Russia on Friday holds an annual World War II victory parade on Red Square that for the first time since the Soviet era features heavy weaponry. Herewith key facts:

WEAPONS ON SHOW:

- Four Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles, minus their nuclear warheads. The Topol-M is the first missile to be developed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

- Nine T-90 tanks, also produced in post-Soviet times. Their tracks will carry special rubber covers to protect the paving of Red Square, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

- Armoured personnel carriers and anti-aircraft rocket systems are also lined up for the parade. There will be a fly-by of military helicopters, fighter jets and bombers.

HISTORY:

- The last Victory Day parade of this magnitude was in 1990. The parades were then suspended until the tradition was revived by president Boris Yeltsin in 1995 but without the heavy weapons, let alone weapons of mass destruction.

GUESTS:

- Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev, and his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who is now prime minister, will attend. They will sit on a podium, not the Lenin mausoleum as Soviet leaders used to.

- No foreign leaders are expected to attend, in contrast to the Victory Day parade in 2005 -- the 60th anniversary of World War II -- when US President George W. Bush and then French president Jacques Chirac took part.