THOUSANDS OF Russian troops are in intensive training as the Kremlin prepares to resurrect full-scale military parades on Red Square for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

A scale model of the famous cobbled square - accurate to within one metre - has been built at a special base outside Moscow and state media has broadcast images of elite soldiers practising their famous goose step.

The parade on May 9, Russia's Victory Day commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, will come just two days after Dmitri Medvedev is sworn in as President Vladimir Putin's successor.

Analysts say the display of military might is designed to send a message to the West: Russia's new assertive foreign policy will continue under Medvedev.

It will be the first time since 1990 that the Red Army's successor has paraded armoured units and missiles on the square, once a regular staple of Soviet propaganda.

More than 100 armoured vehicles will participate, including T-90 heavy battle tanks, personnel carriers, surface-to-air missiles, and, if Russian media reports are to be believed, the new Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile.

Around 6000 soldiers and officers will march while jets trace the Russian flag in the sky overhead. The line-up will include the latest MiG and Sukhoi fighters, Tupolev strategic bombers and the world's biggest transport plane.

A similar parade will take place simultaneously in St Petersburg, Putin's home city, on Palace Square by the world-famous Hermitage Museum - also for the first time in 17 years. The first such event on Red Square was held in 1945 under Josef Stalin, who looked on as the defeated Wehrmacht's standards were thrown at his feet.

Sergei Mironov, a close ally of Putin and chairman of the upper house of parliament, said the parade would send an important signal. "Russians should see that the country has such might that nobody from the outside should even think about some aggression or some military action against Russia," he said.

The decision to revive the parades was taken by Putin, who is expected to become Medvedev's prime minister and consequently continue to wield huge influence. The Kremlin hopes they will boost Russians' feeling of patriotism and feed into a renewed sense of national pride that has accompanied Putin's eight-year stint as president.

Medvedev has been presented as a more liberal version of Putin, though it is unclear whether this is a sleight of hand by his spin doctors.

In keeping with his softer image, Medvedev has urged people not to get the wrong idea. "These parades are symbols," he said. "One should not recall the tall missiles towed through Red Square 20 to 25 years ago."

But the man who gifted him his job and who many think will remain in charge - at least initially - favours a tougher brand of rhetoric. Putin has accused the US and Nato of starting a new arms race and has promised an appropriate response, with the armed forces having become much more active on his watch.

The air force has resumed regular long-distance patrols over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans, while the navy has made its first major sortie into the Mediterranean since the Soviet era amid high-level talk of the Kremlin opening naval bases in Syria. The army, meanwhile, has begun to hold much more regular exercises, buoyed by a four-fold increase in defence spending.

Experts say appearances can be deceptive, though. So little money has been spent on the military since the Soviet collapse that it will take years to reverse the rot, they claim.

Some Russian media commentators quip that it would be more truthful to display oil derricks on Red Square since they are the real source of the Kremlin's power, with prices at historic highs. Russia is making around $1 billion a day from the new oil rush.

Independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told Russia's REN TV that the world and the Russian people were being sold a myth. "Our armed forces are in no way ready to carry out any offensive operations," he said during an on-air debate last month.

The show's presenter agreed, asking: "Should we not immediately start resolving this problem rather than marvel at spectacular parades?,"he asked.

The parades have also alarmed architectural conservationists, who are worried that vibrations from heavy military vehicles could damage historic buildings in Moscow and St Petersburg.

The army has urged calm. No heavy tanks will take part in the St Petersburg parade, it has promised, while in Moscow tank tracks will be coated with rubber to reduce the risk of damage.