The United States, Britain and France have confirmed their plans to participate in a May 9 parade on Moscow's Red Square, the Kremlin property chief said on Thursday.
Russia is arranging grandiose festivities for May 9, 2010, when it celebrates the 65th anniversary of the Soviet victory in WWII.
"They have agreed in principle, and battalions from the United States, France and Britain will take part in the military parade on May 9," Vladimir Kozhin said.
He said earlier Russia had invited members of the anti-Hitler coalition to take part in the parade on Red Square, where the Russian Army would show off "what it has at its disposal."
Kozhin reiterated the idea at a briefing on Thursday.
"There will be a very beautiful and large-scale air show like never before. Under the current plans, if the weather allows..., up to 140 aircraft will be used," the Kremlin official said.
Kommersant, a respected Russian business daily, said earlier in February referring to a Defense Ministry official, that 165 combat aircraft will fly over Red Square, with some of them grouping to form the number 65.
Parades to mark victory in WWII, referred to as the Great Patriotic War in ex-Soviet states, are accompanied by a large military orchestra and comprise a personnel march, followed by sophisticated hardware, and a fly over by combat aircraft.
The revived tradition of massive military Victory Day parades with tanks and other hardware rolling through the center of Moscow has been seen by some in the West as a sign of Russia's growing militarism.
MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti)
