Russia will be invited to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied Landing in Normandy in early June, but not its president Vladimir Putin due to the Russian "aggression war"
in Ukraine, announced Tuesday the Liberation Mission responsible for organizing this commemoration.
On the occasion of the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied Landing in Normandy, Russia will be invited to the celebrations, announced Tuesday, April 16, the Liberation Mission, responsible for organizing this event. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be invited due to the "aggression war" of his country in Ukraine.
"In view of the circumstances (the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Editor's note), President Putin will not be invited to participate in the Normandy Landing commemorations," it said. "Russia will, however, be invited to be represented so that the importance of the commitment and sacrifices of the Soviet peoples, as well as their contribution to the victory of 1945, are honored," it added, confirming information from Europe 1.
"Historically, France has always invited countries whose contingents landed in Normandy to the ceremony. Moreover, the invitation has been extended to the Russian Federation in the past," recalls the Mission.
No details have been given on the level at which Russia could be represented at these commemorations in Normandy.
Vladimir Putin had been invited to the celebrations of the 70th anniversary in June 2014, despite the annexation of Crimea three months earlier, in recognition of the heavy toll paid by Russia in the battle against Nazism.
The Russian president and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko had then spoken for the first time, amid pro-Russian uprisings in eastern Ukraine, which the West accused Moscow of fomenting, or even orchestrating directly.
The meeting, attended by French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had paved the way for discussions involving the four countries, in the so-called "Normandy" format, in an attempt to find a solution to the Ukrainian crisis. These discussions continued until the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.
Vladimir Putin was not invited to the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, however, as the situation in eastern Ukraine worsened. He had then assured that it was "absolutely not a problem". And Moscow had called for not "exaggerating" the importance of the Allied Landing, recalling the 27 million Soviet deaths during World War II. Photo by Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHOM) Robert F. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard, Wikimedia commons.