This year, Russia will celebrate the victory in the Second World War without Western allies.
The list of present and especially absent officials at the May 70 military parade in Moscow testifies to the degree of deterioration of relations between Russia and the West, which less than a year ago were together on the beaches of Normandy to mark the XNUMXth anniversary of the landing of the Allied forces in World War II.
The Kremlin can count on Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who will make his first official visit abroad. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Czech President Miloš Zeman, as well as officials from India, South Africa, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cuba and Serbia are also expected.
However, French President Francois Hollande, as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron, made it clear that they would not attend the ceremony. US President Barack Obama will not be present either, as the White House has stated that he is not planning any trip to Russia in May.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also declined the invitation, but diplomatically stated that she would come to Moscow a day later, with the intention of laying a wreath. Poland will organize its own celebration.
Out of a total of 68 invited world leaders, 26 have responded to the invitation so far.
"The arrival of Western leaders at the May XNUMX military parade in Moscow would mean their recognition of the Kremlin's policy through the memory of the war," political analyst Ljilja Ševtsova told France Press.
Traditionally, the Kremlin considers May 1945 to be the day World War II ended. The capitulation was signed late in the evening of May XNUMX, XNUMX in Berlin, that is, May XNUMX Moscow time.
In the Second World War, or the Great Patriotic War as it was called in the Soviet Union, 27 million Soviet citizens died and the victory in that war is a great pride for Russia.
The question of victory in World War II remains a very sensitive issue for the Russians. In January, a diplomatic incident broke out at the commemoration of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, when the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grzegorz Štetina, said that the liberators of the camp were mostly Ukrainians, not members of the Red Army.
Although he was not at the ceremony in Poland, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time that it was an attempt to minimize Russia's role in World War II, aimed at "undermining the power and moral authority" of Russia.
The Kremlin, for its part, downplays the leader's "absence" on May XNUMX, claiming that most countries "understand the significant role of the Soviet Union in the fall of Nazism."
Russia, which celebrates this day with great fanfare every year, has announced that the ceremony will be even more festive this year.
About 2,5 million veterans who are still alive will receive medals, and military parades will be organized across the country and in most of the former Soviet republics.
In front of the Kremlin, where soldiers from 10 countries will parade, Russian soldiers will wear Soviet uniforms from the Second World War and next to them will be the latest military equipment of the Russian army, which has been largely modernized in recent years.
The absence of Western officials irritates many in Russia, who consider it disrespectful. "They (Westerners) think they will punish Russia by denying the death of 27 million Soviets," said Vladimir Yevseyev, director of the Center for Political Science in Moscow.
"The fact that Barak Obama will not come is his problem. The world does not depend on his goodwill," Yevseyev said in a statement to the French press.
Some, however, have a different view. "What does the memory of the war have to do with the current situation? What does the feat of the Soviet people and the millions of victims for victory have to do with those people who are sitting in the Kremlin today," asked political scientist Anton Oreh.
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