Indian President Pranab Mukherjee said at a reception that India will always reciprocate Russia’s support in its difficult moments and India-Russia relations will not be affected by the winds of transient global political trends. Russia has been a pillar of strength at difficult moments in Indian history and India will always reciprocate this support. This was a big relief to the Russian Government as there were some apprehensions whether the Indian Government’s foreign policy is being influenced by the US administration following the big success of US President Obama’s visit to India in January this year. The Russian Government got the signal that as far as Russia is concerned, India sticks to the position that Russia is a strategic ally for India and it will continue to be so.

The significance of the presence of the government heads at the Victory Day is that all the BRICS heads have attended despite the refusal by the USA and its EU partners. This will help in strengthening the bonds among the BRICS members in facing the West and political observers believe that in the coming days, the BRICS members will function in a more united manner giving a big push to the cooperation in economic areas. Russian officials have told the media that the USA and the EU might have tried to isolate Russia and hurt its economy but that has not succeeded as the emerging powers of the global economy like China and India are present and with BRICS members on its side, Russia is in a position to withstand the crisis created by the West.

V-E Day, or Victory in Europe Day, is celebrated on May 8 by the US, but actually the formalities of the war's end were spread over three days. Adolf Hitler had committed suicide on April 30, 1945, during the final Battle of Berlin, leaving authority to surrender in the hands of his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz.

On May 7, 1945, Soviet, American, British and French ranking officers crowded into a second-floor recreation room of the red brick schoolhouse which served as Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters, at Reims, France, about 90 miles northeast of Paris. Representing Germany, Field Marshal Alfred Jodl signed an unconditional 'instrument of surrender' of all German fighting forces. Eisenhower asked Jodl if he fully understood what he had signed, including the requirement that German commanders sign a formal surrender to the USSR at a time and place determined by that government.

On the following day, May 8, a second surrender, to the Soviets, was held in a former German Army Engineering School in the Berlin district of Karlshorst, which now houses the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst. The solemn ceremony befitted the loss of over 20 million Soviet lives during the war. It was signed by supreme German military commander Wilhelm Keitel, certain Allied representatives, and Gen. Georgy Zhukov of the Red Army, who played the most pivotal role in leading the Soviet drive through much of Eastern Europe to liberate those nations from the Axis occupation. In accordance with the surrender of the previous day at Reims, the end of hostilities was set for one minute past midnight on May 9.

But the news did not get out in a uniform manner. Battle between German and Soviet forces continued through the next day. On May 9, the Soviets lost another 600 soldiers in Silesia. For this reason V-E Day is celebrated on May 9 in Russia. On that day, Joseph Stalin saluted his nation in a radio broadcast, saying, 'The age-long struggle of the Slav nations... has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over.' The victory happened on President Harry Truman's 61st birthday. He dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage less than a month earlier, on April 12.

The Victory Day is a solemn occasion for the Russian people. The presence of Indian and Chinese Presidents at the Victory Day celebrations has been a big gesture which the Russians will certainly remember. (IPA Service)