A parade without military equipment will be held in St. Petersburg on May 9
In St. Petersburg, as in Moscow, officials have decided to scale back the May 9 parade program. The event will take place without the traditional military parade.
This is reported by Russian media.
According to the publication, the parade will not even feature the restored T-34 tank, which in recent years has typically led the procession. The number of spectators will also be reduced—while it was initially planned that 5,600 guests would watch the parade in person, that number was later cut by 18 times, down to 300 people.
On Palace Square, only one grandstand will be set up instead of three, and no viewing platform will be installed.
Instead, cadets from military academies will participate in the parade, but they will not include students from the Nakhimov Naval School, the Suvorov Military School, or the Cadet Corps. Veterans of the “Great Patriotic War” will be invited to the grandstands.
The decision to hold the parade in this format was made at a security meeting attended by the governor of St. Petersburg and the acting commander of the Leningrad Military District, according to Russian media reports.
As reported by Ukrinform, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that there will be no military equipment column at the Victory Day parade on May 9 on Red Square in Moscow. The Kremlin explained the decision to cancel part of the parade as a result of a “terrorist threat” from Kyiv. Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov also said that measures are being taken to minimize the danger, and furthermore, this year’s parade is not an anniversary event (Russians will be marking the 81st anniversary of victory in the so-called Great Patriotic War).
It also remains unclear which foreign leaders will attend the 2026 parade in Moscow. Peskov promised to announce the names “later,” while Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov stated that several foreign politicians would be Putin’s guests, though he did not name them.
Parades without heavy military equipment were held in Russia from 1995 to 2007. Since 2008, Strategic Missile Forces missile systems, armored vehicles, and tanks have once again begun marching across Red Square. The 2015 anniversary parade set a record.
Fico will travel to Moscowfor the May 9 parade — Kremlin.
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