EU leaders to skip Victory parade in Moscow, Lukashenka - undecided

13/04/2015 - 05:52

European leaders have refused to go to Moscow for the the 70th anniversary Victory parade. A month before the festivities, the leaders of many European countries rejected an invitation from the Kremlin, with quite a few EU leaders yet to decide on the solution, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reports

According to the publication, leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, the UK, Germany, Georgia, Israel, Latvia, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and the USA refused to participate in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the company of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders of Finland, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia will also not go to Moscow. Nor will go to Moscow the government of Japan.

Among the official explanation of turning down the invitations, half of the countries name Russia's participation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. As to the Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his benevolent attitude to Russia, he will come to Moscow, but will not take part in the Victory Parade. During the festivities, he will hold talks with Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico.

In the list of invitees, there are many of those who have not yet decided on participation in the Moscow parade. Among these politicians is the Belarusian leader Alyaksander Lukashenka. His press office explained that the May schedule is very busy, so the information on Lukashenka's visit to Russia is not yet confirmed.

The list of those "in doubt" also included the leaders of Albania, Hungary, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy, France and South Korea.

Participation in the parade was confirmed by the leaders of Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, China, Cuba, Macedonia, Mongolia, North Korea, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, South Africa and South Ossetia.