Today: Parade on Red Square
Today I was fortunate enough to witness a military parade on Red Square. The parade was commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the Soviet parade on the anniversary of the October Revolution, immediately after which the soldiers marched to the front and successfully defended Moscow from an impending Nazi assault. The event is not held yearly, and I was extremely lucky to be in the country for it. While I was not able to purchase a ticket, there was plenty of standing room on either side of GUM (ГУМ, Главный Yниверсальный Mагазин) from which myself and a number of Russian citizens and Liden & Denz students were able to watch the procession.
The parade is of great symbolic importance to the Russian Federation as it serves as a smaller-scale version of the Victory Day parade, which commemorates the victory of the Soviet Union over Fascist Germany and the capture of Berlin, on the 9th of May. Following the parade, many pieces of period military hardware including tanks, artillery guns, and motor vehicles were displayed prominently on the square, complete with actors in full WWII regalia.
