"In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, I order on May 9, 2020, at 22:00 local time, to produce artillery salutes ... with thirty blank salvos of artillery pieces and launching fireworks of salute installations," - the order says.
Fireworks will be held in the hero cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Kerch, Murmansk, Novorossiysk, Sevastopol, Smolensk, Tula, as well as in cities where the headquarters of military districts, fleets, combined arms armies and the Caspian flotilla are deployed.
Shoigu also congratulated veterans of the Great Patriotic War and the personnel of the Russian Armed Forces on Victory Day.
“To this day, every family, every house remembers and appreciates the great feat that our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers performed in the name of freedom and independence of their homeland,” the Russian Defense Minister emphasized.
Earlier, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called on Muscovites not to come to the fireworks on May 9 to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.