A vast majority of Italians have understood and approved the decision to cancel the traditional military parade at the Fori Imperiali on this past 2 June. 

The French have just decided to do the same on Bastille Day, the 14 July: the parade will be cancelled and only the Air Force acrobatic team will celebrate the National Day, like the Frecce Tricolori did in Rome.

A bit to the east, there is a man that probably would like to imitate Presidents Mattarella and Macron, but he can’t. That man is Vladimir Putin, the Russian President.

The military parade to celebrate Victory in the Second World War (during which USSR had more dead than Britain and US combined) is a very emotional event and happens on the Red Square every 9 May.

But that day the Coronavirus was so aggressive in Russia that Putin decided to postpone the event, accepting as a necessity the wave of criticism and of hurt feelings that followed. They are beautiful to watch, those very tight Russian military formations, but the price in terms of contagions seemed too high to the Kremlin. 

Now, under public opinion pressure, there is a new date for the parade: 24 June. But what if the covid-19 stays as strong as it is today in Russia? The answer is that on 1 July there will be a referendum that is crucial for Putin.

That’s why, this time, the parade will go on, and the public opinion will be as always, proud of it. But secretly, Putin is dreaming of Mattarella and Macron.

Ph:  ID1974 / Shutterstock.com