MOSCOW, May 7: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ignored calls by Baltic nations for atonement for five decades of Soviet rule and defiantly hailed the Red Army as the liberator, not the oppressor, of eastern Europe. The three Baltic states, backed by the European Union, have sparked anger in Russia on the eve of lavish Moscow celebrations to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany by saying the Allied victory marked the beginning of subjugation by Soviet occupiers.

“Our people not only defended their homeland, they liberated 11 European countries,” Mr Putin said, after laying a wreath at a monument to Russia’s war dead.

Mr Putin opened two monuments at a memorial park on Moscow’s outskirts as special forces imposed a tight security cordon around Red Square and the Kremlin — focal point of 60th anniversary festivities that US President George Bush and other world leaders will attend.

“The Nazi war machine was broken on a battlefield from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus. Here were the main Nazi forces, and here the fascists suffered their main losses,” said Mr Putin.

“The world has never known such heroism,” he said, tapping a vein of rising patriotic feeling among Russians ahead of Monday’s Red Square military parade that will be a showcase for Russian firepower.

SOURCE OF PRIDE: The Soviet Union’s key role in smashing Nazi Germany, with a loss of nearly 27 million dead, is a huge source of pride in Russia. Statements by European leaders that its victory merely ushered in fresh repression for eastern Europe have met with anger in Moscow.