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Vladimir Putin was purposefully left off the invite list for a D-Day ceremony by the French organisers this week, according to reports.
The event planners made it plain that Russian president is the problem by even inviting Russia as a country – but specifying that Putin was not welcome.
Alluding to his “war of aggression” in Ukraine, the Liberation Mission organising committee said: “In view of the circumstances, president Putin will not be invited to take part in the commemorations of the Normandy landings.”
According to reports from the French newswire AFP, the organisation continued: “Russia will however be invited… to honour the importance of the commitment and sacrifices of the Soviet peoples, as well as its contribution to the 1945 victory.”
The organisers said France has “always” invited the countries whose contingents landed in Normandy – including to the Russian Federation.
However, the Russian state news agency TASS said on Tuesday night: “As of now, we have received no official invitations from the French side.”
Russia’s presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov also said the Kremlin had not received any such invitation.
Putin himself has not publicly acknowledged this snub.
World leaders including US president Joe Biden will be heading to Normandy to honour the 80th anniversary of the World War 2 D-Day landings in early June.
Allied soldiers stormed the German-held French beaches in 1944 in a move which eventually triggered the complete overthrow of the Nazis in 1945.
The Soviet Union helped to weaken Hitler’s forces by fighting the Nazis on the eastern front – so the West usually celebrates the occasion with Russia.
But, Putin was not invited to the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, either.
According to the French daily newspaper, Le Figaro, Putin told news agencies that he honestly did not mind he was not invited at the time.
He said: “Why should they always invite me everywhere?
“What am I, operetta general?
“I’ve got enough to do here, it’s absolutely not a problem.”
Back in 2014 though, he did make the cut, although the anniversary fell just months after he illegally seized the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Then French president Francois Hollande said he had “differences” with Putin but he would “never forget” how millions of Russians died in World War 2.
Putin’s war in Ukraine has left him increasingly isolated in the international community.
Only a handful of African leaders attended his Russia summit last year, and the year before he was left waiting by Turkey’s president shortly after he attacked Ukraine.
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