Russia has invited Israel to attend its Victory Day commemorations in May alongside representatives of China, Brazil, Slovakia and Serbia—but not Germany, the United States or most European Union’s member states, Russian media reported Sunday.
The annual May 9 commemorations on Red Square in Moscow feature a military parade and speeches by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in recognition of the sacrifices made by his country in its war against Germany in World War II. This year is a round anniversary since the German surrender to the Red Army 80 years ago.
A national holiday, May 9 is a major patriotic holiday in Russia and throughout much of the post-Soviet world. The holiday’s main event is the Red Square parade. In contrast to past anniversaries this year, Russia did not invite the United States, most of the European Union, Canada, Australia and other countries it deems “unfriendly,” according to News.ru.
Western leaders have attended the event in the past, including in 2005 when Putin hosted U.S. President George W. Bush and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac. Israel’s then-president Moshe Katsav represented it at that event.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last attended the parade in 2018 as one of the only Western leaders present. Israel’s Knesset designated May 9 the previous year as an official holiday. Israel is one of the only countries outside the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States where May 9 is on the official calendar. The day’s addition to the calendar was widely seen as a gesture to Russia but also as recognition of the thousands of Jewish Red Army war veterans living in Israel.
Former U.S. president Barack Obama did not attend the 2015 parade, nor did his French counterpart, François Hollande. Both leaders stayed away following Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine the previous year. Those countries, as well as Germany and Israel, were nonetheless represented at the 2015 event by their diplomatic corps.
Compiled in 2021, the list of “unfriendly nations” includes the United States, most E.U. member states, Canada and Australia.
Russian media noted that this means that Germany would for the first time be absent from the anniversary event. Alexander Tolmachev, a lawmaker in Russia’s Duma, told News.ru on Sunday that Germany cannot be a welcome guest on Red Square ”when its tanks are burning again from Russian shells.”
Tolmachev used the initials of the defunct Federal Republic of Germany, also known as West Germany, to refer to present-day Germany. He was referencing military aid given by Germany to Ukraine, including tanks. The United States has supplied weapons to Ukraine and imposed, along with other Western countries, biting sanctions on Russia.
Like its Western allies, Israel has also condemned Russia’s invasion but has not been as vocal on the issue as some.
When it invaded Ukraine, Russia had military bases in Syria, where it had helped prop up the regime of Bashar Assad until it collapsed in December. Israel has conducted military operations in Syria, mainly against Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, and has sought to avoid confrontations with Russia in Syria and beyond.
Israel and Russia reportedly had worked out a procedure for coordinating Israeli military activity in Syria, until this mechanism was suspended following the military escalation that began on Oct. 7, 2023.
Last month, Israel voted at the United Nations along with the United States, Russia and Hungary, as well as about a dozen countries in the developing world, against a nonbinding General Assembly resolution condemning Russia as the aggressor in the ongoing war in Ukraine. Almost all other European Union countries voted in favor.
U.S. President Donald Trump has outlined a shift in Washington’s policy on Ukraine, from unconditional aid in the war with Russia to an off-ramp toward a negotiated end to the conflict.
A spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a JNS query regarding who will represent Israel at this year’s event. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, was also invited and plans to attend, according to News.ru.
