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President Vladimir Putin on Thursday postponed a landmark military parade to honour the 75th anniversary of Soviet victory in World War II, as Russia struggles to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
The “risks associated with the epidemic, whose peak has not passed yet, are extremely high,” Putin said in an address to the nation at the start of a meeting of his Security Council.
“This does not give me the right to begin preparations for the parade and other mass events now.”
The postponement will be seen as yet another blow to the Russian leader after the pandemic earlier forced Putin to cancel a key vote this month on consitutional reforms that would have paved the way for him to retain power until 2036.
In his address, Putin described the May 9 commemorations as “holy” to Russians, and promised to hold the military parade later this year.
“We will force the threat which we are facing today to retreat,” he vowed.
Russia commemorates the Soviet victory over the Nazis each year on May 9 with a massive military display that sees thousands of troops and tanks parade through Red Square and military jets fly in formation over the capital
This year’s parade was meant to be a major showcase for Putin, with world leaders and veterans from all over Russia invited to watch and take part in events over four days.
Putin initially appeared reluctant to postpone the event, but the ambitious plans looked increasingly unrealistic as the number of coronavirus infections grew in recent weeks.
Virus cases in Russia are accelerating, with a new record increase of 3,448 infections reported on Thursday.
According to official figures, there have been 27,938 coronavirus cases and 232 deaths, but the real number is believed to be higher.
Thursday’s announcement came a day after veterans groups urged the Kremlin to call off the event over health concerns.
A letter signed by the heads of three veterans’ organisations urged Putin to “take a difficult but, as we see it, fair decision to hold the military parade on another date”.
The letter called on the Kremlin to hold the celebrations at a time when the parade would “not to be a threat, but a real celebration of peace and security for all its participants”.
– ‘Symbolic loss’ –
Ekaterina Schulmann, a political scientist and former member of Putin’s human rights council, said the decision, however rational and expected, represented a “symbolic loss”.
“Victory Day is a kind of secular Easter, the nearest thing Russia has to a state religion,” she told AFP, adding the announcement was a particular hit to the Kremlin “coming on top of” the delayed April vote.
Before the pandemic, world leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron were expected to attend the military parade that was set to last 90 minutes and include 15,000 troops and the latest missile systems.
It was unclear whether other cities throughout Russia planned to go head with their own WWII anniversary celebrations.
Alexander Lukashenko, the strongman leader of neighbouring Belarus, has vowed that his country’s parade will go ahead. While Ex-Soviet Moldova on Wednesday announced it was postponing its May 9 events.
The pandemic had earlier thwarted a critical political event for Putin.
Russians were due on April 22 to vote on landmark constitutional reforms, which would have paved the way for Putin, 67, to potentially stay in power until 2036.
Critics had described the reforms, which included a last-minute amendment to reset presidential terms, as a pretext to allow Putin to become “president for life”.