Fighter jets streaming smoke in the Russian blue, white and red tricolor screamed over Red Square as soldiers sang patriotic wartime songs.
Putin, flanked by Presidents Bush and Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, said his country would never forget the debt owed to the tens of millions of Soviet citizens who died to defeat Nazism.
"I bow low before all veterans of the Great Patriotic War," said the Russian leader, describing May 9, 1945 -- marked in Russia as Victory Day -- as "a day of victory of good over evil, freedom over tyranny."
"The most cruel and decisive events unfolded on the territory of the Soviet Union," said Putin. "We know that the Soviet Union in those years lost tens of millions of its citizens."
The war "forces us to deeply recognize on what a ... precipice the world stood at that time, what monstrous consequences violence and moral intolerance, genocide and persecution of others, could lead to," he said.
Under overcast skies, white-haired veterans bedecked in gleaming medals and some waving red carnations drove down the cobbled square in green trucks as the audience cheered.
The ceremony, full of Soviet imagery, began with four goose-stepping soldiers dressed in ceremonial green and gold embroidered uniforms carrying a red flag with a hammer and sickle. This was a replica of the banner of the Red Army's 150th Rifle Division, which was flown from the top of the Reichstag on May 1, 1945, in Berlin after the building was seized.
The word victory was emblazoned on the Kremlin wall in several languages, including those of the vanquished.
Soldiers in modern and World War II-era uniforms -- infantrymen with metal helmets and red flags topped by Soviet insignia, sappers with dogs, tank men with black padded helmets -- marched in tight formation, the slap of their boots echoing across the cobblestones.
The Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people during the conflict known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. Few families were untouched, and the holiday remains sacred across most of the former Soviet Union.
Putin alluded to that with a call for unity among the former Soviet republics -- and the world. He also drew a parallel between the war and the present-day threat of terrorism, saying today's generation must "build a world order based on security and justice ... and not to allow a repeat of either cold or hot wars."
He said the postwar reconciliation between Russia and Germany was worthy of emulation, and paid special tribute to members of the resistance in Axis countries. He also said Russia stood for the right of all nations to choose their own way in the world.
He and the other leaders laid red carnations and a huge carpet of red roses at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin Wall to honor soldiers who perished in World War II.
In spite of the show of unity, the Moscow celebrations have caused controversy, raising the ire of Eastern European nations who see World War II's end as the beginning of their domination by Moscow. And they throw a spotlight on the precarious international position of Putin, who is facing increasing U.S. criticism on his democratic record and is struggling in the face of growing Western influence in the former Soviet republics.
The leaders of two Baltic nations, Estonia and Lithuania, were staying away, angered by Putin's portrayal of the Soviet Union as a liberator despite decades of occupation.
Bush pointedly balanced his Moscow visit with a trip to the Baltic nation of Latvia, which he celebrated as a young democracy, and a planned stop Tuesday in Georgia, where a new pro-Western leadership is seeking to shed Russian influence.(AP)(AFP file picture taken 24 June 1945 shows Soviet soldiers marching at the Red Square in Moscow during the Victory parade)
