Things are not going so well for Russia
Key takeaways
- It is not just its stalled advance in Ukraine and economic woes that are worrying the Kremlin.
- xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo.
- Leaders from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia and Uzbekistan attended – with Republika Srpska, Abkhazia and South Ossetia for some added flavour – but no heavy hitters like India or China.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
It is not just its stalled advance in Ukraine and economic woes that are worrying the Kremlin. It is also a distant ‘near abroad’.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo. A screen at Moscow's Victory Day Parade on May 9, 2026, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin attending on Red Square in Moscow [Maxim Shipenkov/EPA]The annual ritual that is the Victory Day Parade in Moscow serves a dual purpose. It reminds Russia’s citizenry and the Kremlin’s audience across the former Soviet Union of the glorious past. The muscle flexing on May 9 each year benchmarks Russia’s geopolitical fortunes.
Last year on the 80th anniversary of the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin was flanked by foreign dignitaries from far and wide: Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority.