Week in Review: In Search of Direction

The Victory Day public holiday, which kicks off the month, is a central event in Russian public life. The military parade on Moscow’s Red Square celebrates the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945 and remembers the Soviet Union’s fallen soldiers.

In past decades, the parade would have been attended by leaders and officials from near and afar. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in its fourth year, however, foreign guests this May were few. In his opinion piece for Balkan Insight, Maksim Samorukov takes a look at which Balkan leaders came to Moscow’s rescue, as well as the changing fortunes of Moscow’s Balkan relationships.

Read more: Russian Despatch: Bosnian Serbs Come Through for Red Square Parade (May 20, 2026)