PNN – The commemoration ceremony of the 79th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Red Army over Nazi Germany in World War II was held with a parade of Russian soldiers in Moscow’s Red Square.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network from Russian media, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared in Red Square after welcoming his high-ranking guests at the Kremlin Palace and made a speech according to the tradition of the past years.
The presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Laos and Guinea-Bissau attended the ceremony at the invitation of their Russian counterparts.
This ritual started after the 10th ringing of the Kremlin bell and carrying the Russian national flags and the Soviet red flag during the victory in World War II.
Following this ritual, which was performed in cold and partly snowy weather, selected Russian military units paraded in front of Putin’s place as the supreme commander of the armed forces in this country.
According to the announcement of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, more than 9,000 people and 75 units of military equipment as well as aviation participated in this parade.
The display of intercontinental nuclear missile launchers known as Yars, which is capable of carrying several nuclear warheads and is said to be able to penetrate the defense shield of the United States and its allies, was interesting in this ceremony.
For this purpose, a number of Russian fighters also took off and flew the flag of their country in the sky of Moscow.
Before attending the ceremony, the President of Russia shook hands with the World War II veterans present on the platforms and had a short chat with them. At the end of this ceremony, while being accompanied by the presidents of the countries participating in this ceremony, he paid his respects to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of Russia.
The Victory Day parade was held for the first time on June 24, 1945 by order of Stalin, the commander of the Russian Armed Forces at the time, who later assumed the leadership of the Soviet Communist Party.
The official and definitive agreement to surrender to Nazi Germany was signed in the late hours of May 8, 1945 local time, which coincided with the morning of May 9, Moscow time. For this reason, May 8th is celebrated in Western Europe and May 9th in Russia as Victory Day.
On Thursday, Putin hosted the May 9 commemoration parade for the 21st time as the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces.
He appeared in Red Square for the first time as the second president of the Russian Federation on Victory Day in 2000. The 2008-2011 parades were hosted by Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and head of the Russian armed forces, with Putin, then prime minister, on the podium.
In addition to Russian officials and personalities, diplomatic representatives and military dependents of friendly countries, the main guests of this ceremony were veterans of World War II and Russian military special operations in Ukraine.
According to the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Moscow did not invite the ambassadors and officials of unfriendly countries to participate in this ritual for the third year in a row.
Maria Zakharova added: These countries have not been invited to this ceremony since 2022, because the governments of these countries have adopted an unfriendly policy.
Russians celebrated Victory Day in other regions of the world as well. Among them, the Russian Embassy in Tehran hosted a ceremony in this regard. The employees of Russian diplomatic missions and Russian organizations active in Iran and their family members participated in this ceremony, which was held under the title of “Immortal Regiment” march in the compound of the Russian Embassy. The students of the Russian Embassy School in Tehran performed a song titled “In the Name of Peace” on the occasion of this celebration.
On February 21, 2022, the President of Russia recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the Donbas region, criticizing the West’s inattention to Moscow’s security concerns.