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Though many former Soviet states celebrated the 62nd anniversary of the end of World War II on Wednesday, the largest Victory Day party took place in Russia's Red Square, where 7,000 military personnel marched in full uniform as Su-27s and MiG-29s flew maneuvers overhead. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a nationally televised speech in which he congratulated the Russian people for having the courage and fortitude that "crushed the aggressor and stopped Nazism." Though it resembled speeches of the past, this year's address also included something new -- an attempt to use the memory of victory to vilify the West.
Victory Day is one of the largest holidays in Russia. The defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 legitimized the Soviet government as a global leader, and as a powerful force with which the rest of the world would have to reckon. But the fall of the Soviet Union made Victory Day bittersweet; it became a reminder to Russians of just how far the motherland had fallen since its peak as one of the world's two superpowers. Though Russia continued to celebrate the holiday, it was no longer accompanied by the fanfare it had received under Soviet leaders such as Josef Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev or Nikita Khrushchev.
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