2014 Moscow Victory Day Parade

The 2014 Moscow Victory Day Parade is a parade that was held on Red Square on 9 May 2014 to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945 formally ending the Second World War in Europe. The annual parade marks the Allied victory in the Great Patriotic War on the same day as the signing of the German act of capitulation to the Allies in Berlin, at midnight of May 9, 1945 (Russian time). Delivering his third holiday address to the nation on this day is the President of Russia, Vladmir Putin.

Parades were held in 23 major Russian cities, including the new federal city of Sevastopol, which, as a result of the Crimean crisis was formally incorporated into the Russian Federation along with the rest of Crimea in March 2014. Sevastopol also celebrated the 70th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi Germany in May of 1944. This year, the Crimean Hero City of Kerch also held its first holiday parade, also celebrated the 70th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi Germany on April 11, 1944. Aside from these, 50 more cities and towns in Russia will hold joint civil military parades in honor of the holiday celebrations.

Joining the parade for the first time were the cadets of the Tver Suvorov Military School and the Kronstadt Sea Cadet Corps. In the mobile column, the Tor-M2U air defense missile systems, the 9M123 Khrizantema tracked tank destroyers and Typhoon-K APCs were also seen. This year's mobile column had a record 149 military vehicles in attendance, with 69 planes (including for the very first time 4 Yak-130s from a newly formed air aerobatics group, the "tactical air wing" formation by pilots from the Lipetsk State Aviation Center and also for the first time, in a late addition to compensate for the absences of the Russian Knights and Swifts aerobactics teams that were in Sevastopol, 4 brand new Mil Mi-35s ) forming the fly past.

Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation General of the Army Sergey Shoigu inspected the parade for the 2nd time, and this year's parade commander is the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Oleg Salyukov.

Preparation
Beginning in November/December 2013, preparations for the parade were well attended at the unit level. Individual unit practices were held in the various military installations for all the participating units. Full-scale rehearsals officially started on March 31, 2014, in the Alabino training grounds in Moscow Oblast, with the rehearsals there to formally conclude in April the same year in order to prepare for the practice runs in Moscow's Red Square in May. Also rehearsing for the parade are the massed military bands of the Armed Forces and the Moscow Garrison, all to be conducted for the 12th straight year by Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov, the Senior Director of Music of the Bands Service of the Russian Armed Forces, and the units and vehicles forming the mobile column. Practice runs for the Russian Knights and Swifts air aerobatics teams that formed part of the fly past column commenced on April 6, 2014. A first general practice run (without the flypast) was held in the Alabino grounds on April 7th, 2014, with another run finished on the 11th.

April 16, 2014 saw the first joint practice run of the parade at the Alabino grounds including the fly past column for the first time. Also found joining the parade for the first time in 4 years was the 1st Cavalry Squadron from the Presidential Cavalry Escort Battalion, Kremlin Regiment. The Moscow leg of the practice runs commenced on April 21, 2014 with the mobile column driving its way along Tverskaya Street for its first practice run in the capital. This was followed by the first night practice runs on Red Square itself, joined by the bands, the marching troops and the mobile column, which began on April 29 to 30.

The air flypast column held a practice run above the skies of Moscow on May 3, 2014. All 69 planes joining this year's parade took part, and the run-through was cheered on by both Muscovites and tourists alike. A final nightime pratice run was held on May 5th on Moscow's Red Square. And on May 7th, despite the cold weather earlier that day, a final parade practice run was held that morning at 10AM Moscow Time, with General of the Army Shoigu inspecting and with Colonel General Salyukov leading the contingents, just as they would have done in the actual parade.

Full order of the parade
Bold indicates first appearance, italic indicates multiple appearances, Bold and italic indicate returning appearance, all indicated unless otherwise noted.


 * General of the Army Sergey Shoigu, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (parade inspector)
 * Colonel General Oleg Salyukov, Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff (parade commander)

Military Bands

 * Massed Military Bands of the Armed Forces under the direction of the Senior Director of Music of the Military Bands Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov
 * Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music School

Ground Column

 * 154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment Colour Guard and Honour Guard Company of the 1st Honor Guard Battalion, 154th PICR
 * Presidential Cavalry Escort Battalion, Kremlin Regiment (returning)
 * Suvorov Military School (first appearance for the Tver branch)
 * Nakhimov Naval School
 * Kronstadt Sea Cadet Corps (first appearance)
 * Aksanskiy Cossack Cadet Corps
 * Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
 * Military University of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
 * Military Academy of Material and Technical Security "General of the Army A. V. Khrulev"
 * Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy
 * Baltic Naval Military Institute "Admiral Fyodor Ushakov" (returning)
 * 382nd Independent Marine Battalion of the Black Sea Fleet (first appearance)
 * 336th Independent Guards Biaystok Marine Brigade of the Baltic Fleet
 * Military Space Academy "Alexander Mozhaysky"
 * Peter the Great Military Academy of the Missile Forces of Strategic Importance of the Russian Federation (returning)
 * Ryazan Airborne Senior Command Academy "Gen. of the Army Vasily Margelov"'
 * 98th Guards Airborne Division
 * 1st NBC Coastal Brigade
 * 9th Chemical Disposal Regiment
 * 29th and 38th Independent Railway Brigades of the Russian Railway Troops
 * 16th Spetsnaz Brigade, Western Military District (returning)
 * ODON Ind. Motorized Internal Troops Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation "Felix Dzerzhinsky"
 * Civil Defense Academy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations
 * Moscow Border Guards Institute of the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation "Moscow City Council"
 * 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division "Mikhail Kalinin"
 * 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division "Yuri Andropov"
 * Military Technical University of the Federal Agency of Special Construction
 * Moscow Military Commanders Training School "Supreme Soviet of Russia"

Mobile Column

 * GAZ-2975
 * BTR-80 and BTR-82A
 * Typhoon-K armored personnel carrier (first appearance)
 * T-90A
 * 9P157-2 Khrizantema-S tank destroyer (first appearance)
 * 2S19 Msta-S
 * Buk-M2 missile system
 * Tor-M2U missle system (first appearance for the M2U variant)
 * S-400 Triumf
 * Pantsir-S1
 * 9K720 Iskander
 * RT-2UTTKh Topol-M

Air Fly Past Column

 * Mil Mi-26
 * Mil Mi-8 Colors Party
 * Mil Mi-24
 * Mil Mi-28
 * Mil Mi-35 (first appearance)
 * Kamov Ka-52
 * Mikoyan MiG-29
 * Sukhoi Su-24
 * Sukhoi Su-34
 * Sukhoi Su-27
 * Mikoyan MiG-31
 * Ilyushin Il-76
 * Ilyushin Il-78
 * Tupolev Tu-22M3
 * Tupolev Tu-95
 * Tupolev Tu-160
 * Beriev A-50
 * Sukhoi Su-25
 * Antonov An-124
 * Antonov An-22
 * Yakovlev Yak-130 (first appearance)