By Russia will be invited to send representatives to an international ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-day – but not Vladimir Putin, the French organisers have announced.
The Élysée is reported to have accepted that the country should be represented but said its leader is not welcome because of Moscow’s ongoing war on Ukraine.
“In view of the circumstances, President Putin will not be invited to take part in the commemorations of the Normandy landings,” the Liberation Mission organising committee 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 its contribution to the victory of 1945, can be honoured.”
It added: “Unlike the Kremlin regime, France does not pursue a policy of historical revisionism.”
No other information was given and the Russian embassy in Paris and the Kremlin did not react to the statement or indicate whether the invitation would be accepted.
The Soviet Union lost more than 27 million people during the war – with 8.7 million military and 19 million civilian deaths.
Putin was invited to and attended the ceremony to mark 70th anniversary of the D-day landings despite Russia’s annexation of Crimea a few months earlier.
At the time, the then French president, François Hollande, said: “You can have differences of opinion with Vladimir Putin but I have never forgotten and never will forget that the Russian people gave millions of lives.”
After the June 2014 commemorations, Putin and the then Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, met at the Élysée for talks after Moscow backed a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
Putin was not invited to the 75th commemorations attended by Donald Trump but the Élysée said this was not unusual as Russia was invited to the major decade commemorations.
