A military parade has begun in Moscow in honor of the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War. The invitation of Russian President Putin was accepted this year by, among others, the presidents of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Laos, Guinea Bissau, as well as the traditionally Belarusian leader Lukashenko.
Putin on the tribune at a military parade in Moscow, surrounded by war veterans. Photo: Ria Kremlinpool
“In the West, they would like to forget the results of the Second World War,” Putin said from the podium. “The West is trying to distort the truth about the Second World War, because it hinders the implementation of colonial policies… The West is trying to unleash conflicts in the world, hatred between nations, hinder the development of sovereign centers.”
Putin also emphasized that “Russia has never reduced the importance of the Western Front and the help of allies, Russia values the forces that fought against Nazism, it will not forget the traditions of the alliance”.
On the tribune next to Putin sits a famous veteran, Colonel Yevgeny Kuropatkov, who participated in the famous parade in 1945. He will be 101 years old in July. Sniper Alexandra Alyošina sits to the left of the president. She went to the front when she was seventeen.
The weather is extremely cold in Moscow today, even snowflakes have appeared.
Parades on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the end of the war (in Russia it is celebrated a day later than in Europe) will take place in twenty-five Russian cities, with the participation of around 150 thousand people and two and a half thousand types of military equipment. (Novaya Gazeta Europa)