Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin marked Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, in a ceremony shorn of its usual military parade and pomp by the coronavirus pandemic.
Putin on Saturday laid flowers at the tomb of the unknown soldier just outside the Kremlin walls and gave a short address honoring the valor and suffering of the Soviet army during the war.
Victory Day is Russia’s most important secular holiday and this year’s observance had been expected to be especially large because it is the 75th anniversary, but the Red Square military parade and a mass procession called The Immortal Regiment were postponed as part of measures to stifle the spread of the virus.
The only vestige of the conventional show of military might was a flyover of central Moscow by 75 warplanes and helicopters.
Russian military helicopters fly over an almost empty Red Square in Moscow to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II. Picture: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
The ceremony was the first public appearance in about a month for Putin, who has worked remotely as the virus took hold.
Russian military helicopters fly over Moscow's City skyscrapers and empty streets to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II. Picture: Denis Tyrin/AP
In his speech, he did not mention the virus — Russia has nearly 200,000 confirmed cases — or how its spread had blocked the observances that were to be a prestige project for him.
Russian MI-28 military helicopters fly over a torch on the Rostral column in St.Petersburg during the Victory Day celebration. Picture: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
But he promised that full commemorations would take place.
A Navy orchestra performs on the deck of the Aurora cruiser during the Victory Day celebration in St.Petersburg. Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, is Russia's most important secular holiday and this year's observance had been expected to be especially large because it is the 75th anniversary, but military parades in Russian cities and a mass processions called The Immortal Regiment were postponed as part of measures to stifle the spread of the coronavirus. Picture: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
“We will, as usual, widely and solemnly mark the anniversary date, do it with dignity, as our duty to those who have suffered, achieved and accomplished the victory tells us,” he said. “There will be our main parade on Red Square, and the national march of the Immortal Regiment — the march of our grateful memory and inextricable, vital, living communication between generations.”
The sharply reduced observances this year left a hole in Russia's civic and emotional calendar. The war, in which the Soviet Union lost an estimated 26 million people including 8.5 million soldiers, has become a fundamental piece of Russian national identity.
A woman wearing a face mask to protect herself against coronavirus carries portraits of relatives who fought in World War II to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II in Moscow, Russia. Picture: Pavel Golovkin/AP
Beyond the stern formalities of the Red Square military parade and smaller parades in other cities, Russians in recent years have turned out in huge numbers for the Immortal Regiment processions, when civilians crowd the streets displaying photographs of relatives who died in the war or endured it. Russian officials routinely bristle at criticism of the Red Army's actions in the war, denouncing the comments as attempts to “rewrite history.”
An online substitute for the processions was taking place Saturday and many people are expected to display relatives' photos from their balconies and windows in the evening.
Russian Air Force Su-25 jets fly over Red Square in Moscow leaving trails of smoke in the colours of the national flag to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II. Picture: Pavel Golovkin/AP
A full military parade was held Saturday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, which has not imposed restrictions to block the virus' spread despite sharply rising infection figures.
In one of the final events of the VE Day commemoration in Western Europe, which took place a day earlier, Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate was illuminated late Friday.
Germany's landmark the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is illuminated to mark the 75th anniversary of Victory Day and the end of World War II in Europe. With the projection of the word "Thank You" in various languages, Berlin commemorated the liberation of Germany by the allied forces in 1945. Picture: Markus Schreiber/AP
The words “Thank You” against a blue backdrop were projected onto the monument in Russian, English, French and German.
Earlier in the day German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described May 8 as the day Germany, too, was “liberated” from Nazi dictatorship.