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Czech leader to attend V-day celebrations in Moscow

He dismissed the calls to boycott celebrations over the conflict in Ukraine saying that Russian soldiers killed during the liberation of Czechoslovakia are not responsible for the current politics

Czech president Milos Zeman EPA/PATRICK SEEGER

Czech president Milos Zeman

© EPA/PATRICK SEEGER

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Twenty six heads of state confirm participation in Victory Day celebrations in Moscow

PRAGUE, March 18. /TASS/. Czech President Milos Zeman will take part in the Moscow celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War on May 9, the country's prime minister said on Wednesday.

Bohuslav Sobotka dismissed the Czech opposition's calls to boycott the celebrations in Moscow over the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine.

"More than 100,000 Russian soldiers killed during the liberation of Czechoslovakia are not responsible for the current politics," Sobotoka said.

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"Most of Czechoslovak territory was liberated by the Red Army," he added.

Meanwhile, Slovak President Andrej Kiska said he would skip the Victory Day parade in Moscow over the situation in Ukraine and Crimea's reunification with Russia.

Kiska said he would lay wreaths to Soviet World War II tombs in Slovakia in early May "to commemorate soldiers of the Red Army and other armies who died for our freedom."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico could attend the celebrations in Moscow.

However, Fico's office told TASS a decision on Fico's visit had not been yet made.

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