MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in a phone call on Thursday, the Kremlin press service reported.
"Shinzo Abe congratulated Vladimir Putin on the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War," the press service said in a statement following a telephone conversation initiated by Japan.
Abe was invited to attend the celebrations in the Russian capital, which were to be held on May 9. Reports said that the Russian and Japanese leaders were expected to meet in Moscow on that day. However, on April 6, Putin ordered to put off all mass events to mark the anniversary of the victory, including a parade on Red Square, because of the coronavirus situation. The head of state assured that the celebrations would take place in 2020. Tokyo reported later on that the possibility of the prime minister’s participation in the celebrations in Moscow would depend on a specific date of the events.