Russia did not invite any foreign leaders to attend Moscow for Victory Day celebrations on May 9th, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reports.
Victory Day is a holy holiday for all of Russia and its citizens.
"We did not invite any of the foreign leaders. This is not an anniversary date, this is our holiday, this is a holy holiday for all of Russia, for all Russians, but we did not invite foreign leaders,” Peskov told reporters.
The Kremlin spokesman added that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was not expected to come to Moscow for festive events either.
On April 18, it became known that 11,000 military personnel and over 200 pieces of equipment would take part in the May 9 Victory Parade in Moscow. Dress rehearsals of the parade, timed to coincide with the 77th anniversary of the Victory, will be held on Red Square on May 7.
Meanwhile, traditional May 9 Immortal Regiment processions will not be held in Russia's regions that border on Ukraine, Belgorod Governor Gladkov said.
"We are closely monitoring the current situation, the operational situation. We will make a final decision the day before. If the situation allows us to confidently look that everything will be safe, we will hold it the way we usually do," the governor said.
On April 29, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked a border checkpoint in the Kursk region, the Governor of the region Roman Starovoit wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to the governor, the shelling was carried out from a mortar. The incident took place at about 8:00 a. m. in the village of Krupets that borders on Ukraine.
"Our border guards suppressed the attack by return fire. There are no casualties or destruction,” Starovoit said.
Earlier it was reported that a Ukrainian UAV was shot down in the Kursk region of Russia. On April 25, the Kursk region extended a terrorist threat alert.
On April 27, explosions occurred in three Russian regions bordering Ukraine. The authorities of the Voronezh and Kursk regions reported explosions in the sky, which occurred as a result of the activation of air defense systems. In addition, an ammunition depot caught fire in the Belgorod region.