A military parade to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War began on Moscow’s Red Square, TASS reports.
The parade began with the march of the banner group of the Preobrazhesnky Regiment’s Honor Guard’s battalion 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 and guests are watching the parade from the central reviewing stand on Red Square. Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu is reviewing the parade, which is commanded by Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief General of the Army Oleg Salyukov.
This year, Russia’s Victory Parade on Moscow’s Red Square involves over 12,000 troops, about 190 items of military and special hardware and 76 aircraft and helicopters.
The foot columns comprise 37 parade units that include officers, sergeants and soldiers of military units and formations, students from military universities, cadets of Suvorov infantry and Nakhimov naval military schools and cadet corps, Young Army Movement members and also units of the Emergencies Ministry, the National Guard and the Border Guard Troops of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
The legendary T-34 tanks will traditionally lead the mechanized column at the Victory Day Parade.
