Scale down: British intelligence assesses May 9 parade in Russia
On Thursday, May 9, Russia held a traditional military parade in Moscow. This year, however, it was smaller in scale due to the heavy losses in the war in Ukraine.
This is reported by espreso.tv
It is noted that parades were canceled in 24 cities by May 9, primarily in those regions bordering Ukraine, probably due to low security.
Despite the fact that Russia has resumed flights of military aircraft, only nine SU-30SM and MiG-29 aircraft, as well as six SU-25 attack aircraft, were in the sky
"The Moscow parade was reduced in scale, as fewer modern military equipment was demonstrated compared to previous years", analysts say.
A total of 9,000 cadets, veterans and military personnel took part in the parade. In contrast, in 2023 there were 8 thousand, and in 2021 – 11 thousand. The parade also featured 61 military vehicles, while there were no heavy-armored vehicles or tracked military equipment.
The World War II-era T-34 ceremonial tank, which traditionally kicks off the parade, was the only main battle tank present. This contrasts with the 2020 Moscow parade, which featured 20 main battle tanks.
"Given the significant losses of Russian personnel and equipment as a result of the war in Ukraine, Russia was unable to use parades to demonstrate military power", the intelligence service said.
- Russian hackers on Thursday, May 9, hacked the satellite signal of the Ukrainian channels of the StarLightMedia group and Inter: instead, they launched a broadcast of the parade in Moscow.
