Putin's Waterloo

May 7, 2026

The meltdown of Russia’s economy, its military collapse, and the looming Victory Day Parade fiasco in Moscow on May 9 highlight Vladimir Putin’s massive historical failure. Past parades have aimed to project Moscow’s pretensions to superpower status, with a grand procession of military hardware and manpower on display before international dignitaries from around the world. But this year, weaponry won’t be on display, nor will China’s Xi Jinping or other international dignitaries be on hand to review the troops with Putin. The public won’t even be allowed in Red Square, and has been kept in the dark because the Internet was shut weeks ago to impede Ukrainian drone attacks. Putin asked Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire on the day of the parade, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refused. “Putin only cares about military parades, not human lives,” he said and did not rule out an attack on Red Square. Then he pointed out that Russia violated Kyiv’s proposed May 6 ceasefire 1,820 times.

Putin and Xi at the Red Square parade last year. No Xi this year.

In past years, an impressive lineup of leaders attended alongside Putin and his generals. These days, however, Putin is busy culling generals and is personally nowhere to be seen. A recent European Union intelligence report said that heightened concerns about a possible assassination have led the Kremlin to adopt extreme security measures and driven him into hiding. There are only a few unscripted settings where he appears, and most “appearances” are pre-recorded footage. One report noted that multiple identical offices have been set up in different locations to conceal his whereabouts and that the Kremlin forbids anyone from using cellphones around him.