Russia to hold Victory Parade without military equipment for first time in years

The Victory Day military parade is held in Moscow’s Red Square (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

Russia’s traditional parade marking the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War this year will take place without tanks, missiles and other military equipment, the Russian defence ministry has said.

It will be the first time in nearly two decades — and in the more than four years of Russia’s war in Ukraine — that no military equipment will rumble through Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, the day Russia celebrates its most important secular holiday.