A military parade took place at Red Square in Moscow on May 9 in celebration of the 81st anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Amid the playing of song “Just War”, the national flag of the Russian Federation and the flag of victory entered the square.

Comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation and supreme commander of its armed forces, made a speech.

He congratulated Russian citizens on the V-Day, including veterans, soldiers, commissioned officers, officers, generals and the combatants and commanding officers who participated in the special military operations.

Bearing in mind the pride in and love for their country and a common obligation of defending the interests and future of the country, the Russian people are now celebrating the war victory day with sincere gratitude of descendants towards the great victorious wartime generation, he said, and continued:

Russia holds sacred the last wishes and inheritance of the service personnel who brought victory. The feeling of love for the country unites as one all the people across the country and it is an honour to preserve the memories of the events, historical truth and genuine heroes of the Great Patriotic War.

It is none other than the Russian people who made a crucial contribution to destroying Nazism, saved their country and the world and terminated the brutal evil, thus enabling those countries, which were reduced to the accomplices of Hitlerite Germany by surrendering to it, to regain their sovereignty.

Russian service personnel paid dearly for the freedom and dignity of the European people. They became the incarnation of bravery, nobility, perseverance and humanity and are winning praise for the great victory.

The Russian people prevented the enemies from advancing as human walls and demonstrated that allegiance to the country is the top justice that can unite all people.

The great feats performed by the victorious wartime generation are encouraging service personnel fulfilling their missions at the special military operations. Although they are fighting against the aggressor forces equipped with NATO’s military hardware and backed by all the NATO members, they are advancing forward heroically.

The Russian President affirmed that the cause of Russia is justice and victory will always belong to it as in the past.

A gun salute was fired and the national anthem of the Russian Federation was played.

Then followed the military parade.

A column of service personnel of the DPRK, who performed undying feats in battles for liberating Kursk, passed Red Square together with the columns of Russian service personnel.

Fighters represented the Russian flag in the sky above the square.

After the military parade was over, President Putin laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beside the Kremlin walls and paid a silent tribute to the memory of the fallen soldiers of the Soviet army.

He met veterans and participants in the special military operations and the commanding officer of the mixed column of the three services of the Korean People’s Army which attended the military parade.

That day, military parades were also staged in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ulan-Ude, Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok and other major cities of Russia.