UK troops are to march in Red Square to mark 65 years since the end of WWII, the British embassy in Moscow has said.

The military parade on 9 May, alongside French and US service personnel, will be the first in the square involving Britain's wartime western allies.

It will include a marching detachment of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and about 45 musicians from the Royal Air Force.

The Aldershot-based 1st Battalion Welsh Guards has recently returned from Afghanistan, part of 19 Light Brigade.

'Great honour'

While in the Russian capital, the RAF band will also take part in a music festival which runs from 8-10 May.

An embassy spokesman said it was a "great honour" for those involved and a "unique opportunity" to commemorate the memory of all servicemen who died in World War II.

Last year's Victory Day parade in Moscow was the largest since the fall of the Soviet Union, with 9,000 military personnel and 100 vehicles involved.