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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.