The Kremlin Decided to Postpone the Parade on May 9

Why the authorities still can not choose a new date The Kremlin decided to postpone the Victory Day parade from May 9 to a later date, sources told RBC. Officially, it is planned to announce about the postponement this week. The Kremlin decided not to hold the Victory Day parade on May 9, told RBC three sources close to the presidential administration, and an interlocutor close to the Ministry of Defense. It is planned to officially announce the postponement of the parade before the end of this week, it is expected that Vladimir Putin make make the corresponding announcement in person, two RBC sources close to the Kremlin specified. According to one of the interlocutors, the postponement can be announced on Thursday, April 16, at the Security Council meeting. RBC sent inquiries to the presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov and the Ministry of Defense. On Wednesday, it became known that three organizations uniting war veterans asked the president to postpone the parade from May 9 to a later date. The appeal was signed by the president of the Russian Association of Heroes, the head of the State Duma’s defense committee Vladimir Shamanov, the chairman of the All-Russian public organization of veterans (pensioners) of the war, labor, armed forces and law enforcement agencies Vladimir Epifanov and the head of the All-Russian public organization of veterans of the Armed Forces Viktor Yermakov. “We asked the president to postpone the Victory Day parade on May 9 in Moscow because of the situation with the coronavirus,” said Vladimir Shamanov to RBC. “The date of the event will depend primarily on the epidemiological situation. As options, we can consider June 24 - that day in 1945 the Victory Parade on Red Square was held - or September 3, the day of the end of World War II,” the deputy explained. After the appeal became known, Peskov said that the head of state would definitely consider it. RBC sources close to the Kremlin found it difficult to answer the question of whether the parade would be postponed to a specific date or, as was the case with the vote on constitutional amendments, there would be no new date. An interlocutor close to the Ministry of Defense said that the exact date of the parade has not yet been determined. Another source close to the Kremlin said the same thing, according to which it is difficult to set a new date, since there is no understanding yet how the situation with the coronavirus will develop. “So far, everyone is quietly hoping that the parade will be held in June,” he adds. Earlier, RBC sources close to the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense said that they were considering options for holding the May 9 parade without spectators and moving it to early September (the anniversary of the end of World War II) or early November, in honor of the 1941 military parade.