Nowhere marks the end of World War II with the fanfare and fervour as Russia, for which the victory over Nazi Germany 80 years ago remains a source of immense pride and a defining moment of history.
Victory Day, celebrated tomorrow, is Russia : s most important secular holiday, reflecting its wartime sacrifice.
But it's also used by the Kremlin to bolster patriotism and regain the superpower prestige it lost when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
President Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia for 25 of those 80 years, has turned Victory Day into a key pillar of his tenure and has tried to use it to justify his 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
He has also sought to underline the failure of Western efforts to isolate Moscow by inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders to the festivities, which this year have been overshadowed by reports of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and severe disruptions at the capital : s airports, as well as mobile phone internet outages.