Russia on Friday celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, as President Vladimir Putin presided over a massive parade of tanks, missiles and troops through Red Square and welcomed over two dozen world leaders — the most since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
Victory Day, which Russia marks on May 9, is the country’s most important secular holiday. The parade and other festivities underline Moscow’s efforts to project its global power and cement the alliances it has forged while seeking a counterbalance to the West amid the conflict in Ukraine that is grinding through a fourth year.
Friday’s parade was the largest since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and drew the most global leaders to Moscow in a decade, including high-profile guests like Chinese President Xi Jinping, who sat next to Putin, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Their attendance underscored how Putin has tried to emphasize the failure of the West to turn Russia into a global pariah.
“It’s again showing that Russia is not isolated, that Russia is seen as a very legitimate victorious nation that is among victors in World War II,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
"Russia is standing tall among the so-called global majority,” Gabuev said, adding that the attendance of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico showed that “Russia has allies even within the Western camp” and marked a major public relations victory for Putin.
World War II is a rare event in the nation’s divisive history under Communist rule that is revered by all political groups, and the Kremlin has used that sentiment to encourage national pride and underline Russia’s position as a global power.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in what it calls the Great Patriotic War in 1941-45, an enormous sacrifice that left a deep scar in the national psyche.
Addressing the crowd in Red Square, Putin praised Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, saying that “we are proud of their courage and determination, their spiritual force that always has brought us victory.”
Putin, who has ruled Russia for 25 years, has turned Victory Day into a key pillar of his tenure and has tried to use it to justify his action in Ukraine.
For Putin, Victory Day celebrations have become "a civic religion that boosts patriotism, nationalism, nostalgia, and justifies both his repressive regime at home and Russia’s increasingly expansionist foreign policy abroad, particularly including towards its neighbors,” Gabuev said.
The parade featured over 11,500 troops and more than 180 military vehicles, including tanks, armored infantry vehicles and artillery used on the battlefield in Ukraine. As a reminder of Russia's nuclear might, huge Yars nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles launchers rolled across Red Square. Also among the weaponry on display were drones carried on military trucks, a tribute to their pivotal role in the conflict.
Fighter jets of Russian air force's aerobatic teams flew by in close formation, followed by jets that trailed smoke in the colors of the national flag.
Afterward, Putin shook hands with Russian generals who led the troops onto Red Square and spoke to medal-bedecked senior North Korean officers who watched the parade, hugging one of them.
Last month, Putin thanked North Korea for fighting alongside Russian troops against Ukrainian forces and hailed their sacrifices as Pyongyang confirmed its deployment for the first time.
The Russian and North Korean statements emphasized their expanding military partnership, especially after Russia said its troops have fully reclaimed the Kursk region, parts of which Ukrainian forces seized last year. Ukraine denied the Russian claim.
After the parade, Putin hosted foreign leaders at a Kremlin reception. He also sat down with Lula, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic for bilateral meetings.
Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged “warm words” and “congratulations on the occasion of our common holiday” through their aides, the Russian leader's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told state Channel One TV.
Victory Day festivities this year were overshadowed by Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and severe disruptions at the capital’s airports. Aeroflot on Wednesday canceled more than 100 flights to and from Moscow, and delayed over 140 others as the military repelled Ukrainian drone attacks on the capital.
Russian authorities tightened security ahead of the parade and cellphone internet outages were reported amid electronic countermeasures aimed at foiling more potential drone attacks.
Military parades and other festivities were also held in scores of other cities across Russia amid tight security. As a historic tribute, Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg symbolically regained its Soviet-era name of Leningrad for a day Friday and Volgograd temporarily reverted to Stalingrad, as it was known during World War II. In the evening, massive fireworks lit the sky in cities in the Far East and Siberia, with Moscow to follow.
Putin had declared a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire starting May 7 to coincide with the Victory Day celebrations, but warned that Russian troops would retaliate to any attacks. Moscow has been reluctant to accept a U.S.-proposed 30-day truce that Ukraine has accepted, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies to Ukraine and Kyiv’s mobilization effort, conditions Ukraine and its Western allies have rejected.
Ukrainian authorities reported scores of Russian strikes Friday that killed at least two people in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and damaged buildings. A Russian drone also struck a civilian vehicle in Zaporizhzhia, critically injuring a man and also wounding his wife.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday said Kyiv's forces continued operations against Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, as well as conducting shelling and drone strikes on the battlefield. It also accused Ukraine of four attempted cross-border attacks into Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions.
As the parade and other festivities unfolded in Moscow, dozens of European officials met in Lviv, in western Ukraine, to endorse the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian officials accused of war crimes.
“Russia needs to feel our common and, most importantly, growing strength,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, addressing the Lviv meeting. He emphasized the need for Russia to be held accountable, adding that “this is the moral duty of Europe and of everyone in the world who values human life.”
“I’m sure that this tribunal will allow for the fight against impunity against all war crimes that have been committed during this war of aggression of Russia against Ukraine,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
Russian authorities have fiercely denied allegations of war crimes. Asked about the tribunal on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow "will not be reacting to this.”
Barrot also said European allies have agreed on another package of sanctions against Russia.
Standing alongside top Ukrainian government officials in Lviv, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the tribunal's launch will mean that “nobody can be left unpunished for the crimes committed."
Most of Europe marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II on May 8.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
70 Comments
JJE
An impressive parade commemorating 80 years of Victory of Nazism.
Good to see it went off perfectly.
JJE
...Victory over Nazism.
JJE
Not wanting to be totally left out and perhaps realizing he missed a historic event, Trump redeems himself and gets in on the momentous occasion.
Good to see many foreign dignitaries and especially the decent Vucic and Fico of Serbia and Slovakia respectively, who put common decency before EU threats, correctly observing the role the Red Army played in liberating their respective lands.
Russia and China - who did the bulk of sacrifice in that struggle - move closer together, with Putin invited to Beijing to attend VJ day observances.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Any sort of positive commemoration is overshadowed by russia's disgusting war of aggression on Ukraine.
TaiwanIsNotChina
They are so focused on putting on a fascist parade every year, they forgot to keep fighting the nazis at home.
Thanks, Ukriane!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Thankfully he wasn't able to disgrace himself in public this year.
Yeah, liberated for 45 years of occupation.
The Balkins, Poland, and Ukraine did the bulk of the sacrifice as they got it on both sides from disgusting powers.
EvilBuddha
Soviet Union fought the Nazis, suffering the highest casualties in World War 2 and the US and UK took the credit for liberating Europe.
Underworld
JJE
A veritable who's who in authoritarianism.
Ironic to see authoritarians celebrating the defeat of an authoritarian.
Russia is doubly hypocritical considering they are waging an imperialist war of aggression on their neighbor.
Hardly a celebration.
JJE
Factually incorrect on many counts. Belarus is the country which has the dubious badge of honor of being the land that was most ravaged by the nazis. Quite literally every city, town and village was burnt out there, with the assistance of collaborators, some of which are shamelessly celebrated today.
As for the Balkans, at the parade were several representatives of countries which existed in Yugoslavia (which disappeared from a map). They are spot on.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Because you can't call what the Soviet Union did to Europe to be liberation...
TaiwanIsNotChina
Lack of russia at the top of the list noted.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Did you get one besides Serbia?
JJE
That is an incredible, mind-boggling figure, an unarguable testament to the sacrifice.
Important to observe the ruthless nazi assault on USSR was not just a German-affair. Pretty much every country in Western Europe, and some in Central Europe, joined the campaign. They would pay a price for their actions.
As such, many countries lost territory post surrender/war (another fallacy pedalled by certain quarters is Japan's surrender somehow indemnifies it against territorial adjustments). This specifically references the Axis collaborators. For more information, read up on the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, which applied penalties to those types, separate from what was properly imposed on Germany post-war.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Lack of russia at the top noted. russia chose the wrong ally prior to Operation Barbarossa. Only Germany had wide scale theft imposed on it in the aftermath although I'm sure the Poles are none too happy either. Only the russian continues to believe that theft is a part of war.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Slight correction: Finland also had theft imposed upon it from the same disgusting power.
JJE
The Russia SFSR was the by far the biggest and most populous of all the constituent republics of the USSR - maybe one didn't realize but that is a fact. And the borders/people of that correspond to the present-day Russian Federation (including Crimea, as Churchill and Roosevelt both observed in their respective diaries upon visiting there in 1945).
All Axis principles and collaborators lost territory, applied post-war Read the facts here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Treaties,_1947
JJE
Again, for more information about the post-war settlements applied to Finland specifically and others in general, read about the post-war Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 (link above).
Interesting WWII fact most people don't know - the UK declared war on Finland in December 1941.
Finland's earlier Western sympathy was severely eroded by Finland's collaboration with Nazis between 1941 and 1944, thus territorial losses applied.
JJE
This is completely false from a historical perspective.
Tokyo Guy
Slightly spoiled by the fact that they're currently doing the very thing this parade is supposed to be marking.
stormcrow
Not wanting to be totally left out and perhaps realizing he missed a historic event, Trump redeems himself and gets in on the momentous occasion.
Regardless of who the U.S. president happens to be at any given time, the former USSR and today's Russia will always have the Marshall Plan under FDR to thank for its survival and ability to defend itself during WWII.
lincolnman
I'm sure Vlad highlighted the importance of US Lend-Lease during WW II which was a lifeline to Russia - and was key in turning the tide on the Eastern Front against the Nazis. Two examples stand out - the Studebaker 2 1/2 ton truck and the P39 Airacroba fighter, used as a fighter-bomber by the Russians...
Perfect time to thank the US as he has his Puppet in the WH...
JboneInTheZone
The Soviet Union wouldn’t have been able to push westward into Germany without the help of lend lease. The Allies were all essential
JJE
One reason security was so faultless at the parade was the decent presence of this famous American actor and martial artist in Red Square, who would have dealt out the pool ball/cue treatment:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GqgDxAtWkAAsD-H?format=jpg&name=medium
TaiwanIsNotChina
Only by the disgusting land grabber. The proclamation that it was only due to 1941-44 is rich considering the land grabber's history.
JJE
Not a proclamation, and if it was, please ask the US, UK and France, who were all parties to the post-war co-signed Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, which readjusted many borders. Repeat - this was agreed and signed off on by the Allies. Again, the above link provides the relevant factual information and history, not contemporary ideological distortion.
Underworld
JJE
Yeah, I don't think so.
What a clown.
theFu
The CCP had ZERO to do with defeating Nazis. That was the ROC who deserves the credit, though at the time the ROC was a nasty govt too.
Putin should have Lai Ching-te there, not Xi. But that wouldn't get dual-use products from China that can be stripped to make rockets and parts for weapons delivered by China. Ah.... clarity in the true reasons.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Heh. Freudian slip I assume.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Acknowledging that no one was going to force the disgusting land grabber out of Eastern Europe does not confer an real legitimacy.
JJE
20 million victims in China of fascist invaders disagree with you. The CCP played a huge part in WWII. Even some of Chiang Kai-shek's generals turned on him because he was more focused on crushing his own rather than confronting the invader.
Xi's presence at the Victory Parade was very appropriate. The Russian Federation has, and always has, observed the One-China principle. Indeed, in 1949 the USSR recognized the PRC as the only lawful government of China (and voted to admit the PRC into the UN in 1971). This was noted by Xi in a publication he penned, published in a newspaper during his visit to Moscow just this week. One could go on, especially with regards to how the Red Army helped restore Chinese sovereignty over their lands in 1945, not taking one square inch.
kwatt
It looks like dictators comforting each other. Where is Kim Jong-Un helping Putin a lot now?
JJE
The article mentions Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. An Egyptian honor guard participated. During post-parade talks with this respective leader, Putin said the common fight against Nazism holds a special place in diplomatic relations between Cairo and Moscow.
"*It is symbolic that diplomatic relations between the USSR and Egypt were established precisely during the war - in August 1943, after the *defeat of the Nazis at the Kursk Salient".
Jimizo
Slow down. Hysterically spamming these threads leads to Freudian slips of that kind.
You are just repeating yourself. We got the point long ago and dismissed it accordingly.
aaronagstring
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/moscow-victory-parade-pictures-how-far-russia-fallen-3681308
Here was a parade much more worthy of significance and attendance. How the mighty have fallen.
JJE
The foreign dignitaries had other good protection at the parade. Here is the leader of Vietnam, To Lam and Mr Maduro of Venezuela and their respective wives. In the row behind them is a certain Corporal Andrey Grigoryev - wearing the Hero Star awarded (by Putin personally) after his hand-to-hand knife fight during combat operations became the stuff of legend (even Musk commented on the viral video). He is a Yakut of Sakha, father and tailor by trade when he is not soldiering:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gqh0LBeXYAARJ8v?format=jpg&name=large
Mr Kipling
More than 80% of German casualties were on the eastern front so we should all be celebrating and thanking the Soviet Union for kicking Hitler's butt. Russian's, Latvians, Georgians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. Well except the 60,000+ Ukrainians who joined the SS.
lincolnman
Students of history know what seeing Putin and Xi together really means...
it shows two leaders of countries that, one would be speaking German and the other Japanese, without the US support in defeating Nazi-ism and Imperial-ism during WW II...
As has been mentioned, Lend-Lease was a life-line to Russia, who could not have withstood the Nazi invasion without it...
As for China, while the US was defeating Japanese forces across the Pacific from 1942 onwards, China never won a significant battle against the Japanese, even as the war was ending in 1945...
So both tyrants can revel in their own self-congratulation - they're only there because the US saved them from a different form of despotism...
Fighto!
@ JJE -
A cursory look at the modern fascist Russian regime would indicate that, indeed, the Nazis did win.
Russians have nothing to be proud of nor celebrate. They should stop their despicable murdering of innocent children, women and civilians.
JJE
Revisionism. Pretending Lend-Lease was a lifeline, let alone a decisive factor in the war, is an exaggeration at the very least. Sure, it was a factor in the overall conflict - and an important one open to debate - but not the fairytale it is made out to be and it is now being 'weaponized' to historically distort the Soviet sacrifice, thus smearing the Russian Federation because of a contemporary ideological agenda.
There are many "what ifs" in warfare. For example, Moscow not falling in 1941 (before any form of Lend-Lease was there) or the failure of the following summer offensive (at Stalingrad) are far bigger fish in the kettle.
The China Theatre had the biggest IJA armies in it - thereby making it effectively a two-front conflict for Tokyo. Indeed, it was the USSR that inflicted the single biggest defeat on them in August 1945, basically precipitating the surrender.
Another good example - when the Battle of El Alamein transpired in late 1942, the Germans had 4 and half divisions in North Africa. At the very same time they had 190 divisions on the Eastern Front.
HopeSpringsEternal
Great news, very appropriate to celebrate end of WWII and honor the military, MANY countries do it in Europe and around world, including US on bases across the world, Congrats to Russia for their victory over Fascism!
Even better Pres. Trump called, Great Sign of Progress!
JJE
The typo was corrected immediately afterwards (at 6:11, one minute later).
Not everyone is uber superhuman like the Ukraine/NATO crowd. One sometimes makes a typing error.
isabelle
...by continuing to prosecute the largest war in Europe since World War II, through Putin's war of conquest in Ukraine.
Accused war criminal Vladimir Putin also conveniently forgot to mention that his country **originally sided with the Nazis** until Hitler double-crossed it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_Ribbentrop_Pact
No, we should all be thanking Hitler, for double-crossing his ally, the Soviet Union, and shooting himself in the foot.
After all, had it not been for Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets would've happily watched Nazi tanks roll across Europe, then divided the spoils with him later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact#Termination
TaiwanIsNotChina
Literally putting the Hero Star on a Toilet Theif. I guess this is what the russian federation has come to.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Khrushchev was clear that Lend-Lease was indispensable and said that Stalin believed so as well.
isabelle
Emperor Xi showing exactly whose side he's on here.
China professing to be "neutral" in the Ukraine war is laughable.
chatanista
Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged “warm words” and “congratulations on the occasion of our common holiday” through their aides
Good to see decency between the two Presidents prevailed here. Congratulations on the Red Army victory over Nazis are obviously appropriate, decent and common sense thing to do. 80% of Hitlers army fell on the Eastern front and Soviet Union suffered 27 million casualties. Staggering numbers. The importance of Allies help and the western front has also been much appreciated. Great.
The videos of the parade shows choreography and presentation was flawless, weather also turned out great. Very impressive celebration by all measures.
HopeSpringsEternal
Let's not forget, Trump's busy trying to take a 'neutral' position while trying to achieve peace in Ukraine. Politicians need to be flexible, like pretzels! But far less so in the case of Putin, a man of deep principles.
Let's hope for more peace and prosperity, learn the terrible lessons of WWII and put them into practice ASAP!
theFu
Nobody can or would try to understate the Russian efforts to end WW2. No other country gave so many lives. The entire world owes Russia thanks for this, but we don't owe them any land or hearts or minds.
The CCP trying to revise history doesn't work when the rest of the world actually knows their claims (as taught to Chinese students) are false. Mao Zedong announced that he was the leader in October 1945, AFTER WW2 had ended. In Dec 1949, the Kuomintang (know as the ROC to westerners) fled to Taiwan and ruled there. Neither the CCP nor the KMT were democracies or "first choices", but when you only have lemons, making lemonade is common.
The world knows that Communism/Marxism is great for the top 0.005% and sucks for almost everyone else. Communism can work in small groups, but scaling beyond 20-30 people always has failed with those in power abusing those not in power. I thought this was universally understood by all humans. Guess not.
Dragon
Stalin went on to build his gulags and imprison millions of his people. He killed more than 10 million Russians.
itsonlyrocknroll
Two despot dictators.
ICC judges have issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for heinous war crimes.
Xi Jinping accused of genocide against the Uyghurs, its people, its nation.
Celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany
The breathtaking irony, if not so offensive, so derogatory, for committing such extremely wicked, cruel acts
JJE
Appeared to be four generals present: two 3 stars and two 2 stars
JJE
Another esteemed American guest was present for the parade in Moscow - acclaimed filmmaker and free-thinker, the decent Mr. Oliver Stone:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GqftUVEbcAQ1xLC?format=jpg&name=large
JJE
...also note Mr Stone is respectfully wearing the Ribbon of Saint George on his coat left side.
chatanista
Emperor Xi showing exactly whose side he's on here.
China professing to be "neutral" in the Ukraine war is laughable.
China is neutral in Ukraine, like it or not. The only laughable thing are comments by those who can not find the decency to honor Russia's WW2 sacrifices and victory over Nazis which is what this article is about. It is not about China.
u_s__reamer
The Russian people drove the German armies back to where they came from at a terrible cost of over 20 million lives, part of which was the heavy price they also paid at the hands of their cruel Stalinist rulers whose suffocating legacy still lives on in Putin's murderous kleptocracy that unleashed a nazi-like war of aggression on their Ukrainian neighbors. Putin's mafioso regime is itself an insult to the memory of the Russian and Ukrainian dead of WW2.
Jimizo
Watching Tucker Carlson should come with the kind of health warnings you see on cigarette packets.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Xi basically declared he is against a ceasefire. I think Ukraine should declare war on China and draw out what this puppetmaster's position really is.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The IMF's loan to russia disappeared. Is it a coincidence Putin has such opulent palaces?
Underworld
JJE
Ah, Oliver “useful idiot” Stone. Truly indoctrinated.
Underworld
chatanista
Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged “warm words” and “congratulations on the occasion of our common holiday” through their aides
Why is it the common sense thing be decent to the author of so much death and destruction?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Armenia, and Latvia all gave more lives than russia as a percentage of population.
isabelle
Ha ha ha ha ha.
China is termed a "decisive enabler" of Putin's war of conquest, with good reason.
https://apnews.com/article/nato-china-pacific-washington-59876b88cad3ccf15cc5443912fe3d5b
And, for this reason, China will get no contracts in Ukraine's re-building, as "those who supported Russia will be excluded from the process."
https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/1068909.html
My comments highlight the laughable hypocrisy of Putin, who "celebrates" this victory, and "honors" those who served, by:
1) Doing exactly the same thing the Nazis did, in Ukraine
2) Refusing to acknowledge that his country originally sided with the Nazis and only fought them as it was double-crossed
China is literally covered in the article.
Underworld
HopeSpringsEternal
A murderous dictator is not a great leader.
Dragon
Vladimir Putin built his career on waging war. His career is steeped in blood.
Second Chechen war 1999-2000.
Invasion of Georgia 2008.
Invasion of Ukraine 2014.
Syria 2015-2025.
Kazakhstan 2022.
Ukraine 2022.
HopeSpringsEternal
So many US led wars in recent decades across the entire globe and yet these Presidents bare no responsibility for the death and destruction?
Far easier to just call someone a "murderous dictator" than be objective. Putin's standing his ground, war was brought to Ukraine by the foolish Biden Admin intent on expanding NATO eastward, utilizing Ukraine to do so.
People of Russia and most of the World believe it's the US that's the truly murderous war mongering country, post WWII. Sad reality, thankfully Pres. Trump on the scene to turn the page and chart a more peaceful path!
Dragon
Trump has increased bombings in Yemen and is prepared to attack Iran over its nuclear program. Continues to support Israel in Gaza and is prepared to empty it of Palestinians.
HopeSpringsEternal
One must remember MANY Russians were spread across the former Soviet Union in countries like Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakstan, etc. When these Russians came under attack, political persecution etc., Putin had to act.
It's not at all similar to US involvement across entire planet, from Asia to Central and South America to Africa and Europe, post WWII and with wars that were FAR larger in scale, involving MANY more deaths etc.
deanzaZZR
Jens Stoltenberg? 笑
China will get a piece of the rebuilding pie because, 1) it has the financial resources, 2) no other country can build infrastructure at the pace, scale and price effectiveness.
A trading country like China desires peace. Peace is good for business. (unlike the USA which makes money selling weapons).
Underworld
HopeSpringsEternal
Sure, George W. Bush. Responsible for pointless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Biden didn’t expand NATO and this war is driven by Putin’s imperialism not NATO.
Also, Putin has had his opponents murdered.
Sure. But Putin even surpasses Bush.
I doubt it. He’s fighting a war against the Houthis. And talks about bombing Iran.
JJE
Frequently airbrushed out of the new rewritten WWII history is the fact it was Poland which forcibly invaded the territory of a neighbor (yes, before Germany).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Czechoslovak_border_conflicts#Annexations_by_Poland_in_1938
Even more airbrushed is USSR opposition to this and the Western-signed Munich Agreement, which was the initial carve-up, literally inked in Adolf's house, on his desk in his private study.
Or the resulting French-German Non Aggression Pact of Dec 1938 (did that make them 'allies'?)
Important to observe this all gave Moscow little choice, with the infamous, but heavily distorted German-Soviet Non Aggression Pact being signed some 8 months later (some have incorrectly asserted this made them 'allies'). Also, noteworthy that Moscow concluded a non-aggression pact with Tokyo in April of 1941 (and we know that certainly didn't make them 'allies').