The guest list for Putin’s Victory Day parade is here — and a leader of an EU nation is going

This year’s Victory Day in Russia will be nothing like it usually is.

The annual event, where Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, has already been scaled back, with the Russian Ministry of Defence saying there will be no armored vehicles in the traditional parade in Moscow, citing safety reasons.

Additionally, Moscow has been heavily reinforced, with more than 40 air defense systems reportedly being moved from other parts of Russia and Ukraine to the Russian capital.

And now, the guest list of foreign officials attending Victory Day has been announced, featuring a couple of notable absentees as well as one striking attendee.

European head of state scheduled to appear

According to the guest list, which has been published on the Kremlin’s website, the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico, has announced his attendance in Moscow.

He is the only European official scheduled to attend, according to the list.

The Slovak Republic is part of the European Union, and Fico has a reputation for being more Kremlin-aligned than the other heads of state in the union.

After Hungary’s long-time leader, Viktor Orbán, was ousted from office in a landslide domestic election in April, Fico is now considered Putin’s closest ally within the EU.

Fico also attended the Victory Day parade in 2025.

China not attending

The guest list for this year’s Victory Day is significantly shorter than last year’s, with China, North Korea, India, and many other nations not sending officials to Moscow.

The Kremlin has told Russian media that no official invitations have been sent to foreign leaders ahead of Victory Day, but some have apparently still decided to attend.

The full list of foreign delegations scheduled to appear in Moscow is:

• President of the Republic of Abkhazia Badra Gunba and his wife

• President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko

• President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith

• King of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim

• Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico

• President of the Republic of South Ossetia Alan Gagloyev

• President of Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Sinisa Karan

• President of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska Nenad Stevandic and his wife

• President of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and his wife

Sources: Kremlin website, RIA Novosti

This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation