Xi to Attend Moscow’s May 9 Victory Day Parade, Diplomat Says

Chinese leader Xi Jinping reportedly accepted an invitation to attend the May 9 Victory Day celebration in Moscow.

Igor Morgulov, Russian Ambassador to Beijing, announced the update on Russian television channel Rossiya-24 and said Xi would also reciprocally invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to China to mark the Chinese WWII victory over Japan, as reported by Interfax Russia.

“The Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping accepted the invitation to take part in the celebrations on May 9 in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and, in turn, invited Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin here, to China, to the celebrations that are planned here in early September also to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people in the anti-Japanese war,” Morgulov said.

Beijing has yet to comment on the report at the time of publication.

Xi last attended Moscow’s Victory Day parade in 2015, with the guard of honor from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in attendance.

Victory Day commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, a holiday that traditionally features grandeur military parades and is a showcase of Russia’s military strength. For America and the British Empire the end of the fight against Nazi-Germany was V-E (victory-Europe), since for those allies World War II was not over until the defeat of Japan.

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In recent years, the Kremlin has used its World War II history to bolster its narrative on its invasion of Ukraine by branding the latter modern-day neo-Nazis.

The day is celebrated by most post-Soviet nations on May 9. Ukraine passed a bill in 2023 to celebrate the day as the “Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War” on May 8 instead, in line with the rest of Europe.

In 2023 and 2024, the parade in Moscow only featured one tank as opposed to columns of armored vehicles seen traditionally.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Xi and Putin have met at least three times in person: once in September 2022 in Uzbekistan, once in March 2023 when Xi visited Russia, and once in May 2024 when Putin visited China.