Lavrov says 26 heads of state confirm participation in V-Day celebrations in Moscow

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Twenty six heads of state have already confirmed they will attend the celebrations in Moscow of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. "The invitations were sent to 68 heads of state, as well as UN, Council of Europe, UNESCO and EU chiefs," he said. "As of yesterday, 26 heads of state confirmed their participation." Lavrov told a meeting of the Victory organising committee that among them were Chinese, Indian, South African, Vietnamese, Cuban, Monglolian, North Korean leaders, as well as heads of UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Lavrov said "steps made by the Americans and the aggresive core of the European Union" affected the participation of European delegations in the Victory anniversary events. He said many people in Europe understood that the Moscow celebrations would be held not only to commemorate Europe's defenders from Nazism but "to revitalise the situation on the continent." "We are expecting the Czech president, the head of the Slovak government, the Greek prime minister, the preisdent of Cyprus," Lavrov said. The leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Macedonia, Montenegro, Servia and Norway have confirmed their participation in various formats, he added. He said that 28 heads of state attended the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the Victory in 2010. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said Russia had invited 16 military units "from friendly countries, as well as members of the anti-Hitler coalition." "Nine of them have confirmed participation," he said adding that Russian was waiting for a response from five countries, as two countries had refused to take part in the celebrations. Shoigu also said that the Defence Ministry intended to invite his counterparts from 26 countries. Read more