MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. The military parade to mark the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War will take place on Moscow’s Red Square in the accustomed format while spectators’ presence will depend on the epidemic situation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
As the Kremlin spokesman noted, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has already stated that the Victory Day Parade will take place.
"The parade’s format will be usual but as for the presence of spectators, their number and so on, this, of course, will depend on the requirements that will be defined together with Rospotrebnadzor [Russia’s consumer rights watchdog]," Peskov said.
So far, "the dynamics [with regard for the coronavirus situation in Russia] evoke optimism but do not offer a possibility for any relaxation," he stressed.
On March 16, Peskov told reporters that the Victory Parade on Moscow’s Red Square would surely take place but found it difficult to say whether this event would be held on May 9. It was earlier reported that the Immortal Regiment march this year was planned in the accustomed format, although its online format was also being prepared.
In 2020, Russia rescheduled its military parade traditionally held on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9 for June 24 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Russian President Vladimir Putin chose June 24 for the parade because this was the day when in 1945 the legendary historic parade of victors had taken place on Moscow’s Red Square. Victory Day parades were held on May 9, 2020 only in Minsk and Ashgabat while mass events in all the other post-Soviet states on that day were canceled over the pandemic.