Veterans are ill
Ten veterans of Armenia will leave for Moscow tomorrow to take part in the military parade dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory on May 9. However, three of the veterans from Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will not leave for Moscow due to health problems.
"They are not going because they are ill. We are currently looking for veterans to replace them," president of the board of Armenia's Union of Veterans, Colonel Hrant Hovhannisyan told "A1+". Hovhannisyan is also on the guest list.
Veteran of the Great Patriotic War Zhora Tunyan will not leave for Moscow either. He told "A1+" that he was supposed to give a speech at Tuapse, but refused to go.
"I fell down and my hip hurts. I refused to go and told them to give the speech to the veteran that will go," said Tunyan.
The Armenian parade column has left for Moscow to take part in the Victory parade. Attending the military parade will be RA Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan as well.
They promised a clear sky
Moscow has been preparing for the Victory military parade for a couple of weeks now and the main rehearsal ended today. During the festive parade, 159 military machines, 127 planes and helicopters will pass through Red Square.
The military parade will be headed by commander of the forces of Moscow's military oblast, General-Colonel Valery Gerasimov and will be received by Russian Minister of Defense Anatoli Serdyukov.
The first to pass through Red Square will be the platoons of the Russian artillery military and air forces dressed in clothes of the Great Patriotic War, followed by the entrance of veterans from the CIS countries.
This year, for the first time, the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition-member countries (Great Britain, France, USA and Poland) will also participate in the ceremonial parade.
Moscow authorities have promised that there will be a clear sky on May 9 because they have taken special measures and spent over 44 million rubles to disperse the clouds on that day.
According to information from the Russian Ministry of Defense, 26.6 million people were killed in the USSR in 1941-1945.
