The 2013 Moscow Victory Day Parade was a parade held in Red Square on 9 May 2013 to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the capitulation of the Third Reich in 1945. The annual parade marks the Allied victory in the Great Patriotic War on the same day as the signing of the German act of capitulation to the AlliesinBerlin, at midnight of May 9, 1945 (Moscow time). The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, delivered his tenth holiday address, and it was the first parade for both the Minister of Defense General of the Army Sergey Shoigu (parade inspector) and Russian Ground Forces commander Col. Gen. Vladimir Chirkin (parade commander), replacing Valery Gerasimov who has been promoted to Chief of the General Staff. The parade this year included the Suvorov Military School and the Nakhimov Naval School for the first time in four years, and the first appearance from a Cossack cadet corps unit, joining the more than 11,000 service personnel that marched on Red Square, and the return of the full air fly over after two years. The BTR82A IFV made its parade debut this year as part of the mobile column. SevastopolinUkraine, where the Black Sea Fleet is based, and 23 Russian cities will also hold parades on this day. As per tradition Kharkiv and OdesainUkraine also hold a full commemorative parade on this day as well.[1]
Since November 2012, preparations for the parade have been well attended at the unit level. Individual and unit practices were held in the various military installations for all the participant units.[2]
In March 2013, the full rehearsal started at the training center at Alabino, Moscow Oblast. The parade preparations started on April 11–12 for all the units as the mobile column of more than a hundred military vehicles finished up their practice runs on the field. Also undertaking practice runs are the massed military bands that will take part in the parade led by Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov in his 11th Victory Day Parade appearance and the squadron of Mil Mi-8 helicopters from the Army Aviation Training Center for the fly past segment later on, which will feature various other military aircraft. In all 68 aircraft are taking part after a 2-year absence.[2]
Moscow practice runs for the parade proper commenced on April 24–26, 2013 on Red Square itself, and the practice runs ended on May 3 and 4 with two general practice runs. One final practice was scheduled for May 7, two days before the parade with Defense Minister Shoigu inspecting a full final rehearsal run, starting at 10 AM Moscow Time, the time in which the parade two days later will commence. Col. Gen. Chirkin led the marchers on that day's practice run on the Red Square grounds.[2]
As the parade practices commenced on April 11, the 154th Independent Commandant's Regiment, the official honor guard regiment of the Russian Armed Forces, joined the rehearsals as always as permanent participants, this time as the 154th Independent Commandant's Preobrazhensky Regiment, the new title bestowed on it several days ago via a Presidential executive order by Vladimir Putin in his constitutional duty as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. That very act was done on April 9 the same year. This entrustment of the honorary title is a continuation of the great military traditions of the Russian armed services ever since the raising of the first two regiments of the Imperial Russian Army by no less than Peter the Great himself as well as of both the Imperial Russian and Soviet Armies as a whole.
Bold indicates first appearance, italic indicates multiple appearances, Bold and italic indicate returning appearance.
