The 2018 Moscow Victory Day Parade was a military parade that took place in Red Square in Moscow on 9 May 2018 to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. The annual parade marks the Allied victory in World War II on the Eastern Front, on the same day as the signing of the German act of capitulation to the Allies in Berlin, at midnight of 9 May 1945 (Russian time). President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin delivered his fifteenth holiday address to the nation after the parade inspection presided over by Minister of Defense General of the Army Sergey Shoygu.
This year's parade also marked the centennial year since the 1918 foundation of the Red Army. This year for the first time, in the Victory Day parade in Moscow, it was planned that armored vehicles from the Red Army during the Russian Civil War would be to take part in the parade mobile column, the planned appearance was called off, and the 154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment's 1st Honor Guard Company took part in the exhibition drill segment of the parade together with a drumline from the Moscow Military Music College, the first time it had been done since the parade of 2007 and a recent tradition which began in the 2001 parade.[1]
Originally, for the first time since 2002, cadets from the Civil Defense Academy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were not to take part in the Victory Day parade in Moscow, while EMERCOM detachments continued to march past in other major parades nationwide, however, the decision was rescinded.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] New military vehicles in the parade include the BMPT Terminator[7] [8] A pair of Russia's 5th-generation Su-57 fighter jets flew for the first time over Red Square, together with two MiG-31s armed with Kinzhal air-to-surface missiles.[9]
For the third consecutive year, the parade included a composite ceremonial female battalion from the Military University of the Ministry of Defense, the Military Academy of Material and Technical Support, and the Military Space Academy.[10]
Beginning in December 2017, preparations for the parade were well attended at the unit level. Individual unit practices were held in the various military installations for all the participating units in the national and local parades. Unit practices within Moscow Oblast itself started in early March in the Alabino field and other locations before the full-blown parade practice run-throughs for all the participating units will commence later in the month.
All parade practice runs began on 24 March 2018 in the Alabino training range with the first practice run through for the ground column, kicking off the 2-month long national preparations for the 73rd Victory Day, and will last even until the middle of April when the runs on Red Square for the national parade itself will start, ending with a final general combined practice run of the parade in early May in the morning. From the 1st week up to the 3rd week of April, the Alabino military training center serves as the parade training ground for the estimated 14,000 military personnel in attendance for the Moscow parade, plus more than 135 vehicles and 78 aircraft. The air flypast column began their training flights on 9 April 2018.[11]
Amongst those in attendance were:[13] [14] [15]
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu
President of Serbia Aleksandar VučićBold indicates first appearance, italic indicates multiple appearances, Bold and italic indicate returning appearance, all indicated unless otherwise noted.
As per tradition, 27 other Russian major cities (Sevastopol and Kerch in Crimea) held their commemorative parades on that day (some of them including flypasts), and joint civil-military parades are to be hosted by 50 other towns and cities nationwide. Similar celebrations were held in almost all the former republics of the Soviet Union.