May 12, 2024

Snowing on Your Parade


Snowing on Your Parade
Delightful May weather in Moscow. Office of the President of Russia

Each year on May 9, Russia's leaders gather on Red Square for the country's main patriotic holiday: Victory Day, marking the defeat of the Axis in World War II. It's a dazzling sight: thousands of uniformed men and women, blaring marches, tanks, aircraft, and a speech from Putin.

Usually.

This year, however, was a bit... wonky. Here's what we noticed this time around. Check out a video of the entire event here.

Notably present:
  • Snow. Moscow saw an especially cold winter this past year, but one would think May would be a safe time (corroborated by hedgehog predictors). Not so: soldiers trooped through flurries, and Putin and other spectators wore heavy coats and hats.
  • An eclectic group. Victory Day's diplomatic guests often include foreign dignitaries from Russian allies, like Belarus and Central Asian countries. This year included the old standards, like our buddy Alexandr Lukashenko, and also the presidents of Cuba and Guinea-Bissau. Guinea-Bissau was not independent in the 1940s, although Cuba fought on the side of the Allies.
  • A garrulous veteran. Watch the stream to see Putin patiently indulge a talkative old man sitting next to him as he watches the parade, somewhat annoyed. Somehow it's strangely relatable to hearing out elderly relatives.
Notably absent:
  • A shoe. One unlucky soldier's shoe was left on the pavement, drawing social media ridicule. This is not the first time this has happened, but perhaps the first for Moscow.
  • Putin's voice. Putin's speech was, to be frank, a bit of a letdown. Lurching, abrupt, with a handful of fumbles (his voice catching, pages sticking, sudden moment of silence). The content was nothing special, either: the typical "fight against fascism" trope that's trotted out every year.
  • Badass military hardware. The highlight of the parade for our inner 13-year-old is the horde of tanks, trucks, and APCs that crawl across Red Square, followed by flybys of the latest in Russian military planes. This year, though, only one tank was present (an iconic WW2-era T-34), followed by missile trucks and light infantry transports. Two plane formations flew overhead, getting some (admittedly really cool) overhead shots of Red Square.  These were Su-25 ground attack aircraft (with smoke to appear like the Russian flag) and a small formation of Mig-29s and Su-30s. A far cry from just a couple years ago, when bombers thundered over the square in mid-air refueling and Red Square saw BMPT "Terminators" and the latest T-14 heavy tanks.

So what are we to make of it? Wartime shoestrings (thanks to the ongoing war in Ukraine)? Or just a couple blips? Hard to say. Maybe we'll have more to see next year, with the 80th anniversary of V-Day coming in 2025.

You Might Also Like

Victory Day and cheeky chess pieces
  • May 11, 2017

Victory Day and cheeky chess pieces

Victory Day meant full streets but empty skies. A hollow chess piece hides more than its next move. And a day in the life of an Arctic doctor. 
Why Invading Russia was Hitler's Downfall
  • June 22, 2020

Why Invading Russia was Hitler's Downfall

June 22, 2020, marks the 79th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of Russia that changed the course of WWII and, perhaps, history itself.
Putin's Victorious Summer
  • July 08, 2020

Putin's Victorious Summer

This year's Victory Day parade was a sight to behold⁠— and we might be seeing its effects for the next 16 years.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955