Russia celebrates Victory Day on May 9

The military parade dedicated to the 66th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-45 Great Patriotic War was launched on Moscow's Red Square at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (06:00 GMT) and continued for about an hour.

In a speech to the troops and guests, President Dmitry Medvedev said: "The duty of our generation is to safeguard peace achieved by the Victory," adding that the modernization and development of the Armed Forces remains a key priority for the Russian leadership.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov also attended the parade, RIA Novosti reports.

20 thousand military personnel were involved in the parade. Two hundred officers from Russia's elite special forces joined in for the first time. The military hardware on show included rocket launchers, personnel carriers and tanks.

According to the latest research, 26.6 million people from the Soviet Union lost their lives in the Second World War. More than eight and a half million of those were soldiers, euronews says.