Russia holds scaled-back Victory Parade as concerns over Ukraine war intensify

Russia is holding its most restricted Victory Day parade in years on Saturday due to threats of attacks from Ukraine, where victory for Moscow’s forces is proving elusive more than four years after the start of the deadliest European conflict since World War II.

The May 9 parade on Red Square marks Russia’s most revered national holiday – a time to celebrate the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany and pay tribute to the 27 million Soviet citizens, including many Ukrainians, who perished.

Once used to showcase Russia’s military might, including its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, this year’s parade will not see any tanks or other military equipment rolling down the cobblestones of Red Square.

Soldiers will still march and cheer under the shadow of Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum, fighter planes will fly over the Kremlin towers and President Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech before laying flowers at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

‘In general, everything is proceeding as usual, with the exception of the demonstration of military equipment,’ Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov told journalists.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, warned that any attempt by kyiv to disrupt the event would result in a massive missile strike on the Ukrainian capital. Moscow has told foreign diplomats that they would have to evacuate staff from kyiv in the event of such an attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s actions on May 9 would depend on how the situation developed on Friday, accusing Moscow of violating its own ceasefire.

Moscow is defended by air defense belts and electronic barriers designed to disorient and shoot down drones and missiles approaching the capital, which with its surrounding region has a population of 22 million.

THE WAR IN UKRAINE HAUNTS THE RUSSIAN PARADE

After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Red Army eventually pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the Red Banner of Soviet Victory was raised on the Reichstag in May 1945.

Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender took effect at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, marked as ‘Victory in Europe Day’ by Britain, the United States and France. In Moscow, it was already May 9, which became the ‘Victory Day’ of the Soviet Union in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

But this year’s parade comes in a climate of anxiety in Moscow about the final outcome of the conflict in Ukraine.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, left swaths of Ukraine in ruins and drained Russia’s economy of $3 trillion, while relations with Europe are at their lowest since the darkest hours of the Cold War.

‘The crisis continues to gradually deepen, but any sudden movement can send the economy (and not just the economy) into a tailspin,’ imprisoned pro-war Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who has criticized the Kremlin for its conduct of the war, said on Telegram.

Girkin, a former Federal Security Service officer, used a naval analogy to argue that Russian leaders feared being thrown out of their cabins more than being shipwrecked.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed reports from CNN and other Western media that Putin’s protection had been increased over fears of a coup or assassination. Russian officials have dismissed the conspiracy rumors as absurd.

Only 21 years ago, however, Putin sat alongside President George W. Bush at the Moscow parade, along with Frenchman Jacques Chirac and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

This year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim and Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith will be present.