MOSCOW: - Rows of missiles and tanks rumbled through Moscow's Red Square and dozens of combat jets streaked overhead over the weekend in the largest display of military might since the Soviet era.

But morale among the soldiers parading through Moscow on Saturday's Victory Day parade has been hurt by plans to downsize the army, reports said.

Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, a former accountant with no military background, plans to sack 200,000 officers - half the current total - as he shrinks the armed forces to 1 million servicemen by 2012. Finding suitable candidates for redundancy is not proving difficult, according to The Times newspaper.

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