Troops ready for Red Square

7th May 2010

© bazylek100 The Polish army will march amongst other NATO troops Share:

Polish troops will join soldiers from three other NATO states to march through Red Square for the first time as Russia prepares to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In an unprecedented move, Sunday 9th will witness soldiers from Poland, Britain, France and the U.S. take to the square as Russia shows off a number of old nuclear missiles that at one point threatened its now Western allies.

In addition to 10,000 Russian troops and an array of military hardware, the square is being draped in red flags and banners in what is the nation’s largest WWII parade since the fall of the Soviet state.

Controversial plans to hang up posters and flags showing images of dictator Joseph Stalin around the capital have been scrapped, although they are to be featured in museums.

“Our people won victory in the toughest war of the 20th century, saved their country and Europe from Fascism and gave us all a future,” said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this week.

“And it is our duty to honour and remember the heroism of every protector of the motherland.”

But not everybody in Russia is behind the move. According to Ivan Melnikov, vice president of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the presence of veterans from the anti-Hitler coalition parties is “possible”, if they are to attend as observers, but lines must be drawn at foreign troops taking part in the country’s procession.

“These are soldiers from countries that are members of the aggressive military NATO alliance. They are dreaming about being on Red Square - we shouldn’t be helping them achieve this dream.”