U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is considering attending Russia’s Victory Day military parade next May though he is unsure whether he can do it due to its timing.
“It is in the middle of our campaign season, but I will certainly think about it,” Trump told reporters when he was asked if he would attend the event.
Trump, who has yet to visit Russia as U.S. president, said he appreciates Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation, saying it is “a very big deal celebrating the end of the war.”
“It is in the middle of the political season, so I will see if I can do it, but I would love to go if I could,” he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in June that Putin had invited Trump to attend the Victory Day commemorative events in Moscow next May.
The 2020 events will mark the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. Former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush attended the Moscow’s Red Square parade in 1995 and 2005 respectively, while Barack Obama declined to show up for the 70th anniversary in 2015 due to the Crimea issue.
