President Putin to watch military parade in Red Square

Russia is marking the 69th anniversary of the victory in World War II, which is widely referred to in Russia and other former Soviet republics as the Great Patriotic Was of 1941 to 1945.

More than 11,000 soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces, law enforcement agencies, cadets of military colleges and universities, as well as cadets of junior Army and Navy schools will take part in the traditional Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square. The troops will be reviewed by Defense Minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu.

The parade will take commands from Colonel-General Oleg Salyukov, the Chief Commander of Ground Troops.

By tradition, President Vladimir Putin, who is Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, will attend the parade, which will be covered this year by more than 600 reporters.

Like in the previous years, the parade consists this year of a march-past, a motorized display and the aerial exhibition. It has a novelty this year - the march-past of the mounted equestrian escort of the Presidential regiment.

The motorized display includes 151 vehicles and units of technology and the aerial display will be performed by 68 aircraft and helicopters.

Military parades will also be held in eight urban centers bearing the title of ‘hero-cities’ - Sevastopol, Kerch, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Murmansk, Tula, Novorossiysk, Volgograd - as well as in the sixteen cities where the staffs of military districts, fleets, combined arms armies, and the Caspian flotilla are located.