BACK IN THE USSR

Russia Throws Soviet-Style Parade

In Red Square on May Day.

For for the first time since the Soviet Union dissolved, Russia is staging a huge May Day parade in Moscow's Red Square. The parade Thursday featured thousands marching past the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin with flags of Russia and Putin's ruling United Russia Party. Many banners spoke to the recent seizure of Crimea and the crisis in Ukraine, declaring, "Putin is right." Putin did not preside over the march like Soviet leaders did, but he continued a different tradition, handing out "Hero of Labour" medals to five workers at the Kremlin, something he revived from the Soviet era last year. May Day, or International Workers' Day, and was always an important public demonstration in the former Soviet country.