Russia is expecting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to attend the May 9 events in Moscow.

Axar.az reports this was stated by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, at a briefing.

"We welcome this and are expecting the leadership of both Azerbaijan and Armenia. We are always happy to see the leaders of countries that have received invitations and confirmed their participation," Zakharova said. "We are conducting large-scale preparatory work in all directions. Our entire state is involved in ensuring a dignified celebration of this important and unifying date."

"We remember the contribution of each of the peoples of the multinational Soviet Union, their significant role in the common victory over German Nazism and Japanese militarism," the diplomat noted. "As for Azerbaijan and Armenia, hundreds of thousands of representatives of the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia participated heroically and on a large scale in all major operations of the Great Patriotic War, and about half of them did not return from the front."