The Victory in the Great Patriotic War, that is the Second World War on the territory of the Soviet Union in the years 1941–1945, has glorified the Russian people, enabled them to live and develop in peace, to muster their strength and recover from the pains of the war, to enter the new millennium as an independent and proud state. Such was the address by the Commander-in-Chief to the participants of the parade.
Russia knows only too well the price of Victory and will never forget the millions of victims and the devastation brought to its towns and countryside. Indeed, Victory Day, for us is a holiday with wet eyes, said Vladimir Putin.
About 5,000 servicemen took part in the parade reviewed by Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov and run by Colonel-General Nikolai Makarov, acting commander-in-chief of the Moscow military district.