Czech leader to skip military parade during Moscow trip

Czech President Milos Zeman will skip a military parade when he travels to Moscow in May for a World War II victory anniversary largely snubbed by Western leaders, his spokesman said Friday.

His decision comes days after US ambassador to the Czech Republic Andrew Schapiro questioned Zeman's wish to be "probably the only EU head of state" to attend the parade on Moscow's Red Square marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany.

The pro-Russian leader sparked uproar at home and abroad when he decided to take part in the May 9 celebrations ignored by most Western leaders amid tensions over Russia's role in Ukraine.

"On May 9, the president... will lay a wreath in the Russian capital to remember Red Army soldiers killed during the liberation of Czechoslovakia," Zeman's spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said Friday.

"The president will use the time earmarked by the organisers for the military parade to lead bilateral talks with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico," he told reporters.

Fico's office declined to confirm whether he would travel to Moscow.

Zeman, a 70-year-old leftwinger, is one of a handful of world leaders set to attend the event, alongside Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and North Korea's Kim Jong-Un as well as the leaders of Cuba, India, Mongolia, South Africa and Vietnam.

Most Western leaders have given Russian President Vladimir Putin the cold shoulder while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to visit Moscow on May 10.