Here is a list of Putin's guests. The prime minister of the EU country will appear in Moscow
President of China XI Jinping, leader of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva and the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico are among leaders from over 20 countrieswho will join Putin at the annual parade of military army and equipment on May 9 at Czerwony Square in Moscow, as the representatives of the Kremlin claim.
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Leaders Egypt, Venezuela, Cuba, Vietnam and Zimbabwe will also take part, together with the leaders of former Soviet states, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The victory of the Soviet Union at a cost of 27 million lives in the so-called great homeland war in 1941-1945 is engraved in the common memory of families in the entire communist superpower, including Ukraine and Russia.
The Kremlin was increasingly trying to use this common history to gather the support of the public for Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, falsely presenting the government in Kiev as dominated by “fascists” and presenting Russian soldiers as descendants of soldiers who fought with the Nazis. This happens even when Russia has caused the worst conflict in Europe since World War II, attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.
Russia invited the US ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy to the parade on May 9, but it is not clear whether he would come, told journalists the Kremlin adviser for foreign policy Yuri Ruszakov.
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The President of Ukraine Wołodymyr Zelanski warned that Ukraine could not guarantee safety for foreign officials participating in the parade. He called Russia to accept a 30-day truce and did not undertake to reciprocate the 72-hour suspension of weapons announced by Putin.
