ALABINO /Moscow Region/, April 18. /TASS/. Eleven thousand troops, 131 weapon systems and 77 aircraft took part in the rehearsal of the Victory Parade at the Alabino training ground outside Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.
Russia’s military parade is due to place on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9 to mark the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.
"Overall, the rehearsal of the military parade on Red Square involves 11,000 personnel, 131 items of advanced weaponry and military hardware and 77 aircraft and helicopters," the ministry specified.
A total of 33 parade foot columns took part in the rehearsal. The mechanized column included Taifun off-road armored vehicles, BMP-2, BMP-3 and Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicles, T-72B3M, T-90M ‘Proryv’ and T-14 ‘Armata' main battle tanks, Iskander-M tactical missile systems, Msta-S howitzers and Tornado-G multiple launch rocket systems, Tor-M2, Buk-M3 and S-400 ‘Triumf’ surface-to-air missile systems, combat hardware of the Airborne Force and the Strategic Missile Force and Uran-9 combat robotic vehicles, it said.
The Russian troops will hold night rehearsals of the Victory Parade on Moscow’s Red Square on April 28 and May 4 and a final rehearsal on May 7, the Defense Ministry said.
Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Oleg Salyukov has been appointed to command the Victory Parade on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, it said.
Military parades to mark the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War will also take place on May 9 in 28 Russian cities. Festive processions with troop participation will take place in 379 Russian towns and settlements. Festive fireworks will light up skies over Russian cities and towns at 22:00 local time on that day.