Three thousand soldiers marched in Minsk, Saturday to celebrate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 as Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko rejected calls for lockdown measures in the fight against COVID-19. 

Lukashenko, who has ruled the eastern European country since 1994, has called fears over the coronavirus a "psychosis" and variously suggested drinking vodka, visiting saunas or playing ice hockey as means to beat the disease.

Known as Victory Day in Russia and Belarus, tens of thousands of spectators, including World War II veterans, looked on as soldiers paraded, cannons fired, tanks rolled past and fighter jets flew in formation overhead.

Lukashenko's insistence on going ahead with the display contrasted with neighbouring Russia, which scaled back celebrations amid a jump in coronavirus cases and postponed its usual massive military parade on Red Square.

Victory Day is one of the most important secular holidays in Russian-speaking countries. During what Russians know as The Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union lost an estimated 26 million people including 8.5 million soldiers and the day has become a fundamental part of the Russian and Belarusian national identity.

Dressed in military uniform and surrounded by generals, Lukashenko said it was unacceptable for Belarus to even think about cancelling the parade.

"There will be people who will condemn us," Lukashenko said. Addressing critics he said: "do not rush to draw conclusions, let alone condemn us, the heirs of the Victory, the Belarusians... We simply could not асt differently, we had no other choice."

Belarus has not imposed lockdown measures or social distancing rules, and kept its borders open while countries around the world have closed them.

"This is a demonstration of determination, will, strength, not so much for society as for the inner circle of the elite," said Andrey Egorov, senior analyst at the Center for European Transformation, quoted in Reuters. "It's a demonstration that everything remains under control."

The World Organisation has called on Belarus to introduce tougher measures to fight the coronavirus, while the head of the body's Minsk office had expressed concern about holding the parade.

There are 21,107 confirmed coronavirus cases in Belarus, with 121 deaths, an infection count higher than in neighboring Ukraine and Poland, both of which have populations about four times the size.