Kaljulaid has not yet been invited to Moscow for May 9
As the Office of the President has not received an invitation to Moscow on May 9, it is not known whether President Kersti Kaljulaid would participate in the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe held in Moscow next year.
In response to a question from ERR asking if the president would attend the event if asked, a spokesman for the president said: "The Office of the President has not received an invitation to Moscow on May 9."
Moscow has also not responded to President Kaljulaid's invitation to Vladimir Putin to attend the VIII World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples in Tartu next year, which was sent last week.
"In diplomatic communication, answering invitations takes time, and it is too early to expect an answer," the president's office said.
Among former Estonian presidents, Toomas Hendrik Ilves took part once in the celebration of the end battles of World War II in Moscow. Ilves went to Moscow in 2010 when he received a personal invitation from then-President Dmitri Medvedev.
In 2015, Ilves did not go to Moscow and Estonia was represented at the event by the then ambassador and current Minister of Defense, Jüri Luik. At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found that in light of the annexation of Crimea and the continuing destabilization of Ukraine by Russia, participation at head of state level was not appropriate.
President Arnold Rüütel was invited to attend the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow in 2005, but did not attend.
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day or similar, celebrates the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on the May 8 or 9, 1945.
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Editor: Helen Wright