Soviet Union

MOSCOW - Amid martial pomp and nationalistic pride, Russia celebrated the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany with a Victory Day parade in Red Square that was attended by President Bush and scores of world leaders who put aside lingering differences about interpretations of the past. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and more than 50 other heads of government watched goose-stepping soldiers march past a reviewing stand in front of Lenin's tomb. The soldiers carried the red flag bearing the hammer-and-sickle emblem of the Soviet Union, whose troops carried a similar banner when they captured Berlin in 1945.

MOSCOW -- Weekend ceremonies marking the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe were marred by sharp words between the United States and Russia. But when President Bush and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin met last night they seemed determined to ignore past differences. Bush and his wife, Laura, visited Putin's dacha 25 miles west of Moscow in advance of a parade in Red Square this morning, where the presidents will join the leaders of more than 50 nations for the final day of remembrance.

WASHINGTON - As the United Nations continues a review of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty's mission to stem the spread of nuclear weapons, President Bush meets with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow tomorrow to discuss, among other things, what more can be done to speed a lagging effort to disable existing Russian nukes. Most of the president's attentions regarding nuclear weapons these days have concerned the reports of North Korea's claim to have them and Iran's determination to press on with a development program.

MOSCOW - In Russian eyes, the Red Army's defeat of Nazi Germany on the eastern front in World War II was the greatest military victory in history. President Bush and other world leaders will travel here to help Russia celebrate the 60th anniversary of that event next week. But several former Soviet states will participate reluctantly or not at all - a pointed reminder that Russia's triumph seems quite different through others' eyes. What Russia sees as its heroic success is for others the kidnapping of freedom.

MOSCOW - Russia has agreed in principle to close its two military bases in Georgia by 2008, potentially forfeiting one of the key remnants of its Soviet-era influence in the southern Caucasus, Georgian officials said yesterday. Concluding talks with her Russian counterpart, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili said Russia has tentatively endorsed a plan to begin withdrawing 7,000 troops and military hardware from the former Soviet military outposts almost immediately after a final agreement is signed.

HERE'S A PECULIAR sop to nostalgia: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared yesterday in his annual state-of-the-nation address that the collapse of the Soviet Union was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the Twentieth Century. Not the rise of National Socialism in Germany, nor of militant imperialism in Japan. No, it was the downfall of a bankrupt system built on coercion, lies and a history of murder; in fact, plenty of former Soviet citizens would argue that the creation of the U.S.S.

THIS MONTH, in the last days of President Askar Akayev's rule in Kyrgyzstan, a police officer pulled over our car of election observers in a blatant attempt at extortion. The officer, like many of his colleagues in other post-Soviet states, flagged us down on foot, because the police force was too poor to afford patrol cars. Our local driver confidently refused to pay, saying that he had broken no rules and that the foreigners in the car could attest to that. The officer sheepishly replied, "So you're saying it's useless" to keep pressing for money?

RIGA, the capital of Latvia, is a charming old city on the Baltic. It is one of the few places where surviving veterans of both the Soviet and Nazi armies live side by side, and last week it was, again, the scene of a commemorative march by men who served in the Latvian SS Division. Here are a few figures to think about: Number of years the SS men have marched: 15. Number of years Soviet veterans have protested: the same. Number of times Latvia was invaded by the Soviet Union: 2. By Nazi Germany: 1. Number of Latvians deported to Siberia during the first Soviet occupation (from 1940 to 1941)

AS RUSSIA becomes embroiled in ever-more-contentious disputes with its neighbors, subdued discussion and articles in the Russian press marked a monumental date this month - the 20th anniversary of perestroika. In March 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev assumed the post of general secretary of the Communist Party, and he soon initiated a set of incremental political and economic reforms. These policies unleashed a process that brought about the disintegration of the Soviet Union and a new chapter of world history.

WHILE THE MEDIA have been focusing on the flap at Harvard University growing out of its president's statement about the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in the sciences, a much worse and more revealing scandal has unfolded at the University of Seattle, where a student mob prevented a military recruiter from meeting with those students who wanted to talk with him. At first, the university president said that the student rioters should apologize....