Due to the “war of aggression” in Ukraine, Russia will be invited to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings in early June, but, “given the circumstances, [not its president, Vladimir] Putin”, announced Tuesday, April 16, the Liberation Mission, responsible for organizing the event.
“Russia will, however, be invited to be represented so that the importance of the commitment and sacrifices of the Soviet peoples as well as its contribution to the victory of 1945 are honored,” she added, thus confirming information from Europe 1.
No further details have yet been given regarding the level at which Russia could be represented at these commemorations in Normandy.
Invited in 2014 but not in 2019
Mr. Putin was invited to the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of June 6, 1944, in June 2014, despite the annexation of Crimea three months earlier, due to the heavy price paid by Russia in the battle against Nazism. The President of the Russian Federation and his Ukrainian counterpart at the time, Petro Poroshenko, spoke to each other for the first time, in the midst of a pro-Russian insurrection in eastern Ukraine, which the West accused Moscow of fueling. , or even to orchestrate directly.
The meeting, in the presence of French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then opened the way for discussions involving the four countries, in the so-called “Normandy” format, in order to try to find a solution to the Ukrainian crisis. Discussions that continued until Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr. Putin, on the other hand, was not invited to the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, while the situation was getting bogged down in eastern Ukraine. He then assured that it was “absolutely not a problem”.
“Historically, France has always invited to the ceremony the countries whose contingents landed in Normandy. Furthermore, the invitation could, in the past, be extended to the Russian Federation,” recalls the Liberation Mission.
