Russia marked the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with a large-scale military parade on Red Square on Friday, attended by many foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Putin warmly welcomes guests
Before the start of the military parade on Red Square, Putin personally met with foreign leaders invited to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Victory Day as guests in the Grand Kremlin Palace.
The heads of delegations entered the hall one by one, and the Russian leader shook hands with each of them. Putin greeted the heads of delegations from Armenia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Belarus, Abkhazia and others.
The President of the Republic of Serbia, Milorad Dodik, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traoré, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, Abkhaz leader Badr Gunba, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, and Chinese President Xi Jinping took their places in the ceremonial parade.
Five MEPs from Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Cyprus visited Moscow for the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, according to the newspaper Der Spiegel.
The German delegation includes European politicians Ruth Firmanich and Michael von der Schulenburg, who represent the left-wing party Sandra Wagenknecht’s Alliance in their home country. The names of the others have not been disclosed.
Armenian veterans of the Second World War Rosalia Abgaryan, Nerses Simonyan, Khachik Ovakimyan and Volodya Gspoyan are also currently in Red Square in Moscow. They watched the Victory Day parade from the stands next to Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan and Belarusian President Lukashenko.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian Armed Forces were providing the necessary security measures for the 80th anniversary of Victory Day celebrations. He stressed that not only the Russian military but also the special services were taking all necessary measures to ensure that the event passed peacefully.
President’s speech on the Victory Day anniversary
Vladimir Putin concluded his speech at the Victory Day parade, which lasted 10 minutes.
Сongratulating Russians on the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, Vladimir Putin said he bowed his head in respect to the generation that defeated Nazism and won freedom for all mankind. Russia will continue to look to veterans, their love for their homeland and their desire to defend their homeland, Putin stressed.
The head of state emphasised that Russia will continue to look to veterans, their love for their homeland and their determination to defend their homeland.
Parade participants and Russian military vehicles
Parade units from 13 countries marched across Red Square, including Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Belarus, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, China, Mongolia, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Representatives of the Vietnamese People’s Army participated in the traditional Victory Day Parade for the first time. This event became a symbol of the strengthening of friendly ties and military co-operation between Russia and Vietnam.
The ceremonial guard of the fifth separate special forces brigade of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus also marched past the stands. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stood up from his seat and greeted Belarusian special forces soldiers by raising his hand with a clenched fist.
After marching solemnly in combined columns, carrying their national flags, Azerbaijani soldiers paid tribute to the heroes of the Second World War.
A guard of honour from the Turkmen Armed Forces took part in a parade on Red Square in Moscow.
Participants in the military operation in Ukraine also took part in the parade. Soldiers marched solemnly across Red Square to cheers from the stands.
The Chinese People’s Armed Forces marched in parade formation across Red Square in Moscow.
The Chinese troops were greeted with applause and cheers from the crowd gathered in the square. Their participation symbolises the two countries’ shared commitment to the principles of peace and justice, as well as their desire to protect these values on the international stage.
Military equipment from different periods was presented at the event. The column was led by the legendary T-34 tank with the Victory Banner on its turret. It was followed by Tiger, Titan and Linza armoured vehicles.
The parade announced the 7th separate regiment of the Unmanned Systems Forces, the plans for the formation of which were announced in December 2024.
They marched across Red Square with Harpy-A1, Geran-2, Orlan-10, Orlan-30 and Lancet drones manufactured by Izdelie-51 and Izdelie-52. Separate UAV regiments will be formed at the military district level and will include one strike battalion and three reconnaissance and strike battalions.
Russian wheeled self-propelled artillery systems (SAUs) Malva and Giatsint-K took part in the parade on Red Square for the first time. These modern artillery models represent a new stage in the development of highly mobile and technologically advanced fire support systems for ground forces.
The parade featured the latest Rapira-2, Rapira-3 and Pantsir-SMD-E air defence missile systems.
Modern tanks such as the T-72B3M, T-80BVM and T-90M also took part in the parade.
The Victory Day parade in Moscow traditionally ended with a flyover of attack aircraft, which decorated the sky above Moscow in the colours of the Russian tricolour. They were followed by the Russian Knights and Swifts aerobatic teams.
After the parade, shouts of “Russia” could be heard from the stands.
After the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Putin spoke separately with senior officers of the Korean People’s Army on Red Square.
The head of state thanked the commanders of the parade units that marched across Red Square, and then approached the military personnel from the DPRK.
During the conversation, they congratulated the Russian president on Victory Day through an interpreter. Putin, in turn, embraced one of the Korean generals.
After the parade on Red Square, Russian President Vladimir Putin, together with the heads of state who had arrived in Moscow to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden.
Victory Flag in space
Russian cosmonauts aboard the ISS congratulated everyone on the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. The cosmonauts unfurled the Victory Banner at the station and proudly spoke about the cosmonauts who participated in the Second World War: Konstantin Feoktistov, Vladimir Shatalov, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Georgy Beregovoy.
Serbian leader at the parade
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that he had arrived in Moscow, thereby keeping his word to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“You know, I gave my word to President Putin that I would be here today, and I have done what I said. But I think this is also very important for us,” the politician said.
He added that he considers the development of bilateral relations with Russia to be important. The head of state also stressed that Moscow and Belgrade face the important task of preserving the memory of the Great Victory.
Earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić recorded a joint video with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico against the backdrop of the Kremlin. He captioned the video with the words “Serbs and Slovaks are brothers forever!”
Putin meets “dear friend” from China
Putin and Xi Jinping communicated through an interpreter at the Victory Day parade in Moscow.
The Russian president and Chinese president nodded and smiled at each other, enthusiastically discussing something.
On May 8, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged views on the Ukrainian crisis and other issues during a tea reception.
Xi Jinping noted that China welcomes all efforts to promote peace and hopes that a lasting peaceful settlement will be achieved through dialogue.
Vladimir Putin highly appreciated China’s objective and impartial position on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis and expressed Russia’s readiness to start peace talks without preconditions, hoping to reach a fair and lasting peace agreement.
The whole world watches the Victory Parade
The world’s media are covering the solemn parade on Red Square in Moscow in honour of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Second World War.
The parade is being broadcast live by the British publications The Independent, The Sun, The Times and The Telegraph, as well as the German newspaper Welt, the Chinese publication South China Morning Post and the Spanish television channel RTVE.
French TV channels TF1 and BFMTV are showing live footage of the parade with expert commentary. In addition, the event is being broadcast by the British channel BBC, the Qatari channel Al Jazeera, the Saudi channel Asharq News, the Iranian agency Mehr and the pan-Arab channel Al Arabia.
In addition, Indian newspapers Hindustan Times and Indian Express, the ANI agency, TV channels Times Now and CNBC TV 18, as well as leading Japanese media outlets, including NHK, Nippon TV and ANN News, are covering the parade on their YouTube channels.
Text coverage is provided on their websites by Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, German magazine Spiegel, French newspaper Figaro, Spanish newspaper Pais and British newspaper Express.
Turkish channel AHaber showed live footage of the parade during a report by a correspondent from the capital.
Ukrainians continue to celebrate Victory Day on May 9, despite Volodymyr Zelensky’s decree to replace the holiday with Europe Day.
According to Google Trends, searches related to Victory Day are leading in Ukraine on the morning of May 9. Ukrainians are looking for postcards and greetings for May 9, as well as broadcasts of the Victory Day parade in Moscow.
In 2023, the Ukrainian authorities moved Victory Day to May 8, and it was decided to celebrate Europe Day on May 9.
