Support The Moscow Times!

May 9 Parade Rehearsals to Limit Downtown Traffic

Stop by Tverskaya Ulitsa on Tuesday evening if you would like to catch a glimpse of the tanks being used in this year's Victory Day parade on Red Square.

But don't plan on arriving in you car.

The street and other parts of central Moscow will be closed to traffic because of the parade rehearsal, Interfax reported Monday, citing the police.

Traffic will be closed on the stretch of the Tverskaya Ulitsa from Pushkin Square to Ulitsa Okhotny Ryad from 9 p.m. Tuesday until the end of the rehearsal.

Police have appealed to all drivers to be careful on the road, obey road signs and requests by police officers, and to prepare alternative routes for travel in the city center on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, 100 pieces of heavy equipment involved in the Victory Day parade have been moved from their permanent base in Alabino near the capital to Khodynskoye Polye, Defense Ministry spokesman Major Anton Goncharov told Interfax.

He said it took just over three hours for a column of militarty vehicles to travel from Alabino, along Minskoye Shosse, to Moscow.

Other equipment, including T-90 tanks and self-propelled artillery, was transported to Moscow by rail on 48 flatbed cars and unloaded at the Presnya station. From there the armor was taken to a gathering point oat Khodynskoye Polye, the official said.

More than 11,000 personnel and 101 pieces of heavy equipment will take part in the Victory Day parade on May 9, Goncharov said.

Three more night rehearsals — with street closures — will take place on April 25, 29 and May 3, and a daytime dress rehearsal will be held on Red Square on May 7, Interfax said.

Read more