Russian Kursk and Belgorod regions cancel Victory Day celebrations for security reasons
A Victory Day Parade will not be held in the Russian city of Kursk on May 9 for security reasons, said the governor of the region Roman Starovoit. According to him, the decision was made by the operational headquarters, which decided to strengthen anti-terrorist measures.
A military parade on May 9 was also canceled in the Belgorod region last week. The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced that he did not want to "provoke the enemy with a large number of equipment and military personnel in the center of Belgorod."
The authorities of the regions say that the procession of the "Immortal Regiment" may still take place, but the format of this even has not yet been provided.
Last year, the Victory Day parade was also cancelled in Belgorod, but in Kursk the celebrations took place.
Regional authorities can independently decide whether to hold the Victory Day parade on May 9 or not, said Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov in an interview with the news agency RIA Novosti. According to Peskov, the parade on Red Square in Moscow will take place.
Russian Kursk and Belgorod regions are bordering Ukraine. It is still not confirmed if the other border regions such as Rostov-on-Don and Bryansk, will cancel the Victory Day celebrations. According to the news outlet Evening Moscow, this year military parades will be held in 28 Russian cities. In total, more than 55 thousand people and about 1.2 thousand units of weapons and military equipment will take part in them.