Putin attends Belgrade liberation parade

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

Serbia feted Russia's Vladimir Putin with troops, tanks and fighter-jets on Thursday (October 26) to mark seven decades since the Red Army liberated Belgrade, balancing its ambitions of European integration with enduring reverence for a big-power ally deeply at odds with the West.

The display of military pomp, at a moment when the West says Russian troops are making war in Ukraine, laid bare the balancing act that Serbia - a candidate for membership of the European Union - has been forced into by a crisis recalling the Cold War.

It demonstrated, too, Russia's influence in the Balkans, which like much of Eastern Europe is dependent on Russian gas.

Before thousands of onlookers, more than 3,000 soldiers marched in Belgrade's first military parade since 1985, when it was the capital of socialist Yugoslavia. Tanks rumbled behind them and jets tore through the rainy skies above.

Putin looked on, having received Serbia's highest