Chinese President Xi Jinping has accepted Russia’s invitation to attend the commemoration of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday.
“Chinese President Xi Jinping accepted the invitation to participate in the celebration on May 9 in Moscow on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War,” Russian Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov told Russian state television, TASS reports.
The Kremlin said in December that it had invited “numerous countries” to attend the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, which Russians call the “Great Patriotic War”.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II, but eventually pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Adolf Hitler committed suicide and a red Soviet victory flag was raised over the Reichstag in 1945.
Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender took effect at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, marked as “Victory in Europe Day” by France, Britain and the United States. In Moscow, it is May 9, which has become “Victory Day” for the Soviet Union in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45.
Victory Day has become Russia’s most important holiday.
Morgulov said Xi, in turn, invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to China for the country’s commemoration of the end of World War II, which is scheduled for September, Reuters reported.
