Guest list for Moscow World War II commemoration

[Torosian Aram]

Guest list for Moscow World War II commemoration

Agence France Presse -- English
May 8, 2005 Sunday 2:01 AM GMT

MOSCOW May 8

Nearly 60 heads of state and government and other leading international
dignitaries are due to take part Monday in celebrations commemorating
the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Four invited leaders have also declined to attend for various
reasons. Here is an unofficial list of who is expected and who is not:

ABSENT:

-- Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Estonian President Arnold
Ruutel have declined to attend, citing "the painful history" of their
countries linked to the date which also marked the beginning of a
Soviet occupation that lasted more than 40 years.

-- Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has declined to attend,
citing continuing disagreements with Moscow on the withdrawal of
Russian troops from two remaining Soviet-era military bases on
Georgian territory.

-- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, elected Thursday to a third
term, has declined to attend the Moscow events, citing "intense"
work on forming his new government.

LEADERS OF FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS TO BE PRESENT:

-- Armenian President Robert Kocharyan

-- Azeri President Ilham Aliyev

-- Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko

-- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev

-- Kyrgyz interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev

-- Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin

-- Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov

-- Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov

-- Uzbek President Islam Karimov

-- Ukrainian Viktor Yushchenko

LEADERS OF OTHER COUNTRIES:

-- Albanian President Alfred Moisiu

-- Australian Governor General Michael Jeffery

-- Austrian President Heinz Fischer

-- Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt

-- Bosnia-Herzegovina's Acting President of Bosnia's three-part
presidency, Serb Borislav Paravac

-- Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov

-- Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson

-- Chinese President Hu Jintao

-- Croatian President Stipe Mesic

-- Cypriot President Tassos Papadopulos

-- Czech President Vaclav Klaus

-- Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen

-- Finnish President Tarja Halonen

-- French President Jacques Chirac

-- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder

-- Greek President Carolos Papulias

-- Hungarian President Ferenc Madl

-- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi

-- Icelandic Prime Minister Halldor Asgrimsson

-- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

-- Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern

-- Israeli President Moshe Katzav

-- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

-- Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga

-- Luxemburg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker

-- Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski

-- Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi

-- Mongolian President Natsaguiine Bagabandi

-- The Netherlands' Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende

-- New Zealand Governor General Sylvia Cartwright

-- Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik

-- Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski

-- Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates

-- Romanian President Traian Basescu

-- Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic

-- Slovakian President Ivan Gasparovic

-- Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek

-- South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun

-- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

-- Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson

-- Swiss President Samuel Schmid

-- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

-- US President George W. Bush

LEADERS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS:

-- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan

-- European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso

-- UNESCO General Director Koicho Matsuura

FORMER HEADS OF STATE:

-- Cyprus's Glafkos Clerides

-- Poland's Wojciech Jaruzelski

-- Romania's former king Michael I