State Department spokesperson Marie Harf called on world leaders to make a decision on travelling to Moscow for the V-Day celebrations or take into account Russia’s ongoing violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Answering whether Washington had told heads of state and governments not to take part in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, she said that there are a variety of ways that the world will honor Victory in Europe Day, including on May 8th here in Washington, and each country has taken its decision to participate in the celebrations in Moscow by itself.
After that, Harf was reminded that the USSR lost about 25 million people in that war. She replied that the United States "feels very deeply about it".
"But for this military parade specifically, we took into account what was happening in Ukraine and we are encouraging other countries to take the same thing into account," RIA Novosti cited the representative of the State Department.
