Around 27 foreign leaders are due in Moscow on Friday for Russia’s flagship May 9 Victory Day military parade, marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
The gathering of some of Moscow’s key partners comes as Europe tries 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, said foreign participation was akin to support for the Kremlin’s three-year offensive on its soil.
Initially, 29 leaders were planning to attend but the presidents of Azerbaijan and Laos called off at the last minute, according to the Kremlin.
Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev had to attend a local commemoration, while Laos’s Thongloun Sisoulith fell ill with coronavirus, it said.
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 will hold a series of talks with Putin aiming to deepen 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 expected to attend, according to the Kremlin.
From Africa, the heads of Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea will be attending.
Two of Russia’s most long-standing partners in South America — Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel — are also in Moscow for talks with Putin and to attend the parade.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was initially expected but will not travel due to the ongoing escalation with Pakistan, according to media reports.
Russia’s traditional ex-Soviet allies and partners are also due 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 — will also be present.
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.
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.
Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia, a country with historically strong ties to Moscow, also touched down in Moscow on Wednesday evening, Russian state media reported.
The leader of Bosnian Serbs, 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, will also be in Moscow on May 9.
The president of the partially recognised Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is expected to attend and hold talks with Putin.
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”.
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