Well, firstly, Victory Day (the occasion on which these tanks were paraded about) celebrates the Soviet defeat of the Nazis.
Secondly, there have been some official attempts to integrate Russia's history, the Tsarist, Soviet and current regimes, to arrive at a collective Russian identity. As with the national anthem. Which is one of the reasons Putin was chided - promoting the idea that the USSR might be a valid chapter in their history.
Overall, I think the West is more prone to compartmentalizing Russian history than Russians are. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
I was a little surprised to see a hammer and sickle in the background of the first picture.
The soviet emblems are to be seen everywhere in today's Russia, train stations, public buildings, squares - hammer and sickles, statues of Lenine showing the way, statues of the deserving miner, etc.
I suppose people are actually attached to them, and are proud of their history. They remind them of the good old times, when everyone had a job, first-rate education, free medical care, when society actually took care of its people.
Why those emblems should be taken down, I have no idea. Would a properly Western-formatted mind explain that to me ?
Symbol of a totalitarian state and ideology. Then again, given the fact of how attached a part of this country is to the Confederate flag, we shouldn't complain too much.
That's only a part of what they represent. You may choose to discard the rest, but that's awfully hard to do in a room full of middle-aged russians...
