Russia marks World War II victory with military parade

Russia marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II with Moscow's largest post-Soviet military parade on Saturday.

Held to mark the Red Army's capture of Berlin in 1945, the parade saw 16,000 service personnel and more than 194 tanks, armored vehicles, missile launchers and artillery pieces parade past President Vladimir Putin and foreign dignitaries in Red Square.

More than 140 combat helicopters and planes took part in a fly-past above the Russian capital, official news agency TASS reported.

Russia's hi-tech Armata tank was the centerpiece of the display and was loudly applauded as it passed.

Across the former Soviet Union more than a million people were expected to take part in 'Immortal Regiment' marches, during which those whose family members fought in the 1941-45 conflict, known as the Great Patriotic War, carried photographs of their relatives.

The ceremony in Moscow was marked by a minute's silence by around 2,300 guests, including veterans from Russia and abroad. According to official accounts, more than 27 million Soviet citizens lost their lives during the war.

Apart from Russian servicemen and women, troops from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, India, Mongolia, Serbia and China also took part in the parade.

The event was not attended by Western leaders due to Russia's involvement in Ukraine. In an apparent rebuke to the U.S. and NATO, Putin criticized attempts to create a "unipolar world."

TASS reported him as saying: "We can see how the force bloc-based thinking has been gaining power. That all is undermining the stable international development."

Leaders who did attend included Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was invited but did not attend.