Dmitri Trenin: World War II anniversary parade snubs push Moscow diplomatic shift
Politics, including international relations, is about symbols as well as actions. When Russia staged the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, it sought to present the image of a modern country, open to the world. Next month, when Russia will hold a military parade in Red Square to celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, it will be restating its role in the allied victory in World War II. The USSR, which the present-day Russian Federation regards as its direct predecessor, lost at least 28 million people in that epic war.