Annual military music festival gets underway on Moscow's Red Square

Military bands from across the world converged on Moscow’s Red Square to take part in the 17th edition of the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival.

Twenty-seven teams from 10 countries are taking part this year, including Ethiopia’s National Defence Force Marching Band, Zimbabwe’s Armed Forces Orchestra, and for the first time, Burkina Faso’s Presidential Orchestra.

Other countries taking part include Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Italy, Republika Srpska, and the United Arab Emirates.

Amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, the festival this year is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of victory in what Moscow calls the Great Patriotic War.

Otherwise known as the Eastern Front of World War II, it was fought mainly between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

The festival runs until 31 August.