President Vladimir Putin said Russia has passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic and ordered preparations to resume for military parades marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II victory.
Moscow and other cities should stage the postponed May 9 Victory Day parades on June 24, “given that the situation in the country as a whole, in most regions and in the Armed Forces is stable, and that it is stabilizing in many places after the peak of infections,” Putin told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a videoconference Tuesday.
The Kremlin had planned particularly grand commemorations for the 75th anniversary this year, before Putin was forced in April to postpone the nationwide events as the coronavirus spread. The annual Red Square parade in Moscow involving thousands of troops and Russia’s most sophisticated weapons has long been an occasion for him to project a sense of power and national pride.