Xi’s visit comes as the Trump administration is seeking a 30-day “unconditional ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, and ahead of U.S.-China trade talks this weekend, the first since Trump imposed steep tariffs on U.S. trading partners around the world.
Xi was among 29 world leaders expected to attend the commemorations, according to the Kremlin. Diplomats from other countries said the Chinese leader’s presence had factored into their decisions to come.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned world leaders against attending the commemorations, saying it would undermine some countries’ declared neutrality in the Ukraine war. But Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told NBC News that Zelenskyy had asked him to deliver a message to Putin calling for a sustained ceasefire.
The Ukrainian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lula insisted that standing with Putin in Red Square “will not strengthen” the Russian leader.
“Brazil’s position has not changed,” he said in an interview Thursday. “Brazil is critical of Ukrainian occupation and we have to find peace.”
Moscow does not look like a city that wants peace at any cost. Ahead of the parade, hotel workers, officials and many members of the public wore the orange-and-black ribbon of Saint George, a Russian military symbol that especially since Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has been associated with Russian nationalism and militarism. Streets were draped in the same colors.
Huge billboards connected the World War II anniversary with Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, while others welcomed world leaders individually, including those of Cuba and Venezuela.
May 9 is a hallowed day for the former Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people during World War II. But the parade on Friday was haunted by the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
China, Russia’s biggest trading partner, has strived to portray itself as neutral in the Ukraine war while supporting Russia diplomatically and economically. Xi told Putin on Thursday that he hoped for “a fair and durable peace deal that is binding and accepted by all parties concerned.”
Xi will leave Russia on Saturday, as U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Switzerland to discuss mounting tariffs between the two countries that have rattled the global economy.
China agreed to the talks without any U.S. concessions, suggesting the tariffs “are having their intended effect,” said Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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