preparations

Victory Day, next Sunday 9th May, is a big and important affair, especially with this being the 65th anniversary of the capitulation of the Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (known here as the Great Patriotic War).

The preparations are serious too. Moscow News has a story about the replica of Red Square which has been built in the village of Alabino, south-west of Moscow, for training soldiers over the last two months. And Ria Novosti, the state owned news agency, has a must-see video (if only for the glories of the voice-over) entitled Repainting military equipment for Victory Day parade.