PM Modi to skip Russia’s Victory Day parade, Rajnath Singh to attend May 9 celebrations in Moscow

Almost a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited for the Victory Day celebrations on May 9 in Moscow, India has decided that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be attending the event, sources said on Wednesday.

Government sources said, “An invitation was extended to the prime minister to attend the Victory Day Parade at Moscow. The Russian side was informed earlier that India would be represented by Defence Minister Singh.”

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Red Army’s victory over German Nazi forces in the Second World War. In January 1945, the Soviet Army launched an offensive against Germany. The commanders-in-chief on May 9 signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany which ended the war.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, when asked about the Russian invitation, had said that India has received an invitation, and it will be announcing its participation at the “appropriate time”.

Modi has already travelled to Russia twice last year for an annual summit with President in July and to attend the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October.

During his last visit, Modi invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit India and he is expected to travel to India this year as part of the established framework for reciprocal annual engagements between the leaders of the two nations. However, the dates of Putin’s visit have not been announced yet.

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021.

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