Victory Day: This was not a normal parade with many having bought into the Kremlin’s narrative
Victory Day parades in Russia generally see throngs of people lining the city’s main thoroughfares, cheering on the tanks as they pass, the armoured vehicles and S-400 anti-aircraft systems and, the spectator’s favourite, the fearsome YARS intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a world-ending nuclear payload across the globe.
The flyover is another highlight, with the final flourish always the tricolour Russian flag trailing across the sky.
But this was not a normal Victory Day.
The public were allowed nowhere near it.
This time round the only real viewing potential was if you were inside Red Square and that is invite only.
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Russia’s scaled-back Victory Day parade compared to previous years
Normally foreign media are accredited to film there too, but not this year.
Muscovites could catch the parade as it drove out of Red Square, but there wasn’t much of one to speak of.
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Russia holds ‘scaled back’ Victory Day parade
Just over 50 pieces of military hardware, the only tank on display was the historic T-34 ‘Victory Tank’ from the Second World War. The full drive-by took just five minutes with the air show cancelled long in advance of Victory Day itself.
The onlookers we met, once they’d found a viewing spot at last, seemed sanguine about the reduced programme.
“It makes sense as a lot of the vehicles are needed in Ukraine,” Artyom told us.
‘This year they did everything tactfully’
It reflects the tone on Russia’s nationalist telegram channels.
“I must confess I was afraid that tanks and armoured personnel carriers, so necessary in the war zone, would be driven across Red Square,” wrote the well-known military correspondent Alexander Kots. “But this year they did everything tactfully.”
Granted, it tends to be the more patriotically-minded who bother to get up in the morning to see what they can of the Victory Day parade, but the mood we encountered was distinctly sour towards foreign media.
“You’re just propaganda”, “you want to say terrible things about our president”, and “tell the truth” were just some of the comments directed our way. We hear it more and more.
A Russian YARS intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past the US embassy
So many have bought into the Kremlin’s narrative wholesale
It tends to be the older generations who don’t care how outspoken they are.
That’s because so many have bought into the Kremlin’s narrative wholesale.
“It is all the US and Ukraine’s tricks,” said Andrei from Rostov, holding back the expletives. “Our grandfathers should have finished them off better, in 1945, so that this wouldn’t be happening now.”
Russian soldiers march towards Red Square. Pic: AP
Many younger Russians refuse to talk
Younger Russians tend to be more careful.
Many refuse to talk. One couple told us they would be thrown out of their university if they did.
Another woman said she felt militarism had no place in the 21st century given the war in Ukraine and other terrible things.
I asked whether she worried about calling it a war.
“It is not legal but it’s the name of what’s happening,” she replied. We did not broadcast her answer.
Iskanders, mobile short-range ballistic missile system launchers, roll by during the military parade. Pic: AP
‘If [Ukraine] could do it on the same scale, they would’
Artyom listed the three assassination attempts that have seen nationalist figures targeted and killed since Daria Dugina’s death last summer.
There was another car bomb at the weekend in which the well-known writer Zakhar Prilepin was targeted, though it was his companion in the car who was killed.
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Artyom was angry that Ukraine and its Western allies weren’t bothered by these attacks.
When I suggested it might be because of the scale and frequency of Russian missile and UAV strikes on Ukrainian targets, he said Ukrainians were shelling Russian cities too, in places like Belgorod.
“It’s not quite the same scale though, is it?” I asked.
“If they could do it on the same scale, they would,” came the answer.
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Donald Trump’s inauguration 2.0
Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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