Kremlin cancels 9 May parades in 21 cities

Russian authorities have cancelled parades on 9 May in at least 21 cities where they took place last year, including those in occupied Crimea. Source: Russian outlet Verstka Details: According to the publication, parades were cancelled "for security reasons" in Kaluga, Ryazan, Orel, Saratov, the city of Gusev in Kaliningrad Oblast, Lipetsk and Yelets, as well as Tyumen, which is located at a considerable distance from the front line.

In Pskov and Velikiye Luki, the authorities are concerned about security and "moral and ethical aspects". According to Mikhail Vedernikov, the governor of Pskov Oblast, many military personnel come to the region for rehabilitation, and they may "perceive the sounds of fireworks in a completely different way", and the funds "that are pledged for fireworks can be spent on basic necessities for the participants of the Special Military Operation [what the Russians call the war in Ukraine - ed.]".

In Kursk, they decided not to hold the parade, "taking into account the current situation," while in Belgorod it was decided "not to provoke the enemy with a large number of clusters of equipment and military personnel" in the city centre. The authorities in Krasnodar Krai have not formally announced the cancellation of parades in Krasnodar and Sochi but said that military equipment could only be seen in Novorossiysk. 

In Bryansk, the authorities have not explained why they could not hold a parade. 

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Victory parades will not be held in the occupied Crimean cities of Kerch and Simferopol. The parade in Sevastopol was also cancelled.

According to Sergey Aksenov, the Russian-appointed "head" of the peninsula, this decision was made for "security reasons". 

In addition, parades are not planned in Nizhnevartovsk, Surgut and Khanty-Mansiysk, which are far from the front.

The authorities claim that in this way, they want to express "solidarity with other regions of the country, where festive events have already been cancelled for security reasons."

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