EU orders candidate countries to ignore May 9 parade in Moscow

The European Union has instructed candidate countries not to participate in the May 9 celebrations in Moscow, Russia, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže says.
"We had already a busy evening yesterday with a dinner with the Western Balkan partners… Also, a lot of discussion on the values and alignment of CFSP, including sanctions, including very clear guidance from EU member states for the candidates not to participate in the 9th May parade in Moscow and not to do those trips as it would not be in line with the EU values," she said.

Currently, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro have the status of candidate for EU membership among the Balkan countries.

In terms of assistance to Ukraine, Braže said, "very practical discussion both on money but also on the military support, on EU's own capacity."

In particular, she emphasized that yesterday's Russian strike on Sumy shows that Ukraine needs additional air defense systems.