MORE THAN TWO dozen foreign leaders — including from one EU member state — are due in Moscow today for Russia’s flagship Victory Day military parade, marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

The gathering of some of Russia’s key partners comes as Europe attempts to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin isolated, despite a recent rapprochement between Moscow and Washington.

Ukraine, which has stepped up drone attacks on Moscow ahead of the parade, has argued that foreign participation is akin to support for Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine.

Despite warnings from Brussels, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will watch the military parade on Red Square alongside Putin and is due to hold a bilateral meeting with him afterwards.

Fico, one of the few EU leaders to have visited Moscow after it sent troops to Ukraine, has been repeatedly criticised for pursuing a policy of appeasement towards Putin, while lambasting Kyiv. 

The two most important guests at the parade are China’s Xi Jinping and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Xi is being treated to a state visit in Moscow and on Thursday held a series of talks with Putin on deepening the allies’ “no limits” partnership, signed days before Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

Alongside China, Brazil is a member of the BRICS group, a political and economic bloc that Moscow and Beijing see as a counterweight to the West. 

The leaders of Vietnam, Mongolia, Egypt and Myanmar — all long-standing partners of Russia — are also all in Moscow for the parade, according to the Kremlin.

From Africa, the heads of Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, the Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea will be attending.

As will two of Russia’s most long-standing partners in South America — Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel. They both held talks with Putin on Wednesday in the Kremlin.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was initially expected but will not travel due to the ongoing escalation with Pakistan, according to media reports.

Laos’s Thongloun Sisoulith fell ill with coronavirus a few days before and also had to cancel his planned trip, the Kremlin said.

Leaders of Russia’s traditional ex-Soviet allies and partners are also in Moscow, according to the Kremlin.

Those include Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko — Putin’s closest ally in the post-Soviet space.

Apart from Kazakhstan, the leaders of the other four former Soviet republics of Central Asia are also on the guest list: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.

Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev was originally slated to attend, but pulled out at the last minute for a local event.

Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia, a country with historically strong ties to Moscow, was also in Russia for the parade.

The leader of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated region, Milorad Dodik, wanted by the Bosnian courts, was scheduled to attend as well.

The leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two pro-Russian separatist territories in Georgia not recognised by the international community, are in Moscow for the parade.

The president of the partially recognised Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, is also expected to attend and hold talks with Putin during his time in Russia.

Troops from 13 countries are set to march in the parade on Red Square — including those from China, Vietnam, Myanmar and Egypt.

According to the Kremlin, the defence ministers of several countries will also be present, as well as the North Korean ambassador and “veterans from Israel and the United States”.

Putin has ordered a “humanitarian” truce with Ukraine while the celebrations in Russia take place.

Ukraine has dismissed the truce as a farce and called the events in Russia a “parade of cynicism” and warned that it cannot guarantee the safety of world leaders attending.

The festival will be marked with a massive parade of military equipment and soldiers through Red Square, culminating in an address by Putin.

Security has been tight in Moscow, where organisers have banned attendees from bringing vape pens, electric scooters or “any animals” to the Victory Parade.

Authorities have also jammed mobile internet connections in the capital, citing the threat of Ukrainian attacks.

© AFP 2025