Russia not invited to D-Day 80th anniversary, French presidency says

Reuters ^ | May 30, 2024 | John Irish

[MinorityRepublican]

Russia will not be invited to events marking the 80th anniversary of the Second World War's D-Day landings next week given its war of aggression against Ukraine, the French presidency said on Thursday.

Organisers had said in April that President Vladimir Putin would not be invited to the events in France, but that some Russian representatives would be welcome in recognition of the country's war-time sacrifice.

Prior to France's announcement on Thursday two diplomatic sources told Reuters that the Ukraine war and unease among some allies about Moscow's presence had led Paris to reverse its initial thinking. The commemorations will be attended by dozens of heads of state and government, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Joe Biden. Briefing reporters ahead of next Thursday's anniversary, a French presidency official confirmed Russia's absence and that Zelenskiy had been invited given his country's "just fight" in the war against Russia.

[jpp113]

He’s not at war in Normandy, France. Wearing his usual OD’s is simply disrespectful to all those that lost their lives on D-Day. He only wears them to try and con more money and weapons from other weak-kneed countries, which he will NEVER pay anyone back for. Con Man.

[wildcard_redneck]

"Russia openly wants to wage war against Europe"

NATO started this war with its relentless march east towards Russia and with the Orange Coup. The front keeps moving west and the Ukrainians are sitting in the dark, 40% of its population has fled the country, the entire proxy Ukrainian government is on the U.S. payroll and recently the Ukraine has said that it will seize Americans will dual citizenship and send them to the meat grinder. This is not what the winning side would do.

Meanwhile your dear leader Pedo Biden crapped his pants on international television.

[Allegra]

He’s not at war in Normandy, France. Wearing his usual OD’s is simply disrespectful to all those that lost their lives on D-Day. He only wears them to try and con more money and weapons from other weak-kneed countries, which he will NEVER pay anyone back for. Con Man.

That, right there is correct. 👆👆👆

[aMorePerfectUnion]

—> NATO started this war with its relentless march east towards Russia and with the Orange Coup.

PUBLIC SERVICE REMINDER:

Zeeper definition

* Zeepers are Zelensky FReepers - Z+eepers
* Emotional.
* Nonobjective.
* Zeepers live in a bubble.
* Incapable of critical thought.
* Afraid of cognitive dissonance.
* Zeepers live in a world that is so thin it only has one side of every issue.
* They filter out anything that contradicts their narrative.
* They are purposefully blind, tone deaf to certain frequencies.
* Incapable of looking for evidence that contradicts what they already decided.
* They spam FR with an unending flood of western intelligence service war propaganda - rejoicing and not understanding it is war propaganda.

In other words, they are purposely obtuse.

[wildcard_redneck]

Zelensky wearing his absurd little war outfit is fine tradition of European strongmen who do not have the support of their citizens.

Look at this picture of the Yalta Conference. Do you notice that FDR is not wearing a dictator uniform?

[M Kehoe]

Hi.

The Soviets didn’t land on Normandy, so why would they be invited?

I’ll wager the Germans weren’t invited.

5.56mm

[wildcard_redneck]

So is his Paris shopping spree wife. American taxpayer money spends real good in Paris.

[MinorityRepublican]

The Americans marched in the Moscow Victory Day Parade in 2010.

[hanamizu]

That seems petty.

---

I’m aware that the Soviets did most of the dying and bleeding during the war, but how many Soviet troops hit the beaches of Normandy? And I ask out of ignorance, are Americans invited to the Stalingrad victory commemorations?

[kabar]

Some Ukrainians sided with the Nazis during WWII and the current Azov Battalion makes no secret about its admiration for the Nazis. Hijacking D-Day celebrations to boost greater involvement in Ukraine is hideous.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

They have nothing to do with D-Day and so should not be invited.

[montag813]

Russia could not have defeated the Nazis in the East without the massive American Lend-lease enterprises, factories and armaments.

[MeganC]

“NATO started this war with its relentless march east towards Russia “

Which NATO armies participated in this march of yours? I missed the news about NATO aggressively invading Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, etc.

But I do recall that those countries freely applied for and were accepted as members of NATO.

I understand that this is a threat to Russia’s delusional fantasies of restoring their Soviet empire but this is not a ‘march east’.

What Hitler and Napoleon did was to ‘march east’.

This is not at all the same thing.

[MeganC]

“Look at this picture of the Yalta Conference. Do you notice that FDR is not wearing a dictator uniform?”

Do you notice that Putin’s hero Stalin is?

[kabar]

The Soviets didn’t land on Normandy, so why would they be invited?

The Red Army was "the main engine of Nazism’s destruction," writes British historian and journalist Max Hastings in "Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945." The Soviet Union paid the harshest price: though the numbers are not exact, an estimated 26 million Soviet citizens died during World War II, including as many as 11 million soldiers. At the same time, the Germans suffered three-quarters of their wartime losses fighting the Red Army.

D-Day opened the second front, but it would not have been possible without the Soviets destruction of the German Army on the Eastern front. D-Day was a minor skirmish compared to Battle of Stalingrad, the largest battle in human history and the battle of Kursk the largest tank battle in history.

The Soviets/Russians have always been invited except for today. And yes the Germans have been invited.

In 2004, for the first time, the Germans were invited to take part in the ceremony. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder attended and famously said, “Europe has learned its lesson, and we Germans will not shirk from it.” French President Jacques Chirac responded: “The French receive you more than ever as a friend. They receive you as a brother."

Russian President Vladimir Putin was also present that year, and again in 2014. Even though the Soviet Union contributed mightily to the defeat of the Nazis, this year Putin is persona non grata, as the shadow of war again hangs over the continent, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That’s not lost on many who came to celebrate.

[M Kehoe]

Understood.

5.56mm

[pfflier]

Russia’s historical contributions to WW2 should not be ignored

D-Day commemorates a battle, not the whole war. The Russians did not participate in that battle .

The Russians demanded the opening of a western front for years to take pressure off of them.

[mac_truck]

The Soviets didn’t land on Normandy, so why would they be invited?

In honor of a shared sacrifice against a common enemy. Russia understands this sacrifice better than most, and certainly France.

I’ll wager the Germans weren’t invited.

I'll wager EU representative (and nazi-kinder) Ursula Von der Leyen is there lurking in the background.

[caww]

...."Some Ukrainians sided with the Nazis during WWII and the current Azov Battalion makes no secret about its admiration for the Nazis. Hijacking D-Day celebrations to boost greater involvement in Ukraine is hideous".....

[caww]

This 1942 file photo was found on the body of the Nazi officer killed in Russia. It shows a Nazi firing squad shooting 'Soviet civilians' in the back as they sit beside their own mass grave in Babi Yar.