Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will participate at the parade to be held on Sunday in Moscow to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory over fascism in World War II, the Russian ambassador in Baku has said.
Vladimir Dorokhin told reporters that on the same day the Russian capital will host an informal summit of the CIS leaders’ council.
The ambassador on Wednesday handed medals on behalf of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to 27 war veterans, who are Russian citizens living in Azerbaijan, on the occasion of the WWII victory anniversary. According to Dorokhin, 641,000 Azerbaijanis were involved in the Great Patriotic War from 1941-45, of whom 121 were named Heroes of the Soviet Union. He noted that Baku’s oil and Azerbaijanis’ efforts played a great role in attaining victory.
Of note, US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not attend the parade in Moscow. The Ukrainian and Belarusian leaders are not in attendance either. However, Viktor Yanukovich and Alexander Lukashenko will be joining all celebratory events on the air live.*