Russia marks 75 years since Battle of Stalingrad victory

MOSCOW, Feb 02 (AFP): Russia on Friday marked 75 years since the Soviet Union's victory in the major World War II Battle of Stalingrad, extolled as a symbol of the country's resilience as President Vladimir Putin campaigns for his fourth term.

Putin was set to fly to Volgograd, the current name of the city, which in the morning held a military parade of some 1,500 troops, armoured vehicles and jets flying over a crowd of spectators bundled up in sub-zero temperatures.

The 1942-43 battle in the Volga river city was one of the bloodiest in history with about two million dead from both sides. It was a disastrous loss for Nazi Germany, and is glorified by Russia as the event that saved Europe from Hitler. "This is sacred for us," one Russian onlooker at the parade said, TV footage showed. She added that many of her relatives died in the war.