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Russian troops start preparing for Victory-Day parade in Red Square

The parade in Red Square will also demonstrate the advanced models of Russian military hardware, such as the Armata tank, the Kurganets IFV and APC and the Koalitsiya self-propelled artillery system

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Russian servicemen who will take part in VE-Day parade in Red Square to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II have started their training for the occasion, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday.

"Training drills of a combined parade unit formed to take part in the 143rd military parade in Red Square in Moscow on May 9, 2016 are in full swing in Alabino outside Moscow on a site, which is a mock-up ideally imitating the country’s main square," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

A combined parade unit of female service members from the Russian Defense Ministry’s Military University and the Volsky Military Logistics Institute (branch) of the Khrulev Logistical Support Military Academy will march across Red Square this year for the first time, the press office said.

Parade units of the foot column will also comprise officers, sergeants and soldiers of military formations, cadets of Suvorov and Nakhimov military schools, military institutes of the Defense Ministry and other security and law-enforcement agencies.

Overall, more than 10,000 troops are involved in training drills together with over 100 pieces of modern weaponry and military hardware that include Tigr (Tiger) armored vehicles, T-90 main battle tanks, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, Buk-M2 antiaircraft missile systems, Pantsyr-S1 air defense missile/gun complexes, Yars missile systems and others.

The parade in Red Square will also demonstrate the advanced models of Russian military hardware, such as the Armata tank, the Kurganets IFVs and APCs and the Koalitsiya self-propelled artillery systems.

Joint training drills have started for the combined parade unit, a mechanized column and a parade lineup of aircraft from April 11.

The troops’ night rehearsals of the military parade will be held directly in Red Square on April 28 and May 4 and their dress rehearsal will be held on May 7.

Russia’s 143rd military parade will involve more than 10,000 service members and over 100 pieces of military hardware and 71 aircraft. The military parade will be commanded by Commander-in-Chief of Russia’s Ground Forces Colonel-General Oleg Salyukov.