Russia cancels Red Square parade over drone strike concerns
The Kremlin as viewed from the Red Square (Photo: REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina)
Russia has canceled an annual military bands parade and show
on Red
Square in Moscow that was scheduled to run Aug. 21–24, organizers said on Telegram.
“The lavish parade, known as the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival, attracts thousands of visitors and brings together dozens of military bands in the heart of Moscow on Red Square near the Kremlin,” Politico wrote in its Aug. 17 report.
Launched in 2007 at the request of dictator Vladimir Putin, the festival is one of Russia’s best-known military-patriotic events, alongside the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow and Navy Day celebrations in St. Petersburg. In its early years, bands from European Union countries, Australia, and Canada took part, but international participation cratered after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“According to the festival’s Telegram channel, ‘the event has been postponed until 2027 due to circumstances beyond the organizers’ control,” the report added.
“The move comes amid an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital.”
The parade had been canceled only once before, in 2020,
because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
