Participation of Modern Russian Armor in Belarus Victory Day Parade Criticized

Images and footage showing rehearsals at the Lipki airfield for the planned Victory Day in Belarus, which marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the “Great Patriotic War,” included modern Russian and Belarusian combat vehicles.

Maj. Gen. Igor Kozlov, the deputy commander of Belarus’ Northwestern Operational Command, told Belarusian state media BelTA that the parade is intended to project strength and unity between Moscow and Minsk.

The celebratory military parade, which will take place in the center of the capital Minsk on May 9, has two distinct elements: a collection of World War II era Soviet military vehicles headed by a Chervonny T-34 tank followed by a combined column of modern Russian and Belarusian military hardware, which Belarusian Maj. Gen. Leonid Kasinsky said would “reflect today’s reality.”

“We have invited parade units from our friendly countries – the Russian Federation and China – as well as banner groups from [Commonwealth of Independent States] CIS member states. Some of them have already confirmed their participation,” Kasinsky told Russian state media TASS in February, referring to the Moscow-led CIS bloc comprising some ex-USSR states.

The military issues website DefenceBlog said footage from the rehearsal showed Russian T-72 tanks, BTR-80 and BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers and 240mm 2S4 Tyulpan heavy mortars.

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They also showed Tigr-M SpN, Spartak, Linza, Chinese-made CS/VN3 Dajiang armored cars and 152mm Msta-B howitzers.

This led several Russian milbloggers, including the pro-Kremlin commentator “Military Informant,” to question the decision to use combat vehicles in a ceremonial parade as the fighting in Ukraine continues.

“It’s a fair question whether it makes sense to parade armored vehicles that are desperately needed on the front – but as always, the organizers know best,” the channel wrote.

Despite this understated criticism, DefenceBlog suggests it reflects continuing tensions within the Russian military community over the huge equipment losses Russia has suffered over the last three years of fighting in Ukraine.  

According to the open-source intelligence platform Oryx, Russia has lost around 3,800 tanks and more than 8,000 other armored combat vehicles since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.