Moscow’s May 9 parade becomes shortest in modern history

9 May, 01:45 PM
The 45-minute parade in Moscow on May 9, 2026, was the shortest on record. (Photo: Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS)

The 45-minute parade in Moscow on May 9, 2026, was the shortest on record. (Photo: Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS)

Author: Alex Stezhensky

Moscow’s May 9 parade on Red Square lasted just 45 minutes, making it the shortest in modern history, The Moscow Times reported.

Russia’s Victory Day celebration was cut nearly in half compared with the 2025 anniversary parade, which lasted 1.5 hours.

The previous short marks came in 2024, when the procession lasted just over 50 minutes, and in 2023, when it lasted about 47 minutes.

From 2010 to 2022, Moscow’s parades lasted at least an hour. The exception was the 2017 parade, which was cut to 50 minutes because bad weather prevented the aviation display, The Moscow Times reported.

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For the first time in 19 years, Moscow’s parade was held without military hardware. Instead of missile launchers and tanks, only columns of soldiers marched across Red Square. Organizers replaced the weapons display with video footage showing drones and nuclear weapons. The videos also showed “samples of the latest Russian equipment,” as well as the nuclear submarines Arkhangelsk and Knyaz Vladimir.

Earlier reports said the May 9 parade was accompanied by broad internet shutdowns in central Moscow. It was held with a limited number of foreign guests.

Dictator Vladimir Putin, speaking on Red Square, claimed “victories” in the war in Ukraine despite successful Ukrainian attacks on targets deep inside Russia and Russia’s slowing advance along the front line.

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