So, American and British troops will march through Moscow in this year's Victory Day parade, but Georgian troops won't. Reports RIA Novosti:
Russia has sent no invitation to Georgian military officials to participate in the May 9 Victory Day parade on Moscow's Red Square, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said on Monday.
"The invitations were sent to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member-states. Georgia is not part of the CIS," Col. Alexei Kuznetsov told journalists.
Of course, as RIAN points out, the U.S. and Britain are also not part of the CIS, so Georgia's snub doesn't have anything to do with that. No need here to point out the real reason.
In other WWII news, a Georgian WWII monument destroyed in December will be rebuilt in Moscow, starting just before Victory Day, reports RT:
Within a year and a half Moscow authorities promise to erect in the Russian capital a copy of the “We fought the Nazis together” monument that was demolished in Georgia on December 19, 2009.
The monument will be placed on Remembrance Alley in the World War II Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill... Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has already signed an order to lay the foundation stone on May 6.
The Georgian government had originally said the Kutaisi monument was only being "restored," but the force of the explosion of this renovation effort was apparently so strong that it send chunks of concrete into a house, killing two people.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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