MOSCOW – The massed ranks of the world’s leaders, with President Putin flanked by President Bush and German Chancellor Schroeder, watched yesterday as 8,000 Russian soldiers and war veterans paraded through Red Square to mark the 60th anniversary of the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany. Observing from the sidelines, Russian veteran Mikhail Kurbatov, his chest loaded with medals, swelled with pride.

“When you see Mr. Bush and his wife, and the leaders of Germany and France and all the countries, paying tribute to the veterans of the Soviet Union, it’s something special,” Mr. Kurbatov, 80, said. “It makes you feel like all of us, all of those who fought against the fascists, will never be forgotten.”

Russians have long felt that their decisive role in defeating the Nazis has been overlooked in the West, despite the deaths of nearly 27 million Soviet citizens, more than all other Allied countries combined. But yesterday, the leaders of America, Germany, France, Japan, China, and many other countries did much to lay that feeling to rest.

Beginning a ceremony marked with Soviet-era imagery, four soldiers launched the parade by marching into the cobbled expanse of Red Square bearing a replica of the Red Army flag flown over Berlin’s Reichstag after the building was seized on May 1, 1945. White-haired veterans bedecked with medals followed, waving red carnations as they drove through the square to the sound of martial music. Then, as fighter jets roared overhead, row upon row of serving soldiers goose-stepped their way past Lenin’s marble mausoleum – hidden for the occasion behind a huge display.

After the parade, Mr. Putin and other leaders laid red carnations and roses at Moscow’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and then stood silently before its eternal flame in the shadow of the Kremlin walls. Last night, as many world leaders attended a concert in Red Square, a dazzling fireworks display exploded over the city.

In a brief address at the beginning of the ceremonies, Mr. Putin congratulated veterans “on the day when good triumphed over evil and freedom triumphed over tyranny.”

He said the war “obliges us to recognize profoundly the deadly precipice the world stood on at the time, what horrendous consequences violence and racial hatred, genocide, and the persecution of human beings, could have led to.”

The gathering of so many world figures was a major diplomatic coup for Mr. Putin at a time when he is facing increased international criticism of his democratic record and growing tensions in ties with Russia’s neighbors.

Politics threatened to overshadow yesterday’s festivities after the leaders of two Baltic nations – Lithuania and Estonia – boycotted the gathering and other nations called on Russia to atone publicly for the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe following the Nazi defeat.

Mr. Putin alluded to the disagreement in his speech, saying: “With our closest neighbors and all the countries of the world, Russia is prepared to build relations based not only on the lessons of the past but also aimed at a common future.”

He also addressed fears of a democratic backslide in Russia.

Russia’s “policies are based on the ideals of freedom and democracy, on the right of every state to choose its path of development independently,” Mr. Putin said.

The only leader from the Baltics who did attend, the Latvian president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, seemed unimpressed.

“I think it surprising that modern-day Russia finds it difficult to distance itself from the Soviet empire and the crimes of totalitarianism, Stalinism, and communism,” she told reporters after the parade.

Mr. Bush, who on Saturday said in the Latvian capital, Riga, that the Soviet occupations were among the “greatest wrongs in history,” made no public statements yesterday. But in a move that rankled the Kremlin, Mr. Bush book-ended his visit to Moscow with trips to Latvia and Georgia, where a new pro-Western government is seeking to strengthen ties with Washington at Moscow’s expense.

Mr. Bush is expected to address a crowd of thousands in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, today and call for greater democracy across the former Soviet Union. The Kremlin has accused the West of trying to weaken Russia by fostering peaceful revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine that ousted pro-Moscow governments.

The Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, boycotted yesterday’s celebrations over the continued presence of more than 3,000 Russian soldiers on Georgian soil. An American-educated former New York lawyer, Mr. Saakashvili, has angered Moscow by seeking closer ties with Washington.

“Now we have the privilege and honor to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S., sharing the gifts of liberty and democracy with out neighbors,” he said in a welcome letter to Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush also held a 50-minute meeting with Russian human rights groups yesterday at a Moscow hotel. Participants said he asked questions about press freedoms and civil liberties and told them he saw his good personal relations with Mr. Putin as a chance to convey his concerns over human rights to the Russian leader. Despite long describing him as a friend, Mr. Bush has grown increasingly critical of Mr. Putin, scolding him during a meeting earlier this year in Bratislava, Slovakia, for retreating on democracy.

The presence of so many foreign leaders in Moscow prompted unprecedented security precautions, with more than 20,000 police and soldiers patrolling the streets and anti-aircraft batteries ordered to fire on planes breaking a no-fly zone over the city. Chechen separatists, blamed for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than 1,000 Russians during the last three years, have frequently targeted Victory Day celebrations.

Authorities also blocked access to the center of Moscow and urged Muscovites to celebrate the holiday in their homes or in city parks. This caused frustration among many veterans who had hoped to join the celebrations but were turned away by security guards. A few hundred protesters, including some veterans waving Communist Party flags, scuffled briefly with police as they tried to march through barricades to Red Square.