By Canadian Press

Putin postpones World War II victory parade due to virus

Apr 16, 2020 | 9:02 AM

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered the postponement Thursday of a Victory Day parade marking the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II, an event planned as a lavish celebration that has topped the Kremlin’s political agenda.

Speaking in televised remarks on Thursday, a grim-faced Putin said the coronavirus pandemic makes public gatherings in Red Square too dangerous.

“The risks linked to the epidemic that hasn’t yet reached its peak are extremely high, and we don’t have the right to prepare for the parade and other festivities,” the Russian leader said, adding that the anniversary celebration will be held later this year.

The postponement follows Putin’s decision to put off a vote originally scheduled for this month on constitutional changes that would allow him to try to stay in office until 2036, if he desired.

The plebiscite and the Victory Day celebrations had dominated the Kremlin political agenda for months, and a painful decision to delay them followed weeks of procrastination.

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Putin has ordered a partial economic shutdown until April 30 and recently warned officials to prepare for the “most extraordinary” scenarios of the outbreak as the number of people infected in Russia has grown exponentially.

Since Soviet times, Victory Day has been the nation’s most revered holiday, reflecting the country’s enormous number of casualties and sacrifices during World War II. Russian officials have put the nation’s death toll at 27 million, and some historians think it could be higher.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron and other foreign leaders had promised to attend this year’s parade, which was to involve 14,000 troops and 300 military vehicles in a massive show of Russian military might.

Russian troops already had started rehearsing for the parade, drilling at a range outside Moscow that was configured to resemble Red Square.

The Kremlin saw the Red Square celebrations as an opportunity to underline Russia’s vital role in defeating the Nazis and to showcase its international leverage. It would have been an important political coup for Russia, which has been under U.S. and the European sanctions over the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

While a quick rollback of sanctions never seemed plausible, the Kremlin hoped that the presence of Macron and possibly other Western leaders at the parade might provide momentum for normalizing ties.

Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press