United States and most European Union nations say they will not send envoys to Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as Russian president.
The United States and most European Union nations have said they will not send envoys to Today’s inauguration of Vladimir Putin as Russian president.
Putin, 71, secured a fifth term in office in a March election that critics said lacked democratic legitimacy.
He gained 87.28 percent of the vote, weeks after the sudden death of his most vocal critic, Alexey Navalny, in an Arctic prison.
The United Kingdom and Canada said they would not send anyone to the ceremony, while a spokesperson for the European Union told news men that the bloc’s ambassador to Russia would not attend the inauguration, in keeping with the position of most of the EU’s member states.
The three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – which have withdrawn their ambassadors from Moscow – ruled out attending the inauguration.
The Czech Republic is also expected to snub the ceremony, while Germany’s Foreign Office said its representative would not attend – it earlier recalled its ambassador over alleged Russian cyber-attacks.
An aide to Putin said the heads of all foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow including those from unfriendly states had been invited to attend the inauguration, which starts at noon and will be broadcasted live on Russian television.