News / National
Mugabe arrives in Moscow
08 May 2015 at 07:52hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe is in Moscow at the invitation of the Russian Federation to attend the 70th anniversary celebration of Soviet Union's victory over Germany Nazism which marked the end of the 2nd World War.
President Mugabe landed at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow on Friday morning.
He was met by the Deputy Director of Protocol and Foreign Affairs, Zimbabwe's charge de affairs in Moscow Andrew Maria who introduced him to other embassy staffers who were also in the welcoming party.
Though the Soviet Union lost 25 million citizens during World War II, they went on to become the great war's game changers.
With Adolf Hitler's Nazi war machine having outclassed allied power houses such as France, the breakthrough was made by the Soviet Union forces who drove the German troops from the eastern front until they marched into Berlin.
Hitler committed suicide and on the 8th of May 1945, Germany signed surrender papers and the following day, Soviet Union troops had a victory parade.
Victory Day was inaugurated in the 16 republics of the Soviet Union following the signing of the surrender document on 8 May 1945 in Berlin.
Apart from the anniversaries in 1965 and 1985, Victory Day celebrations in the Soviet Union did not feature a military parade.
This tradition started in 1995.
President Mugabe will attend this year's Victory Parade, which is expected to be one of the biggest as it marks 70 years of allied victory on the European continent.
Other invited heads of state and government are from Armenia, Serbia, Vietnam, China, North Korea, Khazakstan and India, among others.
The return of Crimea to Russian Federation last year and the subsequent disturbances in Donetsk, Ukraine have caused some countries that fought in the war to stay away from the celebrations.
Germany, Belarus, Austria, Bulgaria and Estonia are not participating.
War machinery and equipment that include tanks, guns, war vehicles and aircraft will be paraded.
Various sections of the armed forces divisions will participate in the parade including engineering forces, the Pacific Naval Military Institute and foreign contingents from Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.
President Mugabe landed at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow on Friday morning.
He was met by the Deputy Director of Protocol and Foreign Affairs, Zimbabwe's charge de affairs in Moscow Andrew Maria who introduced him to other embassy staffers who were also in the welcoming party.
Though the Soviet Union lost 25 million citizens during World War II, they went on to become the great war's game changers.
With Adolf Hitler's Nazi war machine having outclassed allied power houses such as France, the breakthrough was made by the Soviet Union forces who drove the German troops from the eastern front until they marched into Berlin.
Hitler committed suicide and on the 8th of May 1945, Germany signed surrender papers and the following day, Soviet Union troops had a victory parade.
Victory Day was inaugurated in the 16 republics of the Soviet Union following the signing of the surrender document on 8 May 1945 in Berlin.
This tradition started in 1995.
President Mugabe will attend this year's Victory Parade, which is expected to be one of the biggest as it marks 70 years of allied victory on the European continent.
Other invited heads of state and government are from Armenia, Serbia, Vietnam, China, North Korea, Khazakstan and India, among others.
The return of Crimea to Russian Federation last year and the subsequent disturbances in Donetsk, Ukraine have caused some countries that fought in the war to stay away from the celebrations.
Germany, Belarus, Austria, Bulgaria and Estonia are not participating.
War machinery and equipment that include tanks, guns, war vehicles and aircraft will be paraded.
Various sections of the armed forces divisions will participate in the parade including engineering forces, the Pacific Naval Military Institute and foreign contingents from Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.
Source - zbc
