Russian government has decided to cut down on celebrations marking 75 years of the Soviet Union’s victory in Work War II, thanks to the coronavirus outbreak. With the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, President Vladimir Putin has postponed the Victory Day celebrations, which is a huge event including a parade at the Red Square showcasing Moscow’s military ammunition, indefinitely.
With the country’s economy slipping and his approval rating being at an all-time low, President Putin had taken the decision to postpone the event. This comes as an after-effect of the fact that as of Friday, Russia had reported 187,859 coronavirus cases and 1,723 deaths.
While talking about this issue, Putin had said that while the Victory Day celebration was sacred to Russia, a social event of that scale was too dangerous in the face of the pandemic.
Instead, President Putin will place flowers at the Eternal Flame war memorial outside the walls of Kremlin and address the country. Although the country continues to be under lockdown, fly-pasts by the Russian Air Force with a full array of jets and helicopters will be carried out throughout the country as well as in Syria, where they have a military base. All other celebrations have been moved to online platforms.