Cadets marched instead of combat unitsA military parade was held in Moscow to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Taking into account the detour of the parade calculations by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov, as well as the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the solemn event on Red Square lasted less than 50 minutes.
Such a short time is explained by the number of parade calculations reduced to 30 and the total number of military personnel involved up to 8 thousand. The air part of the parade was abandoned altogether, and not because of the weather: the pilots did not even train.
The composition of self-propelled military equipment was reduced to a reasonable minimum. The mechanized column was headed by a restored copy of the T-34–85 medium tank under the battle banner of the 1st Guards Red Banner Tank Army. The only example of tracked vehicles was followed by modern wheeled armored vehicles "Spartak" and 3-STS "Akhmat", designed to transport personnel in the zone of a special military operation (SVO). Made on the platforms of army trucks "KamAZ" and "Ural", they are distinguished by reinforced armor protection. The first batches entered the active army a year ago, but until now they have not been demonstrated at parades.
Among the new models of equipment of the Ground Forces, the Tiger-M armored vehicles of the improved SVN design, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers and wheeled infantry fighting vehicles on the Boomerang platform were noted.
The self-propelled column also included combat vehicles of the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems and Iskander-M tactical strike complexes from the military units involved in the special operation. And the largest participants of the parade were self-propelled launchers of the Yars system from the 54th Guards Division of the Strategic Missile Forces. It was noted that the Yars intercontinental missiles form the basis of the mobile grouping of the Russian nuclear deterrent forces.
The number of servicemen gathered for the parade in Moscow turned out to be significantly less than in previous years, mainly due to the lack of combat units. Instead, the bulk of the walking column consisted of college cadets, including a consolidated women's battalion (representatives of six military educational institutions), as well as Kuban and Don Cossacks. It was noted that 18 thousand representatives of the Cossacks volunteered in the SVO zone, of which about 900 were awarded government awards. Among the participants of the parade on Red Square were 530 participants of the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine. 7 thousand invitees, mostly combat veterans, were accommodated in the stands.
Among the distinguished foreign guests were the Presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the Prime Minister of Armenia. After the parade, they, along with Vladimir Putin, traditionally walked past the corner Arsenal Tower of the Kremlin to the Grave of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden, where they laid flowers at the Eternal Flame.
Perhaps the most important outcome of the current parade in Moscow can be considered, albeit short, but calm, without excesses, its holding in a difficult international situation, against the background of heavy fighting in the SVO zone. This was facilitated by additional security measures taken in the capital after the attack of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the Kremlin on the night of May 3. Then the roof of the Senate Palace suffered from the aerial detonation of drones and the subsequent fall of their burning debris. The press service of the Russian president regarded the incident as an "attempt to strike" at the Kremlin residence of the head of state, undertaken by the Kiev regime, and as a "planned terrorist action" on the eve of Victory Day. Putin himself has not spoken out about the recent drone attacks.