MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. A military parade to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War began on Moscow’s Red Square.
The parade began with a march of the banner group of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Honor Guard’s unit carrying the Russian national flag and the legendary Victory Banner across Red Square. The Victory Banner was hoisted over the Reichstag by soldiers of the 150th Idritskaya Rifle Division overnight to May 1, 1945.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, war veterans, guests and foreign leaders are watching the parade from the central reviewing stand on Red Square. Defense Minister Andrey Belousov is reviewing the parade, which is commanded by Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Andrey Mordvichev.
