Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will travel to Moscow to participate in Russia's Victory Day celebrations on May 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on April 12.

"We appreciate that President Maduro will be with us on Victory Day," Lavrov said during a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.

The visit will coincide with Russia's commemoration of the 80th anniversary of victory in what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War (World War II), marked annually with a large military parade in Moscow.

"It will also be a good opportunity for the presidents to address bilateral issues and the international situation," Lavrov added, referring to a potential meeting between Maduro and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The announcement came after Gil hailed Venezuela's "solid strategic alliance" with Russia following their meeting in Turkey.

"We held a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which we reaffirmed our solid strategic alliance, especially in defending against unilateral sanctions and promoting a new multipolar world order," Gil wrote on his Telegram channel.

Several other foreign leaders have confirmed their attendance at the Victory Day parade, including Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, China’s leader Xi Jinping, Tajikistan's Emomali Rahmon, Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev, Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik and Palestinian National Authority head Mahmoud Abbas.

Among Latin American leaders, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reportedly intends to visit Moscow for the celebrations, whilst Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is the only EU leader scheduled to attend.

The Russia-Venezuela relationship has deep roots in the era of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, whom Putin credits with making a "qualitative breakthrough" in bilateral relations. Lavrov has similarly hailed Chávez as one of the first Latin American politicians to promote the concept of multipolarity in modern international relations.

Besides mutual diplomatic support in international forums, including Venezuela's staunch backing of Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the UN, collaboration now spans multiple domains such as space exploration and defence. During last year’s BRICS summit in Kazan, Putin strongly advocated Venezuela’s entry into the burgeoning trade bloc.

However, in a blow to Maduro, Caracas’ bid was vetoed by Brazil, which does not recognise the official result of last year’s disputed election due to the Venezuelan electoral council’s refusal to publish detailed voting tallies.

Venezuela and Russia have long-standing military and economic ties. Russia is a major creditor to the cash-strapped Venezuelan government, having extended approximately $17bn in loans since 2006. In turn, Moscow, through its state-controlled energy firm Rosneft, maintains an interest in Venezuela's vast oil reserves, the world's largest proven deposits.

At a point in 2019, Rosneft managed nearly 60% of Venezuela's exports, providing a lifeline to state oil refiner PDVSA when Western companies scaled back operations following the imposition of crippling sanctions during US President Donald Trump’s first term. Since returning to office in January, Trump has ramped up pressure on the Maduro regime by revoking key licences that allowed US and European majors to export oil from Venezuela.