Victory Day, celebrated on May 9, 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.

As Russia celebrates its 80-year-old victory over Nazi Germany, Putin wants the world to see that despite the new conflict in Europe, he still has friends in high places.

Russia celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the second world war on May 9. But while the cameras will focus on the assembled ranks of elderly war survivors watching the military parade in Red Square, Moscow, the focus of senior officials is on Russia’s children and young people.