Russia cannot stop celebrating Victory Day, because it is part of its current DNA, but in next month’s military parade there will be no presence of heavy weaponry and the tanks and combat vehicles will not clatter as on other occasions over the cobblestones of Moscow’s Red Square during the traditional military parade.
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In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense justified this decision due to the situation of the military operations of the war in Ukraine.
“Personnel from higher military educational institutions and representatives of all branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will take part in the parade,” Defense said Tuesday night. In the announcement, it indicated that several military schools, cadet corps, “nor the column of military equipment, will not participate, in relation to the current situation of the operations” on the battlefield.
No tanks or missiles in Red Square
This Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained that on May 9, when the 81st anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II is commemorated, neither tanks nor missile batteries will be displayed in Red Square. With this measure, he summarized, the aim is to minimize the danger in a context of “terrorist threat,” which Moscow attributes to Ukraine.
“The Kyiv regime, which loses ground on the battlefield every day, has now launched into terrorist activity. Therefore, in the context of this terrorist threat, of course, all measures are being taken to minimize the danger,” said the press chief of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference.
Aviation will participate in the military parade. Su-25 combat aircraft and aerobatic teams will fly over Red Square and, as usual, “will paint the Moscow sky with the colors of the Russian flag,” said Defense.
In recent weeks, Russian military bloggers had suggested that Moscow might be considering suspending this event, or perhaps postponing it, as happened in 2020, the year of the coronavirus pandemic.
To support this position, bloggers recalled that, among others, the Flamingo cruise missiles developed by the Ukrainian military industry have a range of 3,000 kilometers. With them, the Ukrainian army has already reached targets in the Ural Mountains and in the Samara oblast. Moscow is 450 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The most important celebration for Russians is an annual event since 1995
Since 1995, four years after the end of the USSR, the parade has been held annually on Victory Day, when then Russian President Boris Yeltsin decided to make habitual pomp that in Soviet times was reserved for round dates. In Putin’s era, the celebration has taken on patriotic tones.
The victory of the Red Army and the defense of the country after the invasion of Hitler’s troops are interpreted by the authorities as heroic actions. Attempts have also been made to exalt the figure of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator during the confrontation.
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These feelings have intensified coinciding with the war in Ukraine. That is why suspending the most important event of Russia’s most sacred celebration could damage the Kremlin’s image, precisely at a time when polls indicate that Putin’s popularity is declining.
Preliminary rehearsals suspended
In recent months, Ukrainian drones have successfully attacked different points in Russian territory. Besides the Urals, in March they reached the Russian oil export ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, in the Baltic Sea, and this April a refinery in Tuapse, a city on the Black Sea coast.
Given this situation, several cities, including Moscow, have suspended some of the rehearsals usually held prior to the Victory Day parade.
To leave no doubt, in addition to the Ministry of Defense’s message, Peskov assured that there “will be” a parade in Red Square, “although shortened.” The military parade passing through central Moscow will be composed mainly of military personnel on foot. But the roar of tanks, anti-aircraft batteries, or intercontinental missiles, whose presence seemed sacred for years, will be missing.
Security reasons have also been cited to make changes or even suspend military parades in other cities across Russia’s vast geography.
In Saint Petersburg the military parade will also be “reduced” and in Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad it has been canceled
The media outlet Fontanka.ru lamented this Wednesday that in Saint Petersburg, the country’s second city, neither heavy weaponry nor the much-celebrated mechanized column, with combat vehicles like the T-34, a legendary Soviet tank widely used in the Great Patriotic War, the name given here to the part of World War II they fought in, will be seen.
In Izhevsk, capital of the Udmurt Republic (Volga), there will be no modern heavy weaponry in the military parade, although there will be historical vehicles. “To ensure the safety of residents,” the regional Anti-Terrorism Committee has suspended several events, such as the May Day demonstration or the “Immortal Regiment” march, which is usually held after the Victory parade and where attendees carry photos of their relatives who fought against Nazi Germany.
In Nizhny Novgorod, Russia’s seventh-largest city by population, the military parade has been suspended and the “Immortal Regiment” march will be held online, a modality implemented during the pandemic. There will also be no parade in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
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