27 April 2015

Which Central Asian Leaders Are Attending Russia's Military Parade?

April 25, 2015

May 9 is Victory Day throughout the former Soviet Union, commemorating the surrender of Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union viewed the German surrender at Reims, France on May 7, 1945 as preliminary, as it had no representative present who had the authority to accept the surrender. A subsequent surrender, signed in Berlin late on May 8 (which was already May 9 in Moscow) ended the war for the Soviet Union. This year’s schedule of military parades across Europe and the former Soviet Union mark 70 years since the end of the war.

The Moscow parade promises to be a lavish affair, featuring 16,000 soldiers and over 200 pieces of Russian military hardware. Similar parades will be held across Russia. According to Russian media the Moscow parade will include T-90 battle tanks, GAZ-2975 Tigr infantry mobility vehicles, BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, and 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, as well as an accompanying flying parade of MiG-29 and -31s, various Sukhoi Sus, and Yakovlev Yak-130s for the first time. The parade is also scheduled to feature for the first time three RS-24 Yars mobile ICBM launchers.

No comments: