The Victory Parade is staged in Red Square in Moscow, the powerful military parade to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, as the Russians call the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War. In addition to military equipment, 9 thousand soldiers take part in the parade, one thousand of whom participated in the so-called ‘special military operation’, the invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin was present, arriving accompanied by a small group of heads of state (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Laos and Guinea-Bissau). After the parade, Putin and his guests will lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, then a reception will be held in the Kremlin.
“Russia will do everything to avoid a global conflict,” the Russian president said in his speech, in which he said that “our strategic forces are always ready” and that “we will not allow anyone to threaten us.” Putin also said that “Russia is going through a difficult period”, but that “the future of the motherland depends on us”. Putin called the Russian soldiers participating in the invasion of Ukraine “heroes”, as he did when he was sworn in for his fifth term as president of the Russian Federation.
Celebrating the victory over the Nazis, Putin said that “we see how the truth about the Second World War is distorted”, the West would like to erase the memory of the Russians’ fight against Nazism, “but we will never, ever forget”. According to Putin, “revanchism, mockery of history and the desire to justify today’s followers of the Nazis” are part of the “common policy of Western elites aimed at fueling new regional conflicts, inter-ethnic and inter-religious enmities and discouraging sovereign and independent centers of world development”.
