Scheduled Victory Day air shows were canceled at locations across Russia, including Moscow, St. Petersburg and the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported Monday.
The decision raised eyebrows among foreign military analysts who watched Moscow’s Victory Day parade on Monday. The parade was expected to feature 77 aircraft flying over the capital’s Red Square, including eight MiG-29 fighters flying in a “Z” formation to show support for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the air show in Moscow has been canceled due to weather conditions, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Air shows were also canceled in Samara, Kaliningrad and Murmansk, TASS wrote.
Sounds incredible. It looked sunny from what I saw. The only excuse would be strong crosswinds at the airbases the plane came from,” Peter Layton, a fellow at Australia’s Griffith Asia Institute and former Australian Air Force officer, told DailyExpertNews.
During the parade in Moscow, there were wind speeds of about 25 mph, with gusts of about 50 mph at 11 a.m. local time. Cloud cover also increased during the morning with mostly cloudy skies during the parade, according to DailyExpertNews meteorologist Monica Garrett.
Light rain was reported after 12:30 PM.
The only flypast planned in southern Russia, to be held in the city of Rostov-on-Don, did not take place, TASS said, citing the Southern Military District’s press service.
