Twenty Heads Of State To Visit Poland For 80th Anniversary Of WWII's Beginning - Warsaw

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2019) Twenty heads of state will arrive in Warsaw to participate in the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, Krzysztof Szczerski, the Polish president's chief aide, told reporters on Sunday.

On September 1, Poland will commemorate the beginning of the WWII. Warsaw has invited its allies from the European Union, the Eastern Partnership and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including Germany, but has decided to leave Russia out.

"Twenty presidents of various countries will visit us," Szczerski said, mentioning US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy by name.

Speaking about the lack of a delegation from Russia, Szczerski explained that the invitation had been sent only to EU countries and those participating in the Eastern Partnership.

Nevertheless, he added that Poland expected a Russian delegation for the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp from Nazis, noting that the invitation for that event is not sent by the Polish government, but by the administration of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.

Earlier, Warsaw tried to explain away the snubbing of Russia by evoking alleged violations of the international law by Moscow in 1939. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov responded that any such commemorative events in any country of the world cannot be considered meaningful without Russia's participation.

The Second World War began with Nazi Germany invading Poland on September 1, 1939. On September 17, after the Polish government had left the country, the Red Army crossed the country's eastern border, which ultimately divided Poland in two parts, with one of them controlled by Germany, and the other by the Soviet Union.