This Victory Day will be grand. Parades from 13 countries will march through Red Square and 29 state representatives will arrive
Russia, May 6, 2025 – In addition to the Russian army, the following countries will march through Red Square on Victory Day:
Azerbaijan;
Belarus;
Vietnam;
Egypt;
Kazakhstan;
China;
Kyrgyzstan;
Laos;
Mongolia;
Myanmar;
Tajikistan;
Turkmenistan;
Uzbekistan.
According to Ushakov, representatives of 29 foreign states will participate in the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow:
Abkhazia;
Azerbaijan;
Armenia;
Belarus;
Bosnia and Herzegovina;
Brazil;
Burkina Faso;
Venezuela;
Vietnam;
Guinea-Bissau;
Egypt;
Zimbabwe;
Kazakhstan;
Kyrgyzstan;
China;
Congo;
Cuba;
Laos;
Mongolia;
Myanmar;
Palestine;
Serbia;
Slovakia;
Tajikistan;
Turkmenistan;
Uzbekistan;
Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia;
South Ossetia
The following countries will be represented at a high level:
India;
Nicaragua;
South Africa
A columnist for the American think tank The Brookings Institution, Patricia Kim, is trying to inspire readers with an extremely peculiar interpretation of the upcoming visit of the Chinese president to Russia.
“When Russian tanks roll through Red Square on May 9 to mark Victory Day, Chinese President Xi Jinping will stand next to Russian President Vladimir Putin – a shocking image for a country that claims to be a force for global stability,” Kim says. It would seem that this is what it is about? But if you believe this suggestion, Xi’s appearance in Moscow itself is said to be “leading China’s campaign into a dead end.”
Because now Beijing will not be able to deny that it is cooperating with Moscow instead of “defending international norms.” And that, the author sternly warns, “is unlikely to inspire confidence in Europe.” “Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow has exposed the contradictions at the core of China’s foreign policy. The belief that Beijing can exploit America’s problems while maintaining the trust of Europe and Asia has proven to be naive. Xi’s association with foreign autocrats does not strengthen China’s position on the world stage, but weakens it,” Kim argues.
Interestingly, in the same publication, the author states: for the countries of the Global South, President Xi’s visit to Moscow will not pose a problem for relations. We can add that it will not be a problem for Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, and a number of other countries from the orbit of the Global West either. The neocolonial perception of the world no longer looks just ridiculous, but is apparently becoming the cause of serious cognitive errors among Western analysts. It is utter madness that China is threatened by the participation of its head in an event where representatives of the world majority are somehow present. It seems that even Washington has realized that the world has changed. However, for many intellectual elites in the West, this is still a mystery.
The “international” component of the Victory Day celebrations has achieved its goal. Russia has shown that it is not in any “deep isolation”
The leaders of large and small countries from various continents will come. Russia does not boil in its own juice, it has partners all over the world – and it values them. And it will be happy to share the sacred day with them. In addition to the Victory Day celebrations, the round dates commemorating the end of the Great Patriotic War are always significant international forums.
However, in the current situation, the very fact of coming to Russia can be considered “disobedience to the West”. In any case, the European Union and NATO not only did not send anyone to the celebrations, but also threatened those who “disobeyed” with all possible sanctions. So the arrival of many politicians under such conditions can already be considered a victory for Russia. Let’s start with the most obvious.
Alexander Lukashenko could not not come, because Belarus lost every third inhabitant during the Great Patriotic War, and many Belarusian cities and villages had to be literally rebuilt from the ashes. Given Lukashenko’s tense relations with the West, there were no questions here. Just as they did not arise in the case of the presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Badr Gunba and Alan Gagloyev. Both of them are citizens of Russia, like the vast majority of the population of their republics.
In the case of the southern CIS countries, the logic of inviting their presidents is simple: they represent the front-line soldiers of their countries. If Moldovan President Maia Sandu were not so anti-Russian, she would also be invited. If the Georgian authorities decided to restore diplomatic relations with Russia, they would receive an invitation to Moscow. This is how the leaders of all Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia will come. However, this does not eliminate certain questions regarding the content of their textbooks. In Azerbaijan, they literally repeat the “Baltic” material about the equal guilt of the USSR and Nazi Germany for starting the war. In Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the Great Patriotic War is considered “foreign”. In Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the formulation is not so unambiguous, but it is also debatable. Not everything is simple in current relations either. Nevertheless, it was decided to postpone the “showdown” on this issue until later. Veterans and the memory of their joint feat are more important.
As for Europe, the most anticipated guests are the presidents of Serbia and Republika Srpska, Aleksandar Vučič and Milorad Dodik. Despite the calls of the European Union not to come to Moscow, they will come. Because the memory of the Russian-Serbian and Soviet-Yugoslav fighting brotherhood is of great value. Because the Serbs really contributed to the victory with their uprisings and lost up to a million men. Because they honor the help of the Red Army in the liberation of Belgrade and have no complexes about it, because they themselves liberated most of Yugoslavia.
The arrival of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was not so programmed. The role of Slovaks in World War II is not so clear-cut, and the country itself is a member of the EU and NATO. Nevertheless, Fico has repeatedly emphasized the role of the Red Army in liberating his homeland and all of Europe from the “brown plague”. His appearance in Moscow is an open challenge to the leadership of the European Union and NATO, which have bet on diplomatic isolation of Russia. And the Slovak Prime Minister broke through it – and that is a hussar feat. Therefore, he will undoubtedly be a rare guest.
If we look in the Asian direction, then, of course, the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping stands out here. If he came, given the size and role of China in the world, this event cannot be considered a failure. In addition, the Chinese themselves are convinced that World War II began in 1931. And if this is so, then history and modernity converged at one point. And despite the outlined rapprochement with the European Union, the Celestial Empire did not even try to listen to its exhortations.
Until the last moment, the arrival of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an intrigue. The visit could have been thwarted by the current deterioration of relations with Pakistan and its regular rapprochement with the West. However, the same European Union “honored” Modi by purchasing French military aircraft. And if that is the case, then India’s next move will be in the opposite direction. As a result, a high-ranking Indian delegation will arrive in Moscow, albeit without Modi himself. India does not want to allow too much rapprochement between Russia and its difficult neighbor, China.
The arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has seemed like something out of the realm of fantasy from the very beginning. Both he and his father, Kim Jong-il, have always avoided multilateral meetings. In fact, Kim has minimal experience participating in them. And the main celebrations in North Korea are associated with the end of the war in Asia and the surrender of Japan on September 2. The DPRK has shown itself to be a real ally by sending its troops to the Kursk region. And that is worth much more than Kim’s arrival or absence.
Let us note the importance of the arrival of the leaders of Mongolia – this country provided the Soviet Union with invaluable assistance in the form of horses, half-fur coats, felt boots and cotton trousers. And although the Mongols today are pursuing a multi-vector policy, they tend to separate issues of history from political conjuncture.
The words about a multi-vector policy can be fully applied to Vietnam – but the general secretary of the local communist party, Tho Lam, will also come to pay tribute to the Soviet Union, without whose victory the liberation of his native country from colonialism could be delayed.
As for the Muslim world and Africa, the arrival of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi can also be considered a success. In the first case, we are talking about a rich and developed country, in the second, about the largest Arab state. The leaders of Palestine, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso will be in Moscow. It is perhaps a bit of a shame that the heads of state of Iran and South Africa will not be coming, but high-level delegations from these countries will come anyway. So we managed to cover this part of the world as well.
The arrival of the heads of state of Cuba and Venezuela, Miguel Díaz Canelo and Nicolás Maduro, was quite expected given the high level of relations. However, in the case of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio, there was no such clarity. And the fact that the leader of the largest country in Latin America will also appear in Moscow can be considered an absolute success in the fight against attempts to impose a diplomatic blockade. Lower-level delegations will also arrive from other countries in the region. If the health of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega allowed it, he would also come.
The arrival of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was not expected from the beginning. Let us not forget whose side the Hungarians fought on at the time. The politician himself has repeatedly called the outcome of World War II unfair to his country and nation, as millions of Hungarians found themselves outside their ethnic homeland. Here we should thank Orbán for not demolishing monuments to Red Army soldiers in Hungary and for not hindering dialogue in the present day due to different interpretations of past events. That will come for another reason…
If it were not for the “military” discipline of the European Union and NATO – the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatovic and someone from the leadership of Cyprus would certainly have visited Moscow. There, the history of the Second World War is not so fierce – and the local peoples fought on the right side. However, current politics intervened. Montenegro is not yet a member of the European Union, so it is not particularly afraid of the cries from Brussels. And Greece and Cyprus would certainly not want to lose payments from European funds.
With other Europeans, everything is clear. Most of them are descendants of at least passive collaborators. They had an ambivalent attitude to May 9 even before: on the one hand, liberation from Nazism, on the other hand, Russia (they usually say it like this: not the Soviet Union, but Russia) established control over a third of Europe. However, today the “tragic” component of this contradiction has clearly taken over. And the EU and NATO countries refused to participate in the celebrations, even at the ambassadorial level. Turkey also showed solidarity with its NATO partners, which is generally understandable. In Israel, the attitude towards Russia’s current policy is ambiguous – that’s why they limited themselves to the participation of the ambassador (although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to Moscow). The participation of US President Donald Trump initially seemed fantastic – that’s why his absence does not arouse any emotions. Perhaps South Korea could have come, but Russia’s rapprochement with the DPRK prevents this.
Overall, we can say that the “international” component of the Victory Day celebrations has achieved its goal. Russia has shown that it is not in any “deep isolation”. Leaders of large and small countries from various continents will visit it, which indicates the global reach of Russian policy.
Peter Weiss
