Last Saturday you almost thought you could hear a little restraint in Vladimir Putin’s “Urra”. The battle cry of the Russian army, with which the ruler concluded his “Victory Day” speech as always – it had already rang out across Red Square in a more triumphant tone. Almost as if he was tired of the war he himself started, Putin appeared strangely lost on his podium in Red Square. While in 2025 China’s head of state Xi Jinping attended the parade of the – according to Putin – invincible Russian army, this time it was only enough for the second row of autocrats loyal to the Kremlin. Instead of tanks and rockets, foot soldiers marched past their commander under an overcast sky.
