User:Ranepalover/Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory

The 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory was celebrated in Russia on June 24. The celebration must have been held on May 9 but was eventually postponed due to coronavirus pandemic. The new date was not random: on June 24, 1945, Soviet Union held the first post-war parade on Red Square.

The main part of the celebration was a big military parade. Despite the coronavirus spreading, over 14,000 military personnel, including parade formations from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Serbia, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, were engaged. Sergey Shoygu, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, claimed that soldiers who were admitted to take part were immune from COVID-19 and did not have any symptoms of it. Rehearsals of the parade took place using masks and medical gloves.

One of the highlights of the parade was the speech of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. He greeted compatriots, veterans and foreign guests and congratulated them with the Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The speech about the importance of this day was given. The President also pointed out that we must protect the main truth about war and should not let that happen ever again. He ended his speech declaring,

“Glory to the generation that defeated Nazism!

Glory to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War!

Hoorah!”

Later that night, at 23:00 Moscow Time UTC+3, there was a big salute.

Saint Petersburg, also known as the "Cultural Capital of Russia", had the Military Parade the same exact day. The city administration recommended to remember about COVID-19 spreading and to watch the parade online.

Municipality administrations of some cities decided not to conduct any parades on June 24 owing to coronavirus restrictions. For instance, Yaroslavl, Kursk, Perm and Belgorod did not have military parades that day.