Which foreigners came to the parade. Peskov told why there were practically no foreign guests at the Victory Parade. Why was there no new technology at the parade this year?
Victory Day is one of the main holidays in Russia. Every year, at the parade on Red Square, together with the veterans of the Great Patriotic War watched by high-ranking politicians from other countries. "360" tells who will come to the Victory Parade this year and who was the guest of honor at the celebrations of the past.
More than just a visit
Several years ago, Russia gave up the practice of inviting foreign leaders to celebrate Victory Day. But if desired, any of them can take part in the celebrations. Exceptions are anniversary dates: in this case, all prominent world politicians receive an offer for the celebration.
Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Moscow this year. The visit of the heads of these states is not only of a secular nature. Vucic plans to discuss with Vladimir Putin the issues of his country's relations with Russia. Netanyahu is about to talk about the Iranian nuclear deal, which has been in jeopardy due to US withdrawal from it.
In 2017, the only foreign president to attend the parade in Moscow was Moldovan President Igor Dodon. His visit was significant: it was the first visit of a Moldovan politician of this level to Moscow on Victory Day in 15 years. It is not known whether Dodon will come to the celebration this year.
One of the regular guests of events timed to May 9 is the President of Kazakhstan. Nursultan Nazarbayev took part in the holiday for three years. At home, the politician refused the Victory Day parade in 2016. It is also unknown whether the leader of Kazakhstan will come this year.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has not appeared at the Victory Day parade in Moscow for three years. He takes part in a similar event in his country. No one can replace Lukashenko in Minsk, because only the commander-in-chief has the right to receive the parade.
Jubilee parades
Photo source: RIA Novosti
Most of the foreign guests visited Moscow during the Victory anniversary celebrations. It was especially crowded in 1995. The UN Secretary General and the leaders of France, the USA and the Federal Republic of Germany attended the first anniversary of the Victory in the modern history of Russia. The event was attended by the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and the President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze. In total, about 60 prominent political figures gathered.
In 2005 Russia celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Victory. Places on the podium were taken by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, French President Jacques Chirac, US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
George Bush with his wife and Vladimir Putin. RIA Novosti / Sergey Pyatakov
A group of Wehrmacht veterans arrived with the German politician. After the end of the parade, Vladimir Putin talked to them personally. Then the delegation from Germany visited the Lublin cemetery - the burial place of the remains of the Germans who were captured by the USSR.
Traditionally, the leaders of Latvia and Estonia refused the invitation to come to Moscow on Victory Day.
Photo source: RIA Novosti / Alexey Druzhinin
In 2015, Chinese leader Xi Jinping watched the 70th Victory Day parade. general director UNESCO Irina Bokova and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK Kim Yong Nam, President of Venezuela Nicholas Maduro and Cuban leader Raul Castro also attended the celebrations. Among those who accepted the invitation were the leaders of the CIS countries, Latin America and Asia.
Nicholas Maduro and Raul Castro. RIA Novosti / Konstantin Chalabov
EU members were represented only by Cyprus. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to come. But this year the politician will visit Moscow.
Igor Dodon announced a visit to Moscow on May 9 back in April, promising to come to the holiday with his wife and son: “I received an invitation from the President of Russia to attend the festive events on Red Square. For almost 15 years, the presidents of Moldova did not come to Moscow that day, so I decided to go. "
But more often they were dissuaded by internal state affairs. Seven years ago, the Italian prime minister refused to visit Moscow due to the financial crisis. In his office, they explained that overcoming problems requires constant contact. For the same reason, the French president remained in Paris.
Probably, there will be no Parisian guests this time: the day before, the country hosted presidential elections, according to the results of which the leader of the movement "Forward!" Emmanuel Macron.
Because of the elections, the representatives of the United Kingdom also missed the holiday in Moscow. So, in 2005, the British Prime Minister, during a telephone conversation with the Russian president Vladimir Putin said that he would not be able to attend the parade. Putin was sympathetic, congratulating Blair on his birthday and his party's victory in the elections.
Relationships without invitations
In the Kremlin, refusals are usually taken calmly, emphasizing that the parade is not held for foreign guests, but primarily for veterans. In the situation of the mass boycott of 2015, the Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that five years earlier there were also few high-profile foreign persons, although neither events in the Donbass nor the annexation of Crimea had yet happened.
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasizes that his colleagues always have the right to choose, although he expresses doubts that they all make this choice on their own: “Someone does not want to, someone is not allowed in the“ Washington regional committee ”. Someone may even be ashamed, but let them decide for themselves. "
The leader of neighboring Belarus, meanwhile, condemned colleagues who use the refusal for political purposes. “It's another matter when you're busy at home,” he noted. Before the 70th anniversary of the Victory, when the list of guests was unusually small, the plans were followed with special attention, but it did not live up to expectations. “In Belarus, according to the constitution, except for the commander-in-chief, no one can receive the parade. We will have our own parade on May 9 like in Moscow, ”said Lukashenka, who, however, during his presidency, attended parades in the Russian capital more often than in Minsk.
Speaking with a congratulatory speech on Red Square on the occasion of the Victory Day parade, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the disunity of states at that time did not prevent the tragedy.
“This monstrous tragedy was not averted primarily because of the connivance of the criminal ideology of racial superiority, because of the disunity of the leading countries of the world.
This allowed the Nazis to arrogate to themselves the right to decide the fate of other peoples, to unleash the most brutal, bloody war, to enslave and put almost all European countries at the service of their deadly goals, ”the Russian leader said.
It is worth noting that a similar phrase was also sounded in the president's speech at the Victory Parade last year. He also mentioned that the aggressor "put at his service the economic potential of almost all of Europe."
Fewer foreign guests
Last year's congratulation also sounded an invitation for other countries of the world to jointly fight the global threat: "We must defeat this evil, and Russia is open to join efforts with all states, is ready to work to create a modern, non-aligned system of international security."
The main guest of honor of the President of Russia at the Victory Parade was President of Moldova Igor Dodon, who is not the first time he is visiting Moscow for several months after taking office.
Dodon came to power on socialist slogans, as well as on promises to get closer to Russia.
In 2016, the President of Kazakhstan was the same honored guest on the podium. Nazarbayev was also an honorary guest of the President of Russia in 2015, when Russia celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Victory, which, due to the cooling of relations with Western countries, did not attend the leaders of European countries and the United States.
The most impressive was the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Victory, when the leaders of all major world powers came to visit Vladimir Putin. Among them, the leaders of the allies - the President of the United States and the President of France - took pride of place, Great Britain was represented by the Deputy Prime Minister. Also among the guests of the parade were the then Chancellor of Germany, Prime Minister of Japan, Italy and China.
The 2015 parade dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory over fascism was ignored by most European politicians. This was caused by the deterioration of relations between Russia and the Western countries after the development of the Ukrainian crisis.
Most of the 30 foreign leaders who came to Moscow were from the republics of the former USSR. Among the foreign guests, the head of Cuba, the secretary general, the general director, the leaders of Mongolia, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Serbia appeared in the stands.
Medvedev and Sobyanin left alone
During the Victory Parade this year, the seats for the guests of honor to the left of the president are the speaker and, in the second row, was the head.
To the right of the president, facing the stands, was Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, separated from Putin by two veterans sitting next to him. The seating arrangement was similar in 2016.
In 2008, when Medvedev was elected president of Russia, the two leaders sat next to each other. At the 2010 jubilee parade, Putin was on the right hand side after the leader of the PRC and Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel.
In 2011, the blogosphere actively discussed Medvedev and Putin, who sat in the stands during the passage of troops, and did not get up, as statesmen did before. This caused a negative reaction from bloggers from both the liberal and patriotic camp.
The parade in 2017 was also attended by the President of the USSR, who in 2015 admitted in an interview that it became difficult for him to endure such a ceremony.
In 1985, when the Victory Parade was held in Moscow for the first time in many years, Gorbachev, like the then Soviet leaders, received it, standing on the podium of the Lenin Mausoleum.
After the end of the parade, Putin, shaking hands with those sitting near him statesmen, left the stands together with the President of Moldova.
According to one of the interlocutors of Gazeta.Ru, who watched the parade from close range, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin was leaving the parade together with the head of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko. The Mayor of Moscow, like Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left alone.
The Western press, which covered the Victory Parade, notes that for the Kremlin, victory in the war becomes one of the foundations of legitimacy. The Washington Post, reminding readers of the victims the USSR suffered in the fight against the Nazis, notes that, in the Kremlin's view, “saving the world from fascism is not only a great achievement Soviet Union... It became the basis for Russia's return to the image of a great power after the Cold War ... ”.
The last time the Victory Parade on Red Square attracted a relatively large number of guests from abroad was in 2015, when Russia widely celebrated the 70th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War. Since then, Moscow has departed from the tradition of annually officially inviting world leaders to take part in the next parade. But she invariably emphasized that she would be glad to everyone who wants to attend the celebrations on their own initiative. In 2018, Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be such guests. The latter decided to combine the desire to pay tribute to the memory of the soldiers who liberated the world from the Nazis with the need to discuss the topics of Syria and Iran with Vladimir Putin.
Russia adhered to the tradition of inviting world leaders to the Victory Parade if it was a round date. A significant number of foreign heads of state and government visited Moscow on the occasion of the 50th and 60th anniversary of the Victory, that is, in 1995 and 2005. Then about fifty high-ranking foreign guests came to the Russian capital. In 2005, this list, in particular, included the then US President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, French President Jacques Chirac and an impressive number of leaders of the CIS and Asian countries.
In 2015, when Russia celebrated the 70th anniversary of Victory, the composition of foreign participants turned out to be more modest - the heads of 25 states took part in the celebration, although then official invitations were sent to 68 foreign leaders, as well as the leaders of the UN, the European Union and the Council of Europe. Because of the disagreements between Russia and the West, none of the leaders of the EU member states traveled to Moscow that year under the pretext of being busy with domestic political affairs.
The honored guests of the 2015 Victory Parade were Cuban President Raul Castro, then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, as well as the leaders of China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Venezuela and Serbia.
In the future, Moscow did not send out any special invitations to the Victory Parade. But at the same time, the Kremlin has always emphasized that they will be glad to those who want to come themselves. In 2016, President of Kazakhstan Narsultan Nazarbayev became an honorary foreign guest on the podium. Last year, President of Moldova Igor Dodon came to the Russian capital - he became the first Moldovan leader in almost a decade and a half to attend the celebrations on Red Square on May 9.
This year, on the day of the 73rd anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, Serbian President of Serbia Aleksandr Vucic and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu will be honored foreign guests.
Ahead of the event, the Serbian leader intends to meet with his Russian counterpart to discuss bilateral and regional issues. Alexander Vuchich, according to him, does not intend to interfere in global topics, since he is "not an interlocutor" in them. The same cannot be said about the second distinguished guest.
As the press service of the head of the Israeli prime minister said the other day, after the Victory Day parade, Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, at which he will present to his colleague all the details of the documents obtained by Israeli intelligence on the Iranian nuclear dossier. As you know, now the nuclear deal concluded by Tehran and the "six" (five member countries of the UN Security Council + Germany) is under threat of failure due to the declared US intention to withdraw from it.
Russia and Israel have long been drawn together by a sharp rejection of anti-Semitism and attempts in a number of Western countries to glorify Nazi accomplices. Last year, Israel became the only country whose parliament stood in solidarity with Moscow, condemning in a special statement the demolition of monuments to Soviet soldiers-liberators in Poland. But this time, the topic for which Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Moscow on May 9 does not cause such unanimity among the parties. If Israel, like the United States, believes that the deal is ineffective and does not guarantee Iran's refusal to develop its nuclear arsenal, then Russia proceeds from the assumption that it is by no means worth breaking the agreement.