The military parade to mark the 77th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War began in Tskhinval. To the sounds of the song "Holy War", the national flag of the Republic and the banner of Victory were carried to the square.
Incumbent President Anatoly Bibilov, former presidents Ludwig Chibirov and Leonid Tibilov, Russian Ambassador to the Republic Marat Kulakhmetov, veterans, heads of the law enforcement agencies, ministries and departments, as well as the invited guests, rose to the podium.
The parade is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Fyodorov, and Defense Minister Vladimir Pukhaev is hosting the parade.
The march of a foot column was opened by a company of drummers and a guard of honor. The crews of the Defense Ministry will march along the main square - officers, sergeants, soldiers, cadets, pupils of the Cadet School, "boxes" of female servicemen.
" I congratulate you on the 77th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War! South Ossetia is once again celebrating a great memorable day, which in the distant 1945 marked the end of the horror of war and deliverance from the deadly threat for the fraternal peoples of the Soviet Union and for all mankind," Bibilov said at the beginning of his speech.
He has noted that celebrating the holy holiday of Victory, this great memorable day, we pay tribute to the heroism of Soviet soldiers.
"With their courage, their blood, fortitude and devotion to the Fatherland, they paved a victorious path in battles - from the mountains of the Caucasus, from the plains near Moscow, from the steppes of the Volga and Donbass, from the Karelian granite rocks and northern seas to the very capital of Nazi Germany. Now living generations in unrequited debt to those who died for the Motherland in that terrible war.
Victory Day for us is a memory of courage, heroism and selflessness. Memory of the price of Victory. The sons of Ossetia smashed the enemy on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War, not sparing their lives for the sake of victory," the President has emphasized.
About 800 servicemen, banner groups and parade crews of the Defense Ministry and the Border Guard Service of the KGB of South Ossetia, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Justice of the Republic, the Border Directorate of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and the 4th Guards Military Base of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation, stationed in the Republic.
On the main square of Tskhinval there will be a horse patrol of Russian border guards. By tradition, the cavalry is led by a light gray horse - a direct descendant of the legendary Kumir, the horse of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, on which he hosted the Victory Parade in 1945.
Following them, as part of a mechanized military column on the main square of the capital of the Republic, more than 50 units of military equipment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic and the ministries of defense of Russia and South Ossetia will drove, including multiple launch rocket systems BM-21 "Grad", tanks, armored personnel carriers BTR-82A, howitzers and others.
Immediately after the parade, the procession of the "Immortal Regiment" will begin, thousands of residents of the Republic will carry photographs of their grandfathers, relatives, defenders of Ossetia. Minister of Culture of South Ossetia Zhanna Zasseeva has noted that about 10,000 participants are taking part this year.
She has explained that for all the years of work of the headquarters of the Immortal Regiment of South Ossetia, more than 9 thousand photographs of participants in the Great Patriotic War – natives of the Republic were collected. In total, 23,736 people went to the front from South Ossetia, 11.7 thousand perished, more than 7 thousand went missing. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 36 Ossetians.
Schoolchildren of the Republic will carry in front of the stands a 40-meter copy of the Victory Banner, which on April 30, 1945 was hoisted on the roof of the Reichstag building in Berlin by the Red Army.
Commemorative events on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War began in South Ossetia the day before. In the capital of the Republic, wreaths were laid at the obelisks of heroes on the Walk of Fame.
The celebration will end with a big festive concert on the Theater Square of the capital and the May Victory fireworks.
