A Victory Day military parade took place in Red Square on Wednesday to commemorate 67 years since victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

The parade was reviewed by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and addressed by President Vladimir Putin.

“Russia is implementing a policy of strengthening security in the world,” Putin said at the parade that was his first major speech since his controversial return to the Kremlin.

“We have a great moral right to persist in our stance, in so much as it was our country that took upon itself the main thrust of Nazism and met the enemy with heroic resistance, determining the course of the war.”

The parade involved the traditional pass-in-review by 14,000 personnel and over 100 pieces of military hardware, including Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, S-400 Triumph air defense systems, Pantsir S-1  air defense systems, Iskander-M missile launchers, BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, and T-90 main battle tanks.

The motorized column stretched for over one and a half kilometers.

A total of 1,500 WWII veterans were invited to attend the parade.

The first Victory Parade was held on Red Square on June 24, 1945 on the order of then-Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin.