Putin Hosts Leaders to Mark 1945 Victory as His War Drags On
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico are among leaders from more than 20 countries who'll join Putin at the annual May 9 Victory Day parade of troops and military equipment on Moscow's Red Square, according to the Kremlin. Leaders from Egypt, Venezuela, Cuba, Vietnam and Zimbabwe will also attend, along with those of former Soviet states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Soviet Union's victory at the cost of 27 million lives in what's known as the Great Patriotic War from 1941 to 1945 is etched in the shared memory of families across the former Communist superpower, including in Ukraine and Russia.
The Kremlin has increasingly sought to co-opt that common history to rally public support for Putin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, by falsely casting the government in Kyiv as dominated by 'fascists' and presenting Russian soldiers as descendants of the troops who fought the Nazis. That's even as it was Russia that sparked Europe's worst conflict since WWII by attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.
While Russians recall the WWII sacrifice to defeat Adolf Hitler with 'horror and pride,' Putin's commemorations 'are a far-fetched way to justify the current aggression,' said Andrey Zubov, a Russian historian who's currently a visiting professor at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. 'If he'd conquered Ukraine in two weeks, there'd have been no appeals to the Second World War,' Zubov said. 'Since he couldn't, he tries to lean on it.'
Putin has announced a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine starting Thursday for the WWII anniversary, after rebuffing US President Donald Trump's attempts to secure a longterm deal to halt the war within the first 100 days of his return to the White House. The impasse has led to mounting frustration in the Trump administration, which has threatened to walk away from talks and consider fresh sanctions on Russia unless an agreement is reached soon.
Talk of a summit between Trump and Putin, with Saudi Arabia possibly hosting, has faded as peace negotiations have stalled. There has also been silence on proposals announced in a February phone call for the two leaders to visit each other's countries.
Russia invited US Ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy to the May 9 parade though it's unclear if she will come, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that Ukraine can't guarantee the safety of foreign officials attending the parade. He has called on Russia to accept a 30-day truce, and hasn't committed to reciprocate the 72-hour ceasefire Putin declared.
Putin and Xi began bilateral talks on Thursday as they seek to upend the US-led world order in favor of a multipolar one. Russia and China have 'a fully fledged partnership and strategic interests,' Putin said. China will 'resolutely defend' its interests as well as those of Russia and other developing countries, Xi said.
Chinese troops are expected to march alongside Russian soldiers on Red Square on Friday, the latest demonstration of the 'no limits' friendship the two leaders declared shortly before Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.
Armies from 13 countries will join the parade, though North Korean troops won't be among them, according to Ushakov. That's after Putin last week thanked North Korea for sending soldiers to help Russian troops oust Ukrainian forces occupying part of Russia's Kursk border region.
Fico, the only European Union leader planning to attend, complained late Wednesday that Estonia wouldn't allow his plane to fly through its airspace to Russia. He called it a 'deliberate attempt to thwart his visit to Moscow' in a video statement and said he was working on a solution.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev canceled his planned visit to Moscow in order to attend events in his own country, while Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith also pulled out after falling ill with Covid, the Tass news service reported, citing Ushakov.
While Europe marks the WWII victory on May 8, 1945, the formal Nazi German surrender came into force early on May 9 in Moscow. Zelenskiy in 2023 signed a law switching Ukraine's remembrance date to May 8, aligning with European allies.
Russia and Ukraine continued air strikes against each other's capitals ahead of Putin's truce, with Moscow and its suburbs facing Ukrainian drone attacks three times this week. Russian officials have advised that Internet access in Moscow may be restricted as part of security measures, and residents reported disruptions to service during rehearsals for the Red Square parade.
The Trump administration has said it's willing to recognize Russian possession of Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Putin seized from Ukraine in 2014, and has proposed a freeze in the war largely along current battle lines, handing Moscow effective control of occupied Ukrainian territory. It has also indicated it'll ease sweeping economic sanctions on Russia, and has accepted Putin's demands for Ukraine to abandon its aim of joining NATO.
Russian authorities consider 'the advantage is on their side' and are in no hurry to reach a deal, said Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation.
'Russia is ready for a political settlement provided its interests are taken into account,' said Andrey Sushentsov, dean of the School of International Relations at the state-run MGIMO University in Moscow. 'But it's also ready to achieve its goals by military means regardless of external pressure.'
Putin is insisting that Russia gain full control of four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine that it doesn't completely occupy under any deal to end the war.
'Russia seemingly remains committed to its maximalist plans in Ukraine,' said Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'Putin's most likely course of action is to continue procrastinating the talks to avoid fully annoying Donald Trump while intensifying his pressure on Ukraine.'
Recent surveys by the independent Levada Center show around 60% of Russians support peace talks with about 30% in favor of continuing the fighting, according to Denis Volkov, director of the pollster in Moscow. While public fatigue with the war is growing, a majority believes decisions on negotiations should be left to Putin, he said.
'Russian authorities are doing everything to maintain a sense of normalcy,' and the conflict has receded into the background of daily life for most people, Volkov said.
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