Celebrations may see UK soldiers march across Red Square

BRITISH troops could march across Moscow's Red Square for the first time as part of celebrations to mark the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

President Dmitry Medvedev's chief of staff, Vladimir Kozhin, said yesterday that the Russian leader planned to invite military contingents from the three other powers that officially defeated Hitler's Third Reich for the parade on 9 May.

For troops from the UK, the United States and France to take part in the event would be groundbreaking, given that, for many Russians, 9 May is sacrosanct.

Since the end of the war, the parade has traditionally been dominated by the intense patriotic pride Russians feel for their country's massive role in the defeat of Germany, and reflection on the Soviet Union's huge losses.

But in recent years, the Kremlin has placed greater emphasis on the spectacle, using it as vehicle to boost national pride and unite a nation still searching for a clear identity since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 2008, the government reintroduced heavy military hardware to the parade, including tanks and nuclear missiles, and last year 9,000 military personnel took part in a huge display of Russian military might that demonstrated to the international audience that the country still possessed formidable armed forces.

Thomas Buffin, a spokesman for the French embassy in Moscow, confirmed that they had received an invitation and that 70 personnel from an air force unit would take part.

According to Kommersant, Britain is planning to contribute a detachment of 64 soldiers, though from what regiment remains unclear, while the US is still contemplating a response. Mr Kozhin added that the Kremlin would also extend an invitation to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

But news of the invitations has rankled Poland, which so far remains excluded from the event and has fraught relations with its eastern neighbour. Poland contributed the fourth-largest force in the war against Germany, and as well as fighting in the West, some 200,000 Polish soldiers also fought under Soviet command.