On the 75th anniversary, that marks the end of World War II on May 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin is supposed to host French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders at a military parade.
Despite the coronavirus crisis, Kremlin resists cancelling the patriotic holiday and is soldiering on with rehearsals.
The event holds major political significance for Russia and coveted photo opportunity to claim Putin’s re-emergence from political isolation in the west.
A video of rehearsals taken anonymously showed approximately 15,000 soldiers lined up on a parade ground outside Moscow. Russia’s defence ministry confirmed, as recently as April 1, that rehearsals for the event are being held.
The same has raised concerns across Russia as 12 million Moscovits are confined to their homes due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
A voice on the anonymously shot video said, “not one f*****g mask,” hinting that Russia may be lacking in certain essentials to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 9 is an important day for Russia and CIS countries, especially since western leaders have snubbed The Parade since 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The nation has also been facing western criticism after its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections and poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018.
Russia’s defence ministry in The Guardian is quoted as saying that it is taking precautionary measures to ensure the well-being of the soldiers with regular temperature checks. Kremlin has said that it understands if foreign visitors choose not to attend the parade, but for now, it is contemplating to go ahead with the event with or without spectators or suspend the occasion till August.
