Sophisticated military hardware will be paraded during May's Victory Day Parade in Moscow for the first time since the split up of the U.S.S.R, a military official said on Wednesday.

Celebrations to mark the end of Russia's participation in WWII are to be held on Red Square on May 9.

The victory parade will see a display of the country's most advanced military technology, such as BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, T-90 tanks, Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile mobile launchers, Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers.

"After a 17-year-long break, the president of Russia took the decision to resume military parades with military hardware," Moscow Military District Commander General Vladimir Bakin said, adding that the Topol-M launchers would not be carrying missiles during the parade.

Bakin also said over four thousand fireworks would be launched at the celebrations.

The first Victory Parade was held on Red Square on June 24, 1945 on the order of the then-Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Stalin.

RIA Novosti


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