How Putin's 'Toned Down' Victory Parade Compared to Previous Years

Vladimir Putin may have wanted to portray Russian military might during Tuesday's Victory Day event but the military parade in the heart of Moscow after his speech was much smaller than previous years' events.

Part World War II commemoration, part showcase of Russian firepower, the May 9 celebrations in Moscow's Red Square usually display pomp, pageantry and patriotism.

But this year, only 8,000 military personnel marched, which was the fewest since 2008, according to Russian language outlet Agentstvo.

This was down from the 14,000 who took part in 2020 and the 11,000 who marched in last year's event, which took place three months after Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since then, Russia has suffered huge losses of troops and military equipment. Some Victory Day events across the country were also canceled or curtailed amid security concerns.

In Moscow, there were several military formations absent this year, such as the 4th Guards Tank Division, the 2nd Guards Motorized Rifle Division, the 27th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 45th Separate Engineering Brigade, Agentsvo reported on its Telegram channel.

"This Victory Day parade also involved much less equipment than last time," the news outlet reported, noting that on display on Tuesday were the armored systems "Tiger," "Ural," "KamAZ," the missile systems "Iskander," S-400, "Yars," and the Boomerang armored personnel carrier.

However, of the main battle tanks (MBTs) only the T-34 was on show on Tuesday, compared with last year's event in which there were 10 T-72s, three Armatas and seven T-90s.

Absent this year were other military vehicles, including BMP-3s and BMP-2s, as well as armored personnel carriers such as BTR-MDM, BMD-4M, and Boomerangs, according to Agenstvo.

"The parade in Moscow took place without modern tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and aircraft and was one of the smallest in history," Russian news outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported. "The Victory Parade showed the exhaustion of the Russian army in the second year of the war in Ukraine. There were no Buks, Typhoons, there were no Armata tanks."

The outlet noted that there was no aviation component, either, and that "the walking column of the parade mainly consisted of cadets and students of military universities, and not military personnel."

Unlike in the previous year, the Russian Defense Ministry did not release any information about the composition of the parade. Newsweek reached out to the ministry via email for comment.

Meanwhile, the only foreign leaders present were from former Soviet countries which still have close ties with Moscow: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin was critical of Tuesday's events in a video address, taking aim at the Russian military establishment, its commanders and what he says is a lack of ammunition for his troops.

"Congratulations on the Victory Day achieved by our grandfathers," he said, "but it's a big question what we're celebrating."