The Ministry of Defence on Wednesday announced that India would be sending a 75-member Tri-Service contingent to participate in the upcoming Victory Day parade in Russia, which will mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory against Nazi Germany.
The parade, initially scheduled on May 9—the date of Nazi Germany’s capitulation to the Allied Forces—was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The new date, June 24, marks the 75th anniversary of the original Soviet Victory Day parade in 1945.
Along with the Indian contingent will be contingents from 12 other countries, including China. The contingents will march in Moscow’s historic Red Square, one after the other.
“On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War, there will be a military parade in Moscow to honour the heroism and sacrifices made by the Russian and other friendly people...Raksha Mantri has agreed to send a 75-member Tri-Service contingent to participate in the parade, where contingents of other countries are also expected to participate. The participation in the parade will be a mark of tribute and solidarity with the people of Russia at a time when they remember their heroes of the Great Patriotic War,” read a release by the Ministry of Defence.
The presence of Indian and Chinese troops together in the same parade comes as the two countries are engaged in a tense face-off in locations along the border with Ladakh, with over 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers having lost their lives in a skirmish on Tuesday—the first loss of Indian life in a clash with Chinese forces since 1975.
China has already dispatched 105 of its soldiers to the parade, sending a contingent of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) honor guard members on an indigenously-developed Y-20 transport aircraft to Moscow on June 15, according to the Global Times.
Moscow’s official position on the mounting tensions between India and China has been to welcome dialogue between the two sides, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday saying Russia welcomed the discussions and measures for de-escalations taking place between Indian and Chinese military representatives.
Calling the clashes “very concerning,” he said that China and India “are capable by themselves of taking steps so that such situations do not happen again... and so that this region is safe for the peoples of China and India," as reported by the Moscow Times.
The parade is scheduled to take place despite opposition from leaders like Alexei Navalny, who said the crowds of soldiers would be a potential “breeding ground” for the coronavirus. As of June 17, Russia had the third-most number of COVID-19 cases in the world after the Brazil and the United States, with over 552,000 cases and over 7,400 deaths.
Safety of those present will be of paramount concern.
“All PLA personnel wore face masks, gloves and goggles upon their arrival in Moscow and took COVID-19 nucleic acid tests before going through customs according to procedures,” the Global Times report said.
“They have checked in at a sanatorium in Moscow and would hold three rehearsals prior to the parade. They will undergo physical examinations every day and take COVID-19 tests every two days in accordance with Russian mechanisms and are prohibited from contacting external personnel,” it added.
This will be the first time that all three services of the Indian Armed Forces are represented in the parade; only the Indian Army participated in the 2015 V-Day parade (which was the first time India participated in the V-Day parade in Russia).
While Russia had invited several world leaders to the parade in 2019, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as of June 11, the attendance of 12 foreign leaders was confirmed, most being heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russian news agency TASS reported.
Russia had re-invited several leaders on account of changing schedules due to COVID-19, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters on May 28, "It's quite a short period for compiling the schedules of international leaders,” and adding that invitations would be "coordinated on a case-by-case basis” according to the Moscow Times.
Both India (under the British Raj) and China were part of the Allied powers in World War II. Both countries have had a regular presence at these parades—the 2015 V-Day parade saw Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Chinese President Xi Jinping in attendance.
Over 13,000 troops and over 130 “items of advanced weapon systems” will be involved in the Victory Day Parade in Moscow’s Red Square, according to TASS. The USSR lost an estimated 27 million lives in the course of the war with Nazi Germany.