Flags, Fireworks and Designer Uniforms

MOSCOW, May 9, 2008 — -- You would be hard-pressed to find a more dazzling display of patriotic zeal and military might than today's Victory Day parade in Russia.

Initially, I was not terribly excited by the prospect of waking up at 5 in the morning and going through hours of security checks, before standing out in the cold for another two hours to watch Russia celebrate 63 years since the victory of the Second World War.

But as our bus pulled into Red Square all that changed. I looked around me at the soldiers in their smart, starched uniforms, and took in the mass of Russian flags, old red stars and hammer and sickle insignias, and I felt transported to a bygone era in Russia's history.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Victory parade has been a relatively modest affair, but this year, it was decided that a return to Soviet glory was in order, and glorious it was.

Soldiers goose-stepped to the marching band, tanks and nuclear missile launchers rumbled over the cobblestones, airplanes and fighter jets swooped down over the square, releasing fireworks at the end. All in all, it was a spectacle to behold.

However, the sudden extravagance of today's Victory parade raises some questions. Particularly, what is Russia trying to tell the world by flexing its military muscles so overtly?

During President Vladimir Putin's rule, which ended Wednesday, Russia poured money into its defense budget. It has pumped about 3 percent of its gross national product into procuring weaponry and instituting a series of reforms aimed at reviving its debilitated military, down to designing a new, natty uniform for the Russian army.

Alexei Arbatov, co-head of the Nuclear Proliferation Project at Moscow's Carnegie Center, explained to ABC News that "Russia is returning to an acknowledgement of its military power and defense capability."

"These new elements of Russian defense policy should be accepted as a signal to the West that the West has been pursuing very wrong policy with regard to Russia."

I asked Arbatov why Russia believes that it has been wronged by Western policy.