How Russia prepares for Victory Day (PHOTOS)

1. Festive decorations at the State Historical Museum in Moscow. On the right is a monument to Marshal Georgy Zhukov.

2. Participants of the ‘Victory Waltz’ event in Moscow. College students dressed in 1940s-style costumes performed a waltz at VDNKh ahead of May 9.

3. Victory Day decorations around the monument to Vladimir Mayakovsky in Moscow.

4. ‘Su-25’ ground-attack aircraft during a rehearsal of the aerial part of the parade in Moscow marking the 81st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

5. Rehearsal of the Victory Day parade on Palace Square in St. Petersburg.

6. Festive decorations above Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg on the eve of Victory Day.

7. An installation on Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg ahead of the Victory Day celebrations.

8. Kaliningrad. Military personnel during a rehearsal of the Victory Day parade on Victory Square.

9. Yekaterinburg. An installation near the city administration building on 1905 Square ahead of Victory Day.

10. An industrial climber hoists the Victory Banner above the dome of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater. The theater opened on May 12, 1945, and, each year on the eve of May 9, the Victory Banner is raised above its dome.

11. Belgorod. The ceremony of lighting the Eternal Flame as part of the ‘Keeping the Fire of Victory Alive’ event on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street.