Lukashenko took part in Moscow events honouring 79th anniversary of Victory in Great Patriotic War
On May 9th, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko took part in the events marking the 79th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The military parade on Moscow’s Red Square became the main event of the holiday. Together with the presidents of Russia and Belarus, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Laos and Guinea-Bissau watched the parade. The guests also included the heads of the executive bodies of the CIS, the Union State, the CSTO, the EAEU, the Eurasian Development Bank, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) and a number of others, as well as heads of diplomatic missions and military attaches from friendly states.
In total, this year more than 9,000 people marched in the parade: participants of a special military operation, regiments, battalions and companies by types and branches of troops, crews from Suvorov, Nakhimov, cadet schools, women military personnel, Cossacks and a combined military orchestra. Following the parade crews, a column of military hardware rolled through Moscow’s Red Square. As is traditional, the mechanised column was led by the legendary ‘Victory Tank’ – T-34-85 – followed by armoured vehicles Tigr, VPK-Ural, Taifun-K, and BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers. Launchers of Iskander-M operational-tactical missile systems and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems passed along the paving stones of Red Square. The audience was also shown the Yars road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers – the basis of Russia’s nuclear shield. The latest Bumerang armoured personnel carriers with the banners of all the military branches of the Russian Armed Forces concluded the mechanised column’s procession at the Victory Parade on Moscow’s Red Square. For the first time, the newest protected ambulance armoured vehicle Linza took part in the parade whose speed reaches up to 105km/h and whose armour protects it from bullets and shrapnel.
The parade ended with the flyover of the Russkie Vityazi (Russian Knights) and Strizhi (Swifts) aviation groups in a unique aerobatic manoeuvre called the ‘Cuban Diamond’. Su-25 attack aircraft flew over Red Square, painting the sky over Moscow in the colours of the Russian national flag.
