Prestigious 9 May military parades cancelled in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions

There will be no traditional 9 May parade in Mirny, a closed military town in the Arkhangelsk region, local authorities announced earlier this week. The cancellation comes shortly after the nearby cosmodrome of Plesetsk was attacked by Ukrainian drones earlier in late March. 

On Wednesday, several Telegram channels the north Russian region inform that the Ministry of Defence has decided to cancel the Murmansk parade as well. Murmansk is Russia’s largest city above the Arctic Circle.

During the Soviet era, military parades were held annually from 1965, according to the local news site Arctic Observer. The tradition was revived in 2009, as reported by the Barents Observer.

Although Murmansk lies around 1,800 kilometres from the front line in Ukraine, the heavily militarised region has been targeted by drones on several occasions over the past two years. Last spring, the Olenya airbase was attacked as part of Operation Spiderweb. The base, located south of Murmansk, was also struck in 2024. Later that year, a drone is believed to have hit an area near Severomorsk, the headquarters of the Northern Fleet.

Regional authorities have expressed increasing concern about the risk of further attacks.

“Threats and risks are mounting — the enemy is making ever more frequent attempts to strike targets within the country,” Governor Chibis said during a meeting with regional security officials last weekend.

Thousands of soldiers from the Kola Peninsula are currently fighting in occupied Ukrainian territory. Many hundreds have reportedly been killed, although the exact figures remain undisclosed by the Russian authorities.

Last summer, Russia cancelled the main Navy Day parade in St Petersburg amid fears of drone attacks. In Moscow, the scale of the 9 May parade on Red Square was also reduced to a minimum.