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| Vladimir Putin was cheered as he paid tribute to the sacrifice of the Soviet people |
The #Kiev authorities feared that pro-Russian activists would try to stoke violence if there were any higher profile celebrations.
In a speech in #Moscow earlier, Mr Putin paid tribute to World War Two heroes and vowed to defend the "motherland".
Addressing thousands in Red Square during a huge, hour-long military parade, Mr #Putin did not mention Ukraine in his speech.
He told the crowd that 9 May, known as Victory Day in #Russia, was a "day of grief and eternal memory" and stressed how the "iron will of the Soviet people" had saved Europe from slavery.
"It is a holiday when an overwhelming force of patriotism triumphs, when all of us feel particularly acutely what it means to be loyal to the motherland and how important it is to defend its interests," he said.
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| President's Speech |
Nazi Germany invaded the #USSR - which included Ukraine - in June 1941 and advanced almost as far as Moscow before being driven back to Berlin in some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
Crimea was put under Ukrainian administration in 1954.
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia maintained a large military presence on the peninsula, and more than half of the region's population identified as ethnic Russian n the chaos that followed the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February this year, Russian forces took over most of the peninsula.
Crimeans then held a referendum and voted to join Russia, though the vote was widely criticised as offering no real choice.
Pro-Russian separatists in south and eastern Ukrainian cities have now said they will hold secession referendums on Sunday. Activists remain in control of many official buildings across the south and east despite a military operation by Kiev to remove them. Dozens of people have been killed in the unres
Source: BBC News
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