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Russia to hold May 9 Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square, Kremlin assures

Dmitry Peskov declined to answer a question about whether the parade’s airborne part would take place

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. Russia will hold the May 9 Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square but it is early to say if its airborne part will take place, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"The preparations for the parade are underway and it will take place," the Russian presidential spokesman assured.

As the Kremlin press secretary stressed, "this will be a very important event traditional for May 9."

The Russian presidential spokesman declined to answer a question about whether the parade’s airborne part would take place.

"It is early to make such announcements yet and I would not do it," Peskov explained.

"We will timely inform you about what elements the parade will comprise," the Kremlin spokesman said, pointing out that "it is yet premature to talk about" various components of the parade.

Victory Day is traditionally celebrated in Russia on May 9. On this day in 1945, an act of the unconditional surrender of all German forces was signed that ended the Soviet Union’s 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany.

The procedure for celebrating the May 9 Victory Day is prescribed in the 1995 federal law "On Perpetuating the Victory of the Soviet People in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War." In particular, military parades involving armaments and military hardware and artillery fireworks are held on May 9 in Moscow, hero cities and cities accommodating the headquarters of military districts, fleets, combined arms armies and the Caspian Flotilla.

In 2020, the May 9 festivities in Moscow were put off or held online due to the coronavirus pandemic. The military parade on Moscow’s Red Square took place on June 24.

This year, some regions, including the Kursk Region, Crimea and Sevastopol where a high terror alert is in place have announced the cancellation of military parades on May 9.