BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2019) French opposition is grilling President Emmanuel Macron for his refusal to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin for the D-Day ceremony in Normandy which marked 75 years of the Western Allies invasion and liberation of Nazi-occupied France.
Earlier in June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov officially confirmed to reporters that Moscow did not receive an invitation from France to attend the celebrations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later said that would be only represented by a diplomat from its Paris embassy.
However, Macron invited his other colleagues - the president's closest allies - from across the globe. Thus, he received US President Donald Trump, outgoing UK Prime Minister Theresa May and over a dozen other world leaders in Normandy to commemorate the historic event.
D-Day, or the Normandy landings, was the largest seaborne invasion in history that took place on June 6, 1944, during World War II and was carried out by the Western Allies. D-Day marked the beginning of the liberation of German-occupied France and the opening of the second front.
During previous D-Day ceremonies, the world leaders often hailed the Soviet obvious contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union paid the highest price for the victory over fascism - an estimated 26 million Soviet citizens died during World War II, hundreds of cities were destroyed and infrastructure in some areas was beyond repair.
The country was the key player of the Eastern Front and, according to many historians, Overlord Operation, also known as the Battle of Normandy, on June 6, 1944, could have simply failed.
'HUMILIATING OUR RUSSIAN FRIENDS'
The French opposition has criticized Macron's decision, saying that the move is merely a humiliation toward the nation which fought the Nazis alongside France.
"75 years ago, 'the supreme battle' was held on our beaches in Normandy. The gratitude of the French people to the Allies and Resistance fighters of the interior will remain eternal. As general De Gaulle said: "Long live France, free, in honor and independence!" Nicolas Dupont Aignan, president of Debout la France party, told Sputnik.
He insisted that the absence of the invitation for Putin was "inexplicable and humiliating for our Russian friends."
"How to explain such an absence, while the Soviet Union played a major role in the victory of the Allies? It is impossible to understand, except to consider that it is a political decision by president Macron," he said.
According to the politician, the move undertaken by the Macron administration would probably not be in the common interest of the country.
"This diplomatic blunder is absolutely not in the interest of France since Russia is turning more and more toward the East and China as the mistakes made by Europe accumulate," Dupont Aignan added.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen also said that she regretted that Russia had not been invited to the D-Day commemorative ceremony in Normandy.
"Today we are honoring the memory of young soldiers who fell for our liberty 75 years ago as well as those who were part of all the French Resistance [movements]. But it is regrettable that Russia is not taking part in commemorations despite having paid a heavy price," she tweeted.
The actions of the French leader on one of the most important anniversaries of the country's history raised eyebrows among many politicians.
"[It is another] 'macronnade,' that is the word we use in France for the unacceptable comments and attitudes of president Macron. The fact that for this important 75th anniversary, Macron did not invite the Russian head of state is a shame for France," Gilles Lebreton, a National Front member of the European Parliament, told Sputnik.
He noted that Macron's predecessors, including Francois Hollande, Jacques Chirac and Francois Mitterrand "did invite the heads of states at the highest level."
"This Normandy meeting had come to be an important diplomatic reunion ... At the 70th anniversary, [then US President Barack] Obama and [Vladimir] Putin had time together thanks to president Hollande," he noted.
Putin took part in the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings back in 2014 and held talks with Obama on the sidelines of the event.
PUTIN SAYS NOT 'SOME WEDDING PARTY CELEBRITY'
In the meantime, Vladimir Putin reacted to the absence of invitation from the French colleagues with a tongue-in-cheek comment.
"As for the invitation or no invitation, we [Russia] do not invite everyone either and [we do not invite everyone] for every event. Why should I always be invited everywhere? Am I a wedding party celebrity? This is not a problem at all," Putin said at his meeting with information agencies heads, held on the sidelines of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
He ironically suggested that the Western leaders probably want to "exchange whispered secrets" before staring contacts with Russia.
