Russia celebrates the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany on May 9, 2023. (Photo: rianovosti)

The parade involved 10,000 troops, including troops from the special military operation in Ukraine, and 125 pieces of military hardware. Border guards of the Federal Security Service, units of the National Guard and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and students from the Suvorov and Nakhimov military schools also took part in the parade.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday all necessary steps have been taken to ensure security because foreign guests and Russia’s head of state will be in attendance. He said some leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will attend the parade as guests. These states, whose peoples were once part of the Soviet Union, took part in the Great Patriotic War and won, defending the world against fascism, Peskov said.

On the occasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to the leaders of Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Ossetia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and to the people of Georgia and Moldova.