“The 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War is a great occasion, above all for the Russian people… An invitation to attend V-Day celebrations in Moscow is not a court summons — it is something we always send to our friends… If some of them plan otherwise, well, we can understand that,” Lavrov said when asked if Russia was disappointed by some countries’ leaders refusing to come.
This year's Victory Day parade in Moscow – the biggest Russian military parade ever held – will be attended by about 25 foreign leaders, including presidents of the BRICS group of emerging economies, former Soviet republics-turned-CIS states, as well as some Asian and European countries.
Several European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, have declined the invitation in light of their allegations of Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian internal crisis.
