"I must confess I was afraid that tanks and armoured personnel carriers, so necessary in the war zone, would be driven across Red Square," wrote the well-known military correspondent Alexander Kots. It reflects the tone on Russia's nationalist telegram channels. "It makes sense as a lot of the vehicles are needed in Ukraine," Artyom told us. The onlookers we met, once they'd found a viewing spot at last, seemed sanguine about the reduced programme. The full drive-by took just five minutes, with the air show cancelled long in advance of Victory Day itself. Muscovites could catch the parade as it drove out of Red Square, but there wasn't much of one to speak of - just over 50 pieces of military hardware, the only tank on display the historic T-34 "Victory Tank" from the Second World War. Normally, foreign media are accredited to film there too, but not this year. This time round the only real viewing potential was if you were inside Red Square and that is invite only. The flyover is another highlight, with the final flourish always the tricolour Russian flag trailed across the sky.īut this was not a normal Victory Day. Victory Day parades in Russia generally see throngs of people lining the city's main thoroughfares, cheering on the tanks as they pass, the armoured vehicles and S-400 anti-aircraft systems and - the spectator's favourite - the fearsome YARS intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a world-ending nuclear payload across the globe. Eyewitness by Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondent
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