The annual Victory Day, celebrating the victory over the Nazi Germany in 1945 and honouring the World War II soldiers, is a principal military holiday celebrated in Russia and other CIS countries. Although there are more than two months left for 9th May, the preparations for 75th jubilee anniversary already began a few weeks ago.
On 9th May, in Moscow and other main cities of Russia and CIS states, the Victory Day Parades are organized, being not only a celebration of the 1945 V-Day, but also an opportunity to present the armed forces to the general public, together with the wide range of used equipment.
The most important parade is, certainly, organized on Red Square – the central point of Russian capital city, facing the Kremlin walls. Both the President of Russia and the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces are always present there, usually with other high-rank politicians from CIS countries. More than 15,000 personnel of the Russian Armed Forces are usually participating in the central Victory Parade, together with their equipment. Several historical vehicles from World War II era and re-enacting troops may also be seen there.
The Russian Aerospace Forces are traditionally participating in this holiday, not only being present among the marching troops, but mostly by the massive flypast over Moscow and other cities, being the broad overview of the Aerospace Forces inventory.
In 2020, during the Moscow Victory Parade, 375 modern military vehicles and aircraft are expected to participate. They will be accompanied by a battalion of T-34 tanks and Su-100 self-propeller guns. More than 20 foreign armed forces were invited to join the 75th jubilee parade.
Obviously, the main celebration in Moscow, as well as the parade in the second largest Russian city, St. Petersburg, are widely known and even broadcasted live on television channels and also online. However, there are also several other parades organized across Russia, many of them are including the aviation component – and below we are mentioning a few of them.
It was already announced that the Victory Parade in Yekaterinburg would include the aviation component of twenty two. Among them, the spectators should expect L-410, Su-25, MiG-31BM and Su-34 aeroplanes (the latter will have its debut at Yekaterinburg parade) together with Mi-26 and Mi-8 helicopters. In addition, 13 modern ground vehicles will be presented during the parade, and 16 vehicles from the World War II years.
Another military aviation fly-pasts, being the part of Victory Day celebrations, were also announced for other cities located within the Central Military District, including Novosibirsk and Samara (where the Victory Day parades are organized), and also enhancing additional events in Kyzyl (Tuva Republic), Orenburg, Perm, Kansk and Krasnoyarsk.
For the first time in five years, the Russian Air Force will be present at the Victory Parade in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan. Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft and Mi-8MTSh ´Terminator´ helicopters, both based at Kant air force base, will fly over Bishkek on 9th May 2020.
In total, the 2020 Victory Day celebrations will be organized in more than 130 Russian cities, with the participation of 50,000 military personnel and more than 1,000 military vehicles. It is hoped that the weather would cooperate this year as, regrettably, the weather conditions on 9th May 2019 did not allowed the Russian Air Force to perform over Moscow.
Press materials issued by Министерство обороны Российской Федерации were used, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
