Russian paratroopers celebrate annual holiday by bathing in public fountains and cheering for Mother Russia

Record ID: 904972

  • Title: Russian paratroopers celebrate annual holiday by bathing in public fountains and cheering for Mother Russia
  • Date: 2nd August 2017
  • Summary: MOCK PARACHUTE HANGING ABOVE GATE TO PARK PEOPLE WEARING SAILOR SHIRTS ENTERING PARK
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2017 15:29
  • Keywords: Russia paratroopers day Russia paratroopers paratroopers festival bathing in fountains
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Living / Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026SGSPIX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Former Russian paratroopers wearing striped shirts and blue berets gathered on Moscow streets on Wednesday (August 2) to raise toasts and greet each other as part of a tradition carried over from Soviet times.
    Many took advantage of the heat in the Russian capital and immersed themselves in the city's fountains.
    Believed to be the elite of the Soviet and the modern Russian army, many paratroopers come to Moscow from other Russian cities to celebrate the holiday and to meet their comrades.
    Paratroopers were believed to be the best trained and most battle-worthy troops in the Soviet army, who had to carry out the hardest missions during the war in the Afghanistan war or local conflicts in the post-Soviet era in Chechnya and Abkhazia.
    Russian airborne forces, considered to the most mobile of Russian troops, also played a key role in the conflict in Georgia's rebel South Ossetia region when Russia battled Georgian troops in a nine-day war and briefly occupied large chunks of Georgian territory in 2008.
    They were also believed to take active participation in the war in eastern Ukraine, where government troops battle Russian-backed separatists. Russia denies claims by NATO and Ukraine it has sent troops into the conflict.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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