NOVOSIBIRSK (Sputnik) — The country’s third biggest city and Siberia’s unofficial capital Novosibirsk celebrated Victory Day, which falls on May 9 in Russia, with a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument of a local military aviator hero.
Later in the day, the city held a parade featuring troops, armored vehicles and a fly-over by fighter and bomber jets, followed by a march of the so-called Immortal Regiment initiative that gathered some 15,000 people carrying portraits of their heroic forebears.
Helicopters were grounded during the parade in nearby Krasnoyarsk due to low-hanging clouds, which did not prevent fighter jets from taking off for the fly-by.
In Irkutsk, on Lake Baikal, 45,000 Immortal Regiment participants marched through the city's center to mark 71 years since the end of World War II. The march brought up the rear of a 70,000-strong Victory Day parade involving troops, cadets and advanced military vehicles.
