Yuri Kadobnov / AFP - Getty Images

Russian military jets fly above St. Basil's cathedral in Moscow's Red Square on May 9, 2013, during Russia's Victory Day parade.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, center right, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center left, watch the Victory Day Parade in Red Square on May 9, 2013.

Ivan Sekretarev / AP

In a haze of exhaust fumes, Russian self-propelled howitzers move across Red Square on May 9, 2013.

Fighter jets screamed over Red Square and heavy tanks rumbled over its cobblestones as Russia flexed its military muscle on the 68th anniversary of its costly victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the annual military parade in Moscow that Russia will be a guarantor of world security. Putin's short speech Thursday came at the culmination of Victory Day, Russia's most important secular holiday, which honors the country's huge military and civilian losses. 

Commemorative events were also held in other former Soviet states and in Jerusalem.

-- Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press

Efrem Lukatsky / AP

Cadets of the Ukrainian Military academy preparing to celebrate the anniversary of victory over the Nazis at a memorial to World War II veterans in a park in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 9, 2013.

Andrey Smirnov / AFP - Getty Images

Russian World War II veterans, former navy sailors, celebrate Victory Day at their traditional veterans' meeting in Gorky park in central Moscow on May 9, 2013.

Abir Sultan / EPA

A Jewish veteran accompanied by his grandson takes part in a parade marking the 68th anniversary of the victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany in Jerusalem, Israel, on May 9, 2013.

Ivan Sekretarev / AP

Russian soldiers march across Red Square on May 9, 2013.

David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters

Veterans chat during a Victory Day celebration in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 9, 2013.

Dumitru Doru / EPA

A young girl lays flowers at the grave of fallen soldiers during celebrations to mark the 68th anniversary of Victory Day in Chisinau, Moldova, on May 9, 2013.

Sergey Dolzhenko / EPA

World War II-era military vehicles parade in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, on May 9, 2013.

Related:

Stories of Jewish Red Army vets just coming to light

Holocaust survivors remember the horrors of Buchenwald

In a grand display, Russian soldiers re-enact historic World War II march

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

Vladimir Samsonov, 59, a resident from the Siberian town of Zheleznogorsk and a member of the Cryophil winter swimmers club, sunbathes as he sits on an ice floe on the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on April 26, 2013.

Alexsey Druginyn / Kremlin Pool - RIA Novosti via EPA

The Kremlin today released a series of photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin gamboling in the snow with his dogs Yume, left, and Buffy at his countryside residence outside Moscow.

Buffy, a Karakachan Bulgarian shepherd, was presented to Putin by his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov in 2010. A 5-year-old boy was reported to have won a competition to find a name for the dog.

Yume, an Akita Inu, was gifted to Putin by Japan's Akita Prefecture as thanks for Russia's help during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Yume, whose name means "Dream" in Japanese, will be one year old on April 24, according to Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.

Putin's love of dogs is well-documented, and it is even said that he has used his Labrador, Koni, to intimidate German Chancellor Angela Merkel during negotiations.

Editor's note:  This post has been corrected to reflect that these photos were taken on March 24, and not as previously stated on April 10. They were released by the Kremlin today.

Alexsey Druginyn / Kremlin Pool - RIA Novosti via EPA

Vladimir Putin walks with Buffy at his countryside residence, Novo-Ogariovo, on March 24, 2013.

Alexsey Druginyn / Kremlin Pool - RIA Novosti via Reuters

Related:

'Isolated' Medvedev mans the office as protests dog Putin's European trip

Putin takes to sky to lead flight of cranes

Vladimir Putin, your friendly local dentist

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:02 PM EDT

Dmitry Astakhov / Ria Novosti via Reuters

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stands in his office in Moscow on April 9, 2013, before an interview with a Russian television channel.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin continued a European trip marked by protest, his successor as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was left looking rather wistful at his office back in Moscow Tuesday.

Since Putin and Medvedev swapped jobs in May last year, the latter has found himself out of the limelight and has even found time to indulge his passion for photography.

NPR's Moscow correspondent Corey Flintoff reported earlier this month that Medvedev appears increasingly isolated from the center of power and may have been the target of a campaign to wreck his reputation.

Putin, who was confronted by topless protesters in Germany on Monday, faced further demonstrations in the Netherlands, where 1,000 gay rights activists waved pink and orange balloons and blasted out dance music to condemn Russia's treatment of homosexuals. 

AFP - Getty Images, RIA Novosti via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a busy day Monday: (clockwise from top left) Sitting in a Volkswagen XL 1 Hybrid car in Hanover, Germany; laughing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel; arriving at Schiphol airport in The Netherlands; drinking a toast with Dutch Queen Beatrix at the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam.

Robin Utrecht / EPA

Demonstrators participate in a protest near the National Maritime Museum, where Putin was having dinner, in Amsterdam on April 8, 2013. The protesters were denouncing a so-called 'homosexual propaganda ban' in Russia which was enacted in January.

Previously on PhotoBlog: On holiday with Putin and Medvedev

Jochen Luebke / EPA

An eye-opening experience for Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) as he is confronted by a topless demonstrator during a tour of the Hanover Fair in Hanover, Germany, on April 8, 2013. He was accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (center right) and Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn (extreme right).

Russian President Vladimir Putin laughed off a protest against him by topless women in Germany on Monday, joking that he liked what he had seen while sharply rebuffing German criticism of his human rights record.

Three members of the women's rights group Femen, which has staged protests against Russia's detention of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot around Europe, disrupted his visit to a trade fair in the German city of Hanover focusing on Russian business.

They stripped to the waist and shouted slogans calling the Russian leader a "dictator" before being covered up and bundled away by security men.

Julian Schultenschulte / EPA

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchange glances after the incident involving topless demonstrators.

Jochen Luebke / EPA

Security staff stop another topless demonstrator at the Volkswagen stand at the Hanover Fair.

"Regarding this performance, I liked it," grinned Putin at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, adding that it had helped to promote the trade fair though he suggested that the security men could have been "gentler".

"I did not catch what they were shouting, I did not even see if they were blondes, brunettes or chestnut-haired ... I don't see anything terrible in (the protest), though I think ... it is better to be dressed if one wants to discuss political matters." Read the full story.

Jochen Luebke / AFP - Getty Images

A demonstrator is held by security staff.

Related:

Topless feminist confronts Russian patriarch

Putin awards biker buddy 'The Surgeon' with medal

Putin takes to sky to lead flight of cranes

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 8, 2013 9:12 AM EDT

Kazbek Vakhayev / EPA

Residents and firefighters watch flames rising from the burning 'Grozny City' luxury apartment tower in Grozny, Chechen Republic, Russia, April 3, 2013.

AFP - A fire raged in a 40-storey skyscraper in the Chechnya capital Grozny on Wednesday, a building which is a centrepiece of a drive by local authorities to promote the city as a glitzy and modern hub.

Musa Sadulayev / AP

A local resident makes photos with a mobile phone of a fire in a high-rise apartment building in provincial capital Grozny, Russia, April 3, 2013.

"We have no reports of casualties... The fire is currently spreading across the building's facade via the plastic outer panels," the spokesman for the North Caucasus regional branch of the Emergency Situations ministry, Kantemir Davydov, told the Interfax news agency.

A witness photograph posted on Twitter showed flames and smoke pouring from the building in the Grozny-City complex named the Olympus tower, which is topped by a giant clock face and stands 145 metres (475 feet) tall. Full Story

Mikhail Klimentyev / AFP - Getty Images

Russia's President Vladimir Putin looks at the leader of Nochniye Volki (the Night Wolves) biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov, also known as Khirurg (the Surgeon), after awarding him at a meeting with members of the Military History Society in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, on March 14.

Mikhail Klimentyev / AFP - Getty Images

Russia's President Vladimir Putin hands a medal to the leader of Nochniye Volki (the Night Wolves) biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov, also known as Khirurg (the Surgeon).

Sergei Karpukhin / AFP - Getty Images, file

Vladimir Putin, then Russian Prime Minister, rides a Harley Davidson Lehman Trike together with the leader of Nochniye Volki (the Night Wolves) biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov, also known as Khirurg (the Surgeon), during Putin's visit to Russian and Ukrainian motorbikers at their camp near Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea, on July 24, 2009.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin awarded a medal to Alexander 'the Surgeon' Zaldostanov, the leader of the Nochniye Volki (Night Wolves) biker group. He presented 'the Surgeon' with the medal after meeting with the Military History Society on Thursday in Moscow. As prime minister, Putin visited the Nochniye Volki's club in 2009 before they participated in a bike show. Putin has since made public appearances with 'the Surgeon' each year, going out for rides together on their bikes.

Related links:

• What did Putin say? Photo sparks online speculation
• Russian Orthodox Church apologizes for photoshopping patriarch's expensive watch
• Russia's Putin takes to sky to lead flight of cranes

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

Alexander Yushkov, 49, lights a blowtorch to warm up the engine of his self-made three-wheeled cross-country vehicle called "Bolivar," on March 11, 2013.

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

Yushkov drives his self-made vehicle near the frozen Mana river in a remote taiga area, some 37 miles southeast of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on March 11, 2013.

 Alexander Yushkov, 49, a boiler room operator in a local mining company, has made a three-wheeler called "Bolivar." Yushkov uses it for off-road travel across the taiga through all possible weather conditions near the frozen Mana river in a remote taiga area, some 37 miles southeast of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. The vehicle was made by modifying and reconstructing a 1971 Soviet made "Izh Planeta" motorcycle.

-- Reuters

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

Yushkov modifies a truck tire for use on his self-made three-wheeled cross-country vehicle, on March 11, 2013.

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

Yushkov drives his self-made three-wheeled cross-country vehicle in the village of Ovsyanka, on March 11, 2013.

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

Yushkov makes tea after driving to his self-built hunting lodge river in a remote taiga area, outside of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on March 11, 2013.

Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

Yushkov drives his self-made three-wheeled cross-country vehicle along the frozen Mana river, on March 11, 2013.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Police officers stand near an empty defendant's cage in a courtroom in Moscow on March 11, 2013. The court postponed the trial of Sergei Magnitsky, a dead lawyer who accused law-enforcement authorities of massive corruption and whose case sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow.

Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters

Flowers lie near the grave of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow on March 11, 2013.

Journalists crowded into a packed Moscow courtroom on Monday to witness a legal first: the first prosecution of a dead person in Russian history. But the case was postponed as the absence of defendant Sergei Magnitsky — who died in 2009 — was compounded by the non-appearance of his legal team.

Magnitsky is charged with tax evasion and fraud — similar to accusations that he had leveled against police and tax officials — in a case that sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow when Congress passed a law named after Magnitsky.

"The defense team ... believes that they have not yet fully acquainted themselves with the 60 volumes of case materials,"  Judge Igor Alisov said, looking down on the barred cage usually reserved for the accused and the empty seats where Magnitsky's lawyers should have sat. Alisov postponed the trial until March 22.

-- Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images

Workers cordon off a leaning building in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday. The three-story apartment building under construction began leaning yesterday after a tunnel being built for the 2014 Winter Olympics collapsed nearby, local media said. There were no casualties reported. With the Olympics less than a year away, construction is transforming Sochi.

Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images

 Previously on PhotoBlog:

Grave interruption: Building around a tomb in China
China tears down house in middle of highway after owner agrees to demolition

Slideshow: Sochi 2014

Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images

The Winter Olympics arrive in Sochi on Feb. 7, 2014. A look at how the Russian city is shaping up for its moment in the spotlight.

Launch slideshow

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Ice sculptures constructed for the celebration of Orthodox Epiphany stand on the Lena river, outside Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia, on Jan. 17. The coldest temperatures in the northern hemisphere have been recorded in Sakha, in the Oymyakon valley, where, according to the United Kingdom Met Office, a temperature of -90 degrees Fahrenheit was registered in 1933 - the coldest on record in the northern hemisphere since the beginning of the 20th century. Yet despite the harsh climate, people live in the valley, and the area is equipped with schools, a post office, a bank and even an airport runway.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Ruslan, 35, loads blocks of ice onto a truck outside Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia, on Jan. 17.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

A man takes a drink in the cabin of his truck in the village of Ytyk-Kyuyol in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia on Jan. 19.

By Maxim Shemetov, Reuters

One loses all bearings when faced with the shroud of white that obscures all things mid January in the Siberian city of Yakutsk. Only the traffic lights and gas pipelines overhanging the roads help you to find your way. Wrapped in frosty fog, the city life seems frozen in a sleepy half-light. It is -54 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

A man takes a dip in the icy waters of the Lena River inside a tent to celebrate Orthodox Epiphany outside Yakutsk, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia, on Jan. 18.

The Oymyakon valley, the Pole of the Cold, is the coldest known place in the Northern hemisphere. Thermometers registered a record chill of -88 degrees Fahrenheit in 1933, shortly after weather monitoring began here in the end of the 1920s.

And yet, here are schools, a post office, a bank, even an airport runway (albeit one that is open only in the summer) – all the trappings of a civilized life in the valley’s center at Tomtor. I could not help asking local people how they carried on a normal semblance of life in such extreme conditions. Sergey Zverev, a smiling villager in his 40s, said class was cancelled once when he was a school boy because the air temperatures had dropped to -85F. To celebrate he and his classmates got together to play football on the icy streets.

Read the full story on Reuters' Photographers Blog.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

The roof of a house is covered with snow in the village of Tomtor in the Oymyakon valley in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia, on Jan. 24.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

A girl poses in the village of Oymyakon, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia, on Jan. 26.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Sergei Burtsev, 41, a meteorologist, prepares to launch a weather balloon in the village of Tomtor in the Oymyakon valley, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia, on Jan. 30.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

A car drives through the snow at night near Vostochnaya meteorological station in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia, on Jan. 20.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Russian train brings medical care to remote areas of Siberia
• Plane crashes, breaks up into pieces and catches fire in Siberia - eleven survive
• Residents of remote village vote early in Russia election
• Russian woman is lone female blacksmith in her region of Siberia