Foreign leaders confirmed for Moscow Victory Parade

Foreign leaders confirmed for Moscow Victory Parade

Kremlin Announces Attendance of 29 Foreign Leaders at Victory Day Parade

The Kremlin announced Tuesday that 29 foreign leaders are expected to attend Russia’s Victory Day military parade in Moscow later this week.

Among the prominent attendees are Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will be the only European leaders participating in the May 9 event.

Other confirmed guests include the heads of state from Indonesia, Burkina Faso, Bosnia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Iraq, the Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Cuba, Ethiopia, and Equatorial Guinea, alongside traditional Russian allies in Central Asia.

Leaders from both Armenia and Azerbaijan will also attend, as will the heads of South Ossetia and Abkhazia—two pro-Russian breakaway regions of Georgia that are not internationally recognized as independent nations.

Speculation has grown over the scale of this year’s parade, which the Kremlin claims will be its most elaborate yet. The annual event commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and has taken on heightened symbolic significance as Russia continues its war in Ukraine.

Ushakov added that troops from 13 foreign nations—including China, Egypt, Vietnam, Myanmar, and several former Soviet republics—will participate in the parade on Red Square.

Ukrainian authorities have condemned the involvement of foreign soldiers, warning that their participation would be seen as “sharing responsibility” for Russia’s ongoing military campaign.