Putin to meet Venezuelan, Cuban leaders in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Wednesday meet with the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba, Moscow's traditional allies in South America, the Kremlin said Tuesday.Venezuela's Nicholas Maduro and Cuba's Miguel Diaz-Canel are among the 29 foreign leaders who will attend the grand Victory Day parade on May 9 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.Putin and Maduro are also due to sign a strategic partnership treaty during the talks, according to the Kremlin.Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the "grandest" ever annual Victory Day parade in Moscow on Friday, evoking the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II to rally support for his troops fighting in Ukraine.The Kremlin said that it still plans to stick to a three-day truce it proposed to coincide with the parade, which Ukraine has dismissed as nothing more than an attempt by Moscow to secure the event's safety.Ukraine, which has hit Moscow with drones just days before the parade, has said it cannot take responsibility for what happens in Russia and has said some countries approached it to request safety for their leaders attending the parade.China's Xi Jinping and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva are due to attend the parade, along with the leaders from Indonesia, Slovakia, Serbia, Vietnam, Egypt, as well as Russia's traditional allies from Central Asia and the Caucasus.