A World War II ages Soviet army T-34 tank rolls during the Victory Day military parade at ... [+]
It didn't rain on Russian President Vladimir Putin's parade in Moscow – as it had on Saturday following King Charles III's coronation in London, which left spectators along with all the king's horses and all the king's men present a little worse for wear. However, the British troops still conveyed the usual pomp and circumstance, a fact noted by many on social media.
By contrast, on Tuesday, Putin and the Kremlin were mocked after only a single T-34 tank was present for the Victory Day Parade. Normally, the annual event sees thousands of Russian soldiers march through Red Square accompanied by hundreds of military vehicles.
The annual event, which has reached the level of spectacle under Putin, marks the Soviet Red Army's defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. However, this year, citing security concerns, the event was scaled back considerably, with fewer than 10,000 troops — reportedly consisting of cadets and students of military universities, not military staff — and just around 125 pieces of equipment.
In addition, nearly two dozen parades in other Russian cities had been canceled.
And in another marked contrast to King Charles III's coronation parade, even in the rain, a number of Royal Air Force (RAF) fighters and helicopters took to the skies in a fly-by over Buckingham Palace. The usual fly-by of Russian military aircraft over Red Square was also canceled entirely.
Social Media Mockery
Many military observers quickly took to social media to mock Russia and even Putin directly. Among those who noted the lack of hardware was Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en), advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and self-proclaimed official enemy of Russian propaganda. He noted that the Russian Ministry of Defense failed to publish any information about the parade's participants, a stark contrast to past years.
"The parade in Moscow didn't have any modern tanks, infantry fighting vehicles or aviation. It was one of the smallest in Russian history, taking less than 10 minutes," Gerashchenko noted.
Sergeij Sumlenny (@sumlenny), the founder of the European Resilience Initiative Center, suggested, "It looked like a parade of a 3rd class dictatorship, what it also was."
"The most humiliating military parade we saw in Moscow, ever. Seriously, it is so pathetic that I cannot stop laughing. Just one T-34-85 tank, the only tank," noted the military news site @Tendar.
Open-source intelligence group @Osinttechnical shared a similar sentiment, "The only Russian tank present at today's Victory Day parade in Moscow was a single T-34."
"By popular request: List Of Tanks That Took Part In #Russia's 2023 Victory Parade.
- 1 T-34/85," mocked the Dutch open-source military intelligence website Oryx (@oryxspioenkop), which has tracked Russian military losses in Ukraine.
"I think it is safe to assume that Ukrainian farmers now have a larger reserve of Russian tanks," suggested Kyiv Post correspondent Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart), noting the Russian tanks "stolen" or otherwise towed away by Ukrainian farmers with their tractors last year.
Why Not More T-34s At Least?
Russia was almost certainly forced to scale back the display of tanks and other armored vehicles due to the fact that it has lost significant numbers of modern equipment in the fighting in Ukraine. In addition, videos have circulated on social media in recent months showing the deployment of older hardware from the Cold War, including T-54/55 and T-62 tanks – most older than the crews operating them – being sent on railcars to the front.
Russia likely had no "modern" tanks to spare.
Yet, a question that wasn't asked on social media is why Russia didn't deploy more of its World War II-era T-34s. The Kremlin famously had gone to great efforts to acquire the vehicles for use in parades and patriotic-themed movies, even purchasing around 20 antique tanks from Laos in 2019.
The issue could be that in addition to the loss of tanks in Ukraine, Russia has lost significant numbers of tank crews. As a result, Tuesday's Victory Parade resembled what one might expect at a large-sized military vehicle show in Western Europe or the United States. It certainly earned the mockery as a result.
