BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping attended on Friday celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War in Moscow. Leaders from more than 20 countries and international organizations were invited to the events, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xi was welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Friday morning. The leaders then walked to the Red Square together and took their seats at the main reviewing stand, according to Xinhua.
At 10:00 am local time, as the chimes of the Kremlin clock rang out, the celebrations began. As the military band played The Sacred War, the honor guards marched in.
President Putin delivered a speech at the parade. According to a release from the Kremlin, Putin said that Russian people “remember the lessons of World War II (WWII) and will never agree with the distortion of those events or attempts to justify the murderers and slander the true victors.”
“We highly appreciate the contribution made to our common struggle by the Allied armies, members of the Resistance, the courageous people of China, and all those who fought for a peaceful future,” said the Russian president.
May 9 marks the day of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War. 80 years ago, the army and the people of the Soviet Union fought dauntlessly to drive the German fascists out of their homeland and went on with soldiers and civilians from other countries to conquer Berlin, gaining victory in the battlefield of the World Anti-fascist War in Europe.
Following Putin’s speech, the grand military parade began as the military band played the Russian national anthem and gun salutes echoed across the Red Square. Marching in unison, the formations passed through the square one after another, Xinhua reported.
Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov reviewed the grand parade, which involved over 11,000 troops and 183 WWII and advanced weapons systems, according to Tass news agency.
In the “historical” part of the parade, Russian service members, dressed in uniforms from the era of the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, proudly carried the military flags and weapons of that time, evoking memories of the years of resistance against fascism, according to Xinhua.
In the “modern” part, formations of Russia’s various military branches and modern weaponry units passed by the reviewing stand. The Russian Aerospace Forces’ flight formations roared overhead, soaring across the skies above the Red Square, according to the report. WWII T-34 tanks, a major symbol of the Victory, led the mechanized column during the military parade on Red Square, as per tradition, Tass reported.
For the first time, a column of unmanned systems troops took part in the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square, said Tass, noting that Russia’s Missile Troops and Strategic Missile Force were represented at the military parade as well.
Armed forces formations from more than 10 countries, including China, were also invited to participate in the parade, said Xinhua.
The Global Times has learned that 119 service members from the PLA Guard of Honor participated in the military parade, of whom 102 appeared on Red Square. Their average height was 1.87 meters, and their average age was 20.
In 2015, the PLA Guard of Honor participated for the first time in Russia’s military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War. Analysts view the latest invitation as an important tribute to the China-Russia friendship forged in the anti-fascist war, a resolute defense of the just legacy of WWII, and a powerful reaffirmation of both countries’ commitment to global peace. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
