin, no senior American officials were known to be in attendance at the Victory Day parade, the annual patriotic high point on Russia’s calendar. The two leaders congratulated each other via aides, the Kremlin said, according to Russian state media. Instead, Mr. Putin was joined by more than 20 foreign leaders from countries that largely position themselves as neutral or hostile to the West.

During the parade, Russian state television showed Mr. Putin bantering with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, seated next to him. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia were also in attendance. Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia was the only leader from a European Union country. Afterward, the television cameras followed Mr. Putin as he shook hands with North Korean generals, who saluted him in their medal-spangled dress uniforms.

The Kremlin has sought to show the large number of foreign dignitaries as evidence of Russia’s global clout despite Western efforts to isolate Mr. Putin after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Trade with China has helped keep Russia’s economy afloat, while North Korean troops helped Russia drive Ukrainian troops out of the swath of Russian territory that Ukraine captured last year.

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