The 2020 Moscow Victory Day Parade was a military parade that took place in Moscow's Red Square on 24 June 2020 to commemorate the 75th Diamond Jubilee of both the capitulation of Nazi Germany in the Second World War in 1945 and the historic Moscow Victory Parade of 1945.
For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resumption of military parades in 1995, this is the first parade to be cancelled on a holiday itself. Originally scheduled to take place on May 9, the Kremlin decided to postpone the parade to a later date amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Close to 3.6 million Muscovites watched the live broadcast of the parade.
Events
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his seventeenth holiday address to the nation after the parade inspection presided over by Minister of Defense General of the Army Sergey Shoygu, accompanied by the parade commander General of the Army Oleg Salyukov, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, who will be in the parade for the seventh consecutive year. The ceremonies honoured the 1945 parade, with the bands playing the Jubilee Slow March "25 Years of the Red Army" at the outset of the inspection stage. Every year, for several days of Victory Day celebrations, a dress rehearsal of the Parade is held in the Armed Forces' Alabino Training Range in Moscow Oblast, which exactly repeats the holiday program itself. On this day, huge columns of military personnel, cadets and representatives of law enforcement agencies, legendary and modern military equipment take to the streets, and dozens of modern planes and helicopters appear in the skies above the federal capital. All actions of rehearsal participants are usually so coordinated that what is happening is called a mini-parade.
For the first time, 20 samples of the latest armoured and aviation equipment, including the Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicles and the latest S-300V4 and S-350 air defense systems, took part in the parade which involved 1,250 bandsmen, an estimated 16,000 personnel in the ground column, 4,500 in the mobile column of around 250 plus vehicles (including historical vehicles from the Second World War), and 600 aircraft crew personnel of the 80-strong flypast.
Foreign troops
In addition to troops from the Russian Armed Forces, contingents from 20 foreign countries were also planned be on parade, groups from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as contingents from China, India, Serbia, France, the United Kingdom, United States, Poland and Mongolia, returning after a 5 to 10-year hiatus. Parade groups from Belarus, Egypt, Israel, and Iran were planned to be invited. Many of these plans however were scratched in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The original contingent from Kyrgyzstan was supposed to be provided by the Honour Guard of the National Guard of Kyrgyzstan. However, this was scrapped after it became known that one of its members had become infected with the coronavirus. A contingent from the General Staff represented the country in their place. Days before the parade, it was reported that multiple members of the Belarusian contingent had become ill with the coronavirus.
The Turkmen contingent consisted of two color guards (one carrying the Flag of Turkmenistan and the other carrying the combat flag of the 748th Infantry Regiment of the 206th Rifle Division) riding in two GAZ-M20 Pobeda cars brought in from the Turkmen capital. After their appearance, the contingent were quarantined at a hospital in Turkmenabad. Other Red Army banners that were carried by foreign contingents included the banners of the 89th Rifle Division, the 8th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the Zheleznyak Partisan Detachment, and three units who participated in the Minsk Offensive.
Invited attendees Summary The first official invitations came during the 2019 G20 Osaka summit, with invitations going to US President Donald Trump, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The invitation to President Trump was reiterated in a phone call with Putin later that year. However, President Trump would later decline the invitation in a diplomatic cable to Moscow, sending National Security Advisor (United States) Robert O'Brien, to attend on his behalf.) In December 2019, an official invitation was sent to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey by the Russian Embassy in Ankara. President Putin has also at various times invited multiple heads of state from the CIS and the CSTO.
In January 2020, former Polish President Lech Wałęsa expressed a willingness to come to Moscow for the parade if he received an invitation. In an interview with an Estonian news agency, Estonian Defence Minister Jüri Luik alluded to the parade by saying that he would not recommend that President Kersti Kaljulaid visit on such an occasion. United Nations General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said in an interview to Sputnik that he would be "honored" to attend the parade if invited. In early June 2020, despite having accepted the invitation earlier this year, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe announced that he will skip the parade due to the 46th G7 summit (which was itself rescheduled).
As of 14 June 2020, a total of 31 foreign heads of state and government, along with 4 multilateral leaders, had accepted the invitation to this year's parade. However, following the rescheduling of the event to 24 June 2020, more than two-thirds of the leaders had withdrawn their invitation (mostly due to scheduling conflicts and COVID-19 pandemic restrictions). The Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov said that 12 heads of state had confirmed their attendance to the rescheduled event.
Guest list
Original composition Over 30 guests accepted the invitation to the 2020 parade. However, most of them had done this before the postponement (abide to the original 9 May schedule). The following names indicate leaders either who did not reconfirm their attendance to the rescheduled 24 June parade or leaders who reconfirmed but decided to cancel their attendance the week prior to the parade:
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan (cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions) President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev (cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions) President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev President of Croatia Zoran Milanović (cancelled due to issues with plane) President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman (cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions) President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi President of France Emmanuel Macron Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz (cancelled due to the political situation in Israel) Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe (cancelled due to the 46th G7 summit, and then COVID-19 restrictions) Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga (cancelled due to the 2020 Mongolian legislative election, which was held on the same day) President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski President of Palestine Mahmood Abbas (cancelled due to political situation in the Middle East) President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions he would have to take in relation to his 63rd birthday five days after the parade) National Security Advisor of the United States Robert C. O'Brien President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro President of Vietnam Nguyễn Phú Trọng (cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions)
Among those who were also invited were United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
Final list The following is a list of leaders who confirmed their attendance to the 24 June parade. The guest list includes 10 heads of state and government of different European and Asian nations, among other heads of international organizations. Many foreign leaders who could not attend the 24 June parade sent their defense or foreign ministers as well as ambassadors to the parade in their place:
President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania Chief of Staff of the Algerian People's National Army Major General Saïd Chengriha Minister of Defence of Armenia David Tonoyan Minister of Defence of Azerbaijan Colonel General Zakir Hasanov President of Belarus Aleksander Lukashenko Serb Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China General Wei Fenghe Czech Ambassador Vítězslav Pivoňka Ambassador of Egypt Ihab Nasr French Ambassador Pierre Lévy German Ambassador Géza Andreas von Geyr Foreign Minister of Hungary Péter Szijjártó Minister of Defence of India Rajnath Singh Minister of Defence of Indonesia Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov President of Moldova Igor Dodon Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces Senior General Min Aung HlaingArchived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić President of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon Minister of Defence of Turkmenistan Major General Begench Gundogdyev Ambassador of USA John J. Sullivan President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela Jorge Arreaza Secretary General of CIS Sergei Lebedev Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Stanislav Zas Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich
Other foreign guests included Serbian filmmaker and actor Emir Kusturica.
Preparation
Since November 2019, preparations for the parade had been ongoing at the unit level. Individual and unit practices were held in the various unit locations. In March 2020 the days of full parade rehearsal and practice run throughs at the training center at Alabino, Moscow Oblast formally commenced the national preparations for the diamond jubilee celebrations, with the ground and mobile columns first to take their practice rounds in front of the national and international press representatives. The flypast segment of the parade began its preparations in early June just weeks before the main parade itself, first in Kubinka airfield and later on joining the Alabino run-through.
Timeline for preparatory activities in Moscow 24 March towards 14 April – beginning of parade practice runs in Alabino, Moscow Oblast (cut short due to the decision to postpone the parade, set to be resumed before the end of May) 8 June up to 14 June – General practice run-through in the Alabino training field, including flypast 17 and 18 June - evening parade practice run-throughs at Red Square 20 June – the general parade practice run at 10 AM MST, including flypast
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic