One tank and no flypast at toned down V-Day parade in Moscow

People watch military hardware moving along the Garden Ring road after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9. 

(Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

Russia traditionally uses the Victory Day parade in Moscow to flex its military might. In previous years’ parades, tens of tanks have streamed across the Red Square as jets and helicopters ripped through the skies above.

But this year’s parade was a more modest event.

There was only one tank leading this year’s mechanized column – the T-34, a Soviet-era vehicle fielded by Russia during World War II.

At the 2022 parade, the T-34 was accompanied by several of the more modern T-90 and T-14. Neither of these models appeared in Wednesday’s celebration. Instead, the T-34 was accompanied by a procession of multipurpose fighting vehicles – the Tigr.

Tigr-M and VPK-Ural armored vehicles were also on display, but the main focus was the country’s state of the art air defense system – the S-400 – and its intercontinental ballistic system – the Yars, which forms part of Russia’s nuclear forces.

According to state news agency TASS, 125 items of military hardware were on display.

Despite weather forecasts showing relatively clear skies above Moscow, the usual fly past above Red Square was canceled, state media reported, without providing an explanation