Moscow, May 9 (IANS): The annual Victory Day parade, this year celebrating the 70th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945, began on Saturday in this Russian capital.
The parade is being held in Moscow's Red Square, TASS news agency reported.
The parade marks the Allied victory on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. It also marks the signing of the German act of capitulation to the Allies in Berlin at midnight of May 9, 1945.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was joined by his Chinese and Indian counterparts Xi Jinping and Pranab Mukherjee and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The parade is being led by the Commander of the Land Forces. colonel General Oleg Salukov.
Military parades on a smaller scale are also being held in other cities, including Sevastopol in Crimea, and also in rebel-held Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.