MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. The final rehearsal for the Victory Day parade has started on Red Square in Moscow on Thursday.

After a traditional announcement "Attention, Moscow is speaking!" and Kremlin bells ringing, the 154th Preobrzhensky Regiment military personnel brought Russia’s flag and the Victory Banner to Red Square.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who will take part in the Victory Day parade on May 9, will observe today’s rehearsal. Oleg Salyukov, Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces, will command the parade.

Russians will honor the memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War with a moment of silence twice on Victory Day. "It is planned that during the parade on Red Square, Russian President Vladimir Putin will announce a moment of silence to honor the memory of all those who died in the Great Patriotic War. On the same day, at 6.55pm Moscow time, all federal TV channels will broadcast a special program ‘In memory of those who died in fight against Nazism’ that will start with a sound of metronome which became the symbol of remembering the victims of that war," the Organizing Committee of 70th anniversary of Victory Day celebrations said on Thursday.

The anniversary parade in Moscow on May 9 will be one of the most massive events in the history of celebrations. Among those who will take part in the parade are 16,000 servicemen, 194 units of ground military equipment, 143 planes and helicopters, including newest equipment of the Airborne Troops, such as BMD-4M airborne combat vehicle, BTR-MD Rakushka armored personnel carrier, Yars intercontinental ballistic missile complex. Models of armored vehicles constructed on the basis of Armata, Kurganets and Bumerang platforms will be part of the mechanized column.

A historic reconstruction is also planned for the parade. Some people will be dressed in uniforms of the times of the Great Patriotic War - infantrymen, sailors, pilots, sappers, cavalrymen and Cossacks.

Military units from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, India, Mongolia, Serbia, China will participate in the parade.

Around 2,300 people have been invited to Red Square for celebrations, including veterans from Russia and abroad.

Around 30 foreign leaders and heads of international organizations will take part in the celebrations.