The 1995 Moscow Victory Day Parades (Russian: Парад Победы|r= Parad Pobedy) were two military parades held on 9 May 1995 to commemorate the historic 50th anniversary golden jubilee of the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in 1945. The parades marked the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War.[1] These were the first post-Soviet military parades held in Russia the first one being in held for veterans on Red Square at 8:00 in the morning followed by another parade of infantry and military equipment at Poklonnaya Hill at 3:00 in the afternoon.
The Poklonnaya Parade was the first parade in the post-Soviet era and the only one in the Yeltsin era to feature military hardware, which would not be displayed again until 2008.
The parade was observed by Russian leaders and foreign dignitaries from a provisional facade. Major political figures attending were President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin, First Lady Naina Yeltsina, and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. The parade was inspected by Minister of Defence General of the Army Pavel Grachev, who later made the keynote address (the last time that the Minister of Defense made such an address on a national parade) and commanded by Moscow Military District Commander Colonel General Leonid Kuznetsov. It was on that very parade where Russian soldiers paraded with new post-Soviet military uniforms. It was the first time since 1957 that aviation took part in the parade.[2]
Among the new additions that debuted were the BMP-3, BMD-3, S-300 missile system, BM-30 Smerch and the 2S19 Msta SPG.
The Red Square Parade was another parade held in post-Soviet and in the Yeltsin era but did not feature military hardware, which would not be displayed again until 2008. This parade would feature all surviving veterans from all fronts marching past Red Square.The parade was observed by Russian leaders from Lenin's Mausoleum and more than 50 world leaders, most notably United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, President Jacques Santer, United States President Bill Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, British Prime Minister John Major, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Major political figures attending were President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. The parade was inspected by retired Marshal of the Soviet Union Viktor Kulikov and commanded by retired General of the Army Vladimir Govorov. In this parade, Russian President Boris Yeltsin delivered his first Victory Day address. This parade was also the only to feature and show the Iberian Gate and Chapel under construction on Red Square, which was later finished the following year. Among the notable veteran participants was pilot Stepan Borozenets.
In March 1995, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry announced a state visit by President Bill Clinton to Russia on 9 and 10 May to attend the celebrations as well as another visit to Ukraine on 11 May.[3] One of the largest gathering of world leaders in Russian history, the 1995 parade was attended by a total of 56 foreign heads of state and government, along with 6 multilateral leaders.[4] [5]
Tomiichi Murayama, the Prime Minister of Japan
Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel
Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister of Canada
Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt
Bill Clinton, the President of the United States of America and First Lady Hillary Clinton
Jiang Zemin, the President of the People's Republic of China[7]
John Major, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
François Mitterrand, the President of France
Marc Forne Molne, the Prime Minister of Andorra
Helmut Kohl, the Federal Chancellor of Germany
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the Prime Minister of Denmark
Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Prime Minister of Norway
Jozsef Antall, the Prime Minister of Hungary
Felipe González, the Prime Minister of Spain
Mario Soares, the President of Portugal
Ingvar Carlsson, the Prime Minister of Sweden
Vigdis Finnbogadottir, the President of Iceland
Mary Robinson, the President of Ireland
Massimo D’Alema, the Prime Minister of Italy
Wim Kok, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Thomas Klestil, the President of Austria
Pascal Couchepin, the Chancellor of Switzerland
Zhelyu Zhelev, the President of Bulgaria
Edward Fenech Adami, the Prime Minister of Malta
Glafcos Klerides, the President of Cyprus
Ion Iliescu, the President of Romania
Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat, the President of Mongolia[8]
Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, the President of Greece
Martti Ahtisaari, the President of Finland
Jean-Luc Dehaene, the Prime Minister of Belgium
Tansu Çiller, the Prime Minister of Turkey
Rainier III, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco
Michael Ritter, the Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
Franjo Tudman, the President of Croatia
Alija Izetbegovic, the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Milan Kucan, the President of Slovenia
Michal Kovac, the President of Slovakia
Vaclav Havel, the President of the Czech Republic
Alexander Kwasniewski, Leader of the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland
Leonid Kuchma, the President of Ukraine
Heydar Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the President of Armenia
Sali Berisha, the President of Albania
Eduard Shevardnadze, the President of Georgia
Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan
Askar Akayev, the President of Kyrgyzstan
Saparmurat Niyazov, the President of Turkmenistan
Emomali Rahmon, the President of Tajikistan
Islam Karimov, the President of Uzbekistan
Rafic Hariri, the Prime Minister of Lebanon
Pranab Mukherjee,[9] the Deputy Prime Minister of India
John Howard, the Leader of the Opposition of Australia
Don McKinnon, the Foreign Minister of New ZealandAlso present were plenty of Foreign Diplomats and representatives of all Second World War veterans from the European and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations.
Watch parade scenes here: