Victory Day parade to include 9,000 personnel, military hardware

31/03/2009 14:00 MOSCOW, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - About 9,000 personnel, 110 military vehicles and 70 aircraft will take part in a military procession on Moscow's Red Square to commemorate the 64th Victory Day, a senior military official said on Tuesday.

Victory Day on May 9 marks the final surrender by Nazi Germany to the U.S.S.R. in WWII, often referred to as the Great Patriotic War in Russia and other states in the former Soviet Union.

"About 9,000 personnel, 110 military vehicles and 70 combat planes and helicopters will participate in the parade," said Col. Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the commander of the Moscow military district.

The parade will be accompanied by a large military orchestra of 1,100 musicians, and comprise three sections - a march pass, involving military personnel followed by sophisticated hardware and a fly over by combat aircraft.

The general said that the military hardware on display at the parade will include the Iskander theater missile systems, the S-300 and S-400 air defense systems, as well as the Buk air defense systems.

Last year, the parade involved almost 8,000 personnel, 111 tracked and wheeled military vehicles, as well as 33 aircraft and helicopters. (Victory Day Parade - Image gallery)

The first Victory Parade was held on Red Square on June 24, 1945 on the order of the then-supreme commander-in-chief, Joseph Stalin.

E pa Rusi su se pozdravili od 21-ica još čini mi se '93. tako da ta ideja pada u vodu. Zato ima da grme ovakve mašine.