Putin: Nazi Ideas Persist, Must Be Fought

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin marked the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe with a speech warning that Nazi beliefs remain strong.

Speaking to the annual military parade on Moscow's Red Square, Putin on Sunday decried "attempts to rewrite history, to justify traitors and criminals, on whose hands lies the blood of hundreds of thousands of peaceful people."

"Unfortunately, many of the ideologies of the Nazis, those who were obsessed with the delusional theory of their exclusiveness, are again trying to be put into service," he said, without citing specifics.

The parade, whose format varies little from year to year, included more than 190 military vehicles traversing the square, ranging from the renowned WWII-era T-34 tank to the hulking eight-axle Yars mobile ICBM launchers.

The anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat, which Russia calls Victory Day, is the country's most significant secular holiday. commemorating the Red Army's military feats and the vast suffering of civilians. About 27 million Soviet soldiers and civilians are estimated to have died in the war.