Russia stages WW2 victory parade as Ukraine bristles

Tanks and troops paraded across Moscow's Red Square on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, an event boycotted by Western leaders over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the anniversary to whip up patriotism and anti-Western sentiment; at a parade in Kiev, President Petro Poroshenko said Moscow was trying to hog the credit for the World War Two victory at Ukraine's expense.

Though Western leaders stayed away, Putin was joined under the Kremlin's walls by about 30 foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, sitting on his right-hand side.