Russia’s Defense Ministry has quietly canceled this year’s Army-2025 military and technical forum, its largest annual defense exhibition where the country typically showcases its latest weapons and military innovations, the pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia reported Wednesday, citing an anonymous source familiar with the situation.
The Kommersant business daily later corroborated the report, citing several sources in the defense industry.
The forum, which had been scheduled for Aug. 11-14 at the military-themed Patriot Park outside Moscow, has been removed from the venue’s event calendar without explanation.
An archived version of the Patriot Park website shows Army-2025 on its calendar.
The official Army-2025 website remains active, and no formal announcement of the cancellation has been made through its Telegram channel or VKontakte page.
Held annually since 2015, the Army forum serves as the Defense Ministry’s flagship platform for presenting new technologies from Russia’s defense industry.
Though the event has never been canceled before, not even during the Covid-19 pandemic its scale has diminished in recent years. After traditionally spanning a week, the 2024 edition was shortened to three days.
Organizers had previously claimed that more than 800 companies, including some international participants, had reserved exhibition space for this year’s event.
The Defense Ministry has not yet confirmed the reports.
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