DUSHANBE, April 23, 2015, Asia-Plus -- A military parade dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Victory over Nazism that was scheduled to be held in Dushanbe on May 9 was brought forward to May 7, according to the Ministry of Defense (MoD).

An official source at a MoD says the parade was brought forward because Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will be in Moscow on May 8-9 to attend an informal summit of the CIS heads of state, and then the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

In all, more than 2,000 servicemen are expected be on the military parade that will be held in Dushanbe’s Victory Park.

Servicemen of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan will also participate in the military parade in Dushanbe.

Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General, Sherali Mirzo, and Deputy Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Bakhtiyor Ruzminshoyev, will command the parade.

More than 270,000 residents of Tajikistan took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and some 70,000 of them died in battle.  54 of residents of Tajikistan were given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.  Besides, 15 other Tajikistan’s residents were Full Holders of the Order of Glory.

Meanwhile, two war veterans from Tajikistan, 91-year-old Hakim Khalilov and 91-year-old Yusuf Yunusov, have been invited to participate in the 2015 Moscow Victory Parade, a jubilee parade honoring the 70th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945.  Seven other veterans from Tajikistan have been invited by the Russian government to the Victors’ Ball that will take place at Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow on May 9.