War veterans from RF, other states to celebrate V-Day in St Pete

ST. PETERSBURG, May 9 (Itar-Tass) -- The war veterans from Russia and
other countries will participate in the celebrations on Victory Day here
on Monday.
A military parade will begin the holiday on the Palace Square. The war
veterans will watch the march of 30,000 servicemen in the western military
district. Then the St. Petersburg war veterans and the city guests will be
granted an honorary right to make a gunshot from the cannon of the Peter
and Paul Fortress.
Representatives from Russian regions, the former Soviet republics, the
Netherlands, the United States, Finland, the Czech Republic, Sweden,
France and Germany will march in the common column on the Nevsky Avenue on
the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the Great Victory. The squadron of
the Guard of Honour will hail them on the Palace Square. On this day a
makeshift garden will be laid down around the Alexander Column. The music
stars will give a festive concert for the war veterans on the square. The
dances to the music of the war years will be arranged on special floors.
A musical show to the words of Alexander Tvardovsky's famous poem
Vasily Terkin will be also shown on the Palace Square. Residents and
guests of St. Petersburg will watch the military hardware of the wartimes,
including a legendary air defence missile system Katyusha and the tank
T-34.
Festive concerts will be given at the Grand Hall of the Dmitry
Shostakovich Academic Philharmonics and the Grand Concert Hall Oktyabrsky.
The torches will be traditionally lit up at 5 p.m. Moscow time on the
rostral columns of the Spit of the Vasilyevsky Island in commemoration of
those fallen and in glory of those alive. The festive fireworks will be
fired at 10 p.m. Moscow time on Monday.
-0-baz