In Moscow the public was shown just one WWII tank.

One billion rubles, that is 12 million euros or roughly 13 million dollars, is the amount Russia has spent to mark the Victory Day on 9 May 2023.

The largest taxpayer money was spent for preparations and organizational activities for mass events – 710 million rubles and the capital absorbed the most of these funds, according to the investigative portal SotaProject, which researched the governmental procurement database Zakupki.gov.ru. 

As much as 48.5 million rubles was allocated for gifts and souvenirs for war veterans – mainly greeting cards, and another 36.2 million for fireworks.

Although the principal parade was held in Moscow and tanks are the preferred armored vehicles to ignite Russians’ pride, the public this time was left disappointed: the authorities decided to roll out just one T-34, a machine made during the World War II that can be 70 years old.

Many cities cancelled their plans to hold a parade, citing security reasons.

Independent journalists in Russia say that the government procurement process in their country is often misused to steal taxpayer money by inflating acquisitions prices, which is still illegal by Russian laws.

In 2021, for example, Russia spent one billion rubles for the Victory Day events, which were ultimately cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic concerns. There were no official reports whether anything from those funds have been recovered. 

Interestingly, the spending bill for May celebrations in Moscow along usually contains an activity called “cloud dispersing”, which in 2019 ate more than 410 million rubles, in 2020 another 452 million rubles, and in 2021 almost 418 million rubles. 

Officials said they needed a clear sky to show the air force’s all-weather multi-purpose aircraft.