Russia holds Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. A military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War took place on Moscow’s Red Square.

The parade began with a march of the banner group of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Honor Guard’s unit carrying the Russian national flag and the legendary Victory Banner across Red Square. The Victory Banner was hoisted over the Reichstag by soldiers of the 150th Idritskaya Rifle Division in May 1945.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, war veterans, guests and foreign leaders watched the parade from the central reviewing stand on Red Square. Defense Minister Andrey Belousov reviewed the parade, which was commanded by Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief General of the Army Oleg Salyukov.

The Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square was attended by leaders of 27 foreign states, among them China’s President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Ethiopian President Taye Atske Selassie, President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo and other foreign dignitaries.

Last year, Russia’s Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square involved over 9,000 troops, 61 weapons systems and 15 combat aircraft. This year, parade units from 13 countries took part in the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square. The military contingents from CIS states included parade units from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Troops from friendly states comprised parade units from Vietnam, Egypt, China, Laos, Mongolia and Myanmar.

This year, the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square involved over 11,000 troops, including 1,500 combatants of the special military operation and 183 WWII and advanced weapons systems.

The foot columns of Russian troops at the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square comprised regiments and battalions of the armed services and military branches, parade units from Suvorov infantry and Nakhimov naval, cadet and military musical schools, members of the Young Army youth movement, female service members, Cossacks, combatants of the special military operation and a consolidated military band.

Legendary WWII T-34 tanks, a major symbol of the Victory, traditionally led the mechanized column during the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square. They were followed by a group of light wheeled equipment that included Tigr-M and VPK-Ural multirole armored vehicles and Linza medevac vehicles. After that, BMP-2 and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles with special combat modules, T-72B3M, T-80BVM and T-90M Proryv main battle tanks rolled through Red Square.

Advanced artillery weapons at the Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square included Msta-S howitzers, Giatsint-K and Malva artillery guns. They were followed by Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems and TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrowers.

For the first time, a column of unmanned systems troops took part in the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square. The column comprised mounted Orlan-10 reconnaissance and Orlan-30 surveillance/guidance UAVs, ZALA, Lancet, Garpiya and Geran combat drones.

Russia’s Missile Troops and Strategic Missile Force were represented at the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square by Iskander-M tactical missile systems, S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile launchers and Yars road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems. The final column of military hardware included Bumerang wheeled armored personnel carriers.

The military parade ended with a fly-past of combat aircraft over Moscow’s Red Square. The aerobatic groups Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) flying Su-30SM fighter jets and Strizhi (Swifts) on MiG-29 jets performed the Kubinka Diamond stunt over the center of Moscow. They were followed by six Su-25 attack aircraft that released fumes in the colors of the Russian national flag.

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