Vladimir Putin’s Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian reporters, as dignitaries from around the world began arriving in Moscow for the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory that it was “truly turning into a major international event.… I could compare these four working days in May with the October BRICS summit in Kazan.” Andrey Kortunov, scientific director of the Russian International Affairs Council agreed, noting that the meetings provided an opportunity for the leaders representing Global South nations (the majority of those who attended since all but two Western nations boycotted the celebrations of the end of fascism), “to discuss issues of reforming the world order” in a continuation of the Kazan summit.
President Putin held a veritable “marathon of meetings” during the four days. His first on May 7 was with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, invited to Moscow on a state visit. Their meeting, including a restricted format and a working breakfast which followed, concluded with the signing of a “Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Treaty” between Russia and Venezuela which had been carefully worked out in months of negotiations. Putin also reiterated that Russia supports Venezuela’s application to join the BRICS.
By the end of the day, Putin had held substantive bilateral meetings with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, and Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, as well. May 8 was dedicated to his meetings with China’s President Xi Jinping. After the May 9 parade and gala reception (where he took the opportunity to speak with other guests), he went on to meet with Brazil’s Lula da Silva, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Slovakia’s Robert Fico, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic and Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Along the way, he held a separate ceremony with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in which he handed him an official award certificate confirming that his father, Kemel Tokayev, had been posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, after documents of his father’s acts of bravery when fighting the Nazis in Poland were discovered.
