NOVO-OGARYOVO, April 16. /TASS/. On Thursday, at a meeting with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced postponement of the preparations for the Victory Day Parade on May 9 marking the 75th anniversary of the USSR’s Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
"There is already less than a month left before the Victory Day and now we face an uneasy and, let us say straight, a hard choice: both May 9 is a sacred date for us and the life of every person is priceless," the Russian leader said.
According to the Russian president, "to be able to hold the May 9 parade, the preparations for it should be started already now, right now."
"But the risks associated with the epidemic whose peak won’t be over [by May 9] are extremely high and this does not give me the right to start the preparations for the parade and other mass events," Putin stressed.
The Immortal Regiment march is also put on hold, the president informed, adding that both events are due later this year, when the threat of the novel coronavirus recedes. "We will make the threat that we have faced today recede, and then we will certainly hold all events scheduled for May 9, doing this emotionally and in a festive manner. Of course we will do it this year, 2020, given that the entire year has been declared the Year of Memory and Glory," the president said.
The Red Square parade in Moscow and the Immortal Regiment march will certainly take place, the president pledged.