Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not come to Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations on May 9, but the country will send lower-level officials in his stead, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"India's leader will not come, India will not be represented at the supreme level," he said.
Peskov added that a large number of heads of state and governments will come to Moscow on May 9 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Victory over Nazi Germany in WWII.
A source in the Indian government disclosed to TASS earlier in the day that India’s premier would not visit Moscow to attend Victory Day celebrations due to developments around the deadly terrorist attack that occurred in India’s Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian Foreign Ministry said on April 9 that Modi had received an invitation to visit Moscow to take part in Victory Day celebrations and his visit would be announced in due course. In late February, a military source in New Delhi told TASS about plans for the Indian prime minister to visit Moscow to attend a parade marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
