General of the Army Vladimir Govorov, and Marshal Victor Kulikov inspecting the parade.

The 1995 Moscow Victory Day Parades (Russian: Парад Победы, tr. Parad Pobedy) were two military parades held on 9 May 1995 to commemorate the historic 50th anniversary golden jubilee of the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in 1945. The parades marked the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War.^[1] These were the first post-Soviet military parades held in Russia the first one being in held for veterans on Red Square at 8:00 in the morning followed by another parade of infantry and military equipment at Poklonnaya Hill at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Poklonnaya Hill Parade

The Poklonnaya Parade was the first parade in the post-Soviet era and the only one in the Yeltsin era to feature military hardware, which would not be displayed again until 2008.

The parade was observed by Russian leaders and foreign dignitaries from a provisional facade. Major political figures attending were President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin, First Lady Naina Yeltsina, and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. The parade was inspected by Minister of Defence General of the Army Pavel Grachev, who later made the keynote address (the last time that the Minister of Defense made such an address on a national parade) and commanded by Moscow Military District Commander Colonel General Leonid Kuznetsov. It was on that very parade where Russian soldiers paraded with new post-Soviet military uniforms. It was the first time since 1957 that aviation took part in the parade.^[2]

Among the new additions that debuted were the BMP-3, BMD-3, S-300 missile system, BM-30 Smerch and the 2S19 Msta SPG.

Red Square Parade

The Red Square Parade was another parade held in post-Soviet and in the Yeltsin era but did not feature military hardware, which would not be displayed again until 2008. This parade would feature all surviving veterans from all fronts marching past Red Square. The parade was observed by Russian leaders from Lenin's Mausoleum and more than 50 world leaders, most notably United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, President Jacques Santer, United States President Bill Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, British Prime Minister John Major, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Major political figures attending were President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. The parade was inspected by retired Marshal of the Soviet Union Viktor Kulikov and commanded by retired General of the Army Vladimir Govorov. In this parade, Russian President Boris Yeltsin delivered his first Victory Day address. This parade was also the only to feature and show the Iberian Gate and Chapel under construction on Red Square, which was later finished the following year. Among the notable veteran participants was pilot Stepan Borozenets.

Dignitaries in Attendance

In March 1995, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry announced a state visit by President Bill Clinton to Russia on 9 and 10 May to attend the celebrations as well as another visit to Ukraine on 11 May.^[3] One of the largest gathering of world leaders in Russian history, the 1995 parade was attended by a total of 56 foreign heads of state and government, along with 6 multilateral leaders.^[4][5]

• Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary General of the United Nations^[6]
• Javier Solana, the Secretary General of NATO
• Ivan Korotchenya, the Secretary General of CIS
• Cornelio Sommaruga, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross
• Federico Mayor Zaragoza, the Director General of UNESCO
• Jacques Santer, the President of the European Commission
• Tomiichi Murayama, the Prime Minister of Japan
• Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel
• Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister of Canada
• Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt
• Bill Clinton, the President of the United States of America and First Lady Hillary Clinton
• Jiang Zemin, the President of the People's Republic of China^[7]
• John Major, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• François Mitterrand, the President of France
• Marc Forne Molne, the Prime Minister of Andorra
• Helmut Kohl, the Federal Chancellor of Germany
• Manfred Gerlach, the former President of East Germany
• Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg
• Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the Prime Minister of Denmark
• Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Prime Minister of Norway
• Jozsef Antall, the Prime Minister of Hungary
• Felipe Gonzalez, the Prime Minister of Spain
• Mario Soares, the President of Portugal
• Ingvar Carlsson, the Prime Minister of Sweden
• Vigdis Finnbogadottir, the President of Iceland
• Mary Robinson, the President of Ireland
• Massimo D’Alema, the Prime Minister of Italy
• Wim Kok, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• Thomas Klestil, the President of Austria
• Pascal Couchepin, the Chancellor of Switzerland
• Zhelyu Zhelev, the President of Bulgaria
• Edward Fenech Adami, the Prime Minister of Malta
• Glafcos Klerides, the President of Cyprus
• Ion Iliescu, the President of Romania
• Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat, the President of Mongolia^[8]
• Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, the President of Greece
• Martti Ahtisaari, the President of Finland
• Jean-Luc Dehaene, the Prime Minister of Belgium
• Tansu Çiller, the Prime Minister of Turkey
• Rainier III, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco
• Michael Ritter, the Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
• Zoran Lilic, the President of Yugoslavia
• Franjo Tudman, the President of Croatia
• Kiro Gligorov, the President of Macedonia
• Alija Izetbegovic, the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Radovan Karadzic, the President of Republika Srpska
• Milan Kucan, the President of Slovenia
• Michal Kovac, the President of Slovakia
• Vaclav Havel, the President of the Czech Republic
• Alexander Kwasniewski, Leader of the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland
• Leonid Kuchma, the President of Ukraine
• Heydar Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan
• Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the President of Armenia
• Sali Berisha, the President of Albania
• Eduard Shevardnadze, the President of Georgia
• Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan
• Askar Akayev, the President of Kyrgyzstan
• Mircea Snegur, the President of Moldova
• Saparmurat Niyazov, the President of Turkmenistan
• Emomali Rahmon, the President of Tajikistan
• Islam Karimov, the President of Uzbekistan
• Rafic Hariri, the Prime Minister of Lebanon
• Lee Hong-koo, the Prime Minister of South Korea
• Pranab Mukherjee,^[9] the Deputy Prime Minister of India
• Lê Đức Anh, the President of Vietnam
• John Howard, the Leader of the Opposition of Australia
• Don McKinnon, the Foreign Minister of New Zealand

Also present were plenty of Foreign Diplomats and representatives of all Second World War veterans from the European and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations.

Music

References

External links

Watch parade scenes here:

• The Russian evening newscast featuring the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of V-E Day in Russia on C-SPAN