Sixth of June, 1944 is an important day in the history of World War II. On this day the Allies launched an air-sea assault on the French coast in what is termed as the biggest amphibious invasion in world history. The invasion took place after the Soviet army had defeated the Wehrmacht in the battle of Stalingrad and won an important victory at Kursk. The western leaders led by Donald Trump and Theresa May paid homage to the martyrs of the epic invasion.
It was the 75th anniversary of the event. Tass news agency has reported that heads of states and governments representing 16 countries including Germany, were invited to take part in the ceremony on 6 June.
A conspicuous absentee was the Russian president Vladimir Putin who was not invited for the celebrations. This has raised eyebrows but was expected with a high level of distrust between Russia and the West on a number of matters.
Putin Not invited
Vladimir Putin who had earlier supported Trump was last invited to a similar function in 2014 and five years down the line the Russian president has been ignored. Perhaps it's one way to depreciate the contribution of Russia towards the defeat of Germany. The Russians have hit back and Putin has said that he was not perturbed at not being invited. The BBC has reported that the Russian president has termed the lack of invitation as " not a problem." He added that he had "enough business" of his own in Russia.
He further commented that the Russians also do not invite all western leaders for all their commemorative events.
Russian contribution
The Russian press has. however, not taken a charitable view of the events and has opined that the western powers wish to sideline the Russian efforts in defeating Germany which actually commenced only after the battle of Stalingrad in 1943.
In this battle, 93,000 German soldiers were taken POW and Germany declared seven days of state mourning. Just after this battle was the famous tank battle at Kursk that sealed the fate of Germany in World War II.
Poll
France's Le Figaro newspaper has conducted a poll on whether Vladimir Putin should have been invited for the event.
The newspaper has reported that 81 percent of the respondents voted that Vladimir should have been invited for the event. Worldwide, the general feeling is that the Russian president should have been part of the celebration. The Allies fought World War II in alliance with Russia and historians have noted that a major contribution of the victory over Germany must go to Russia. In 2014, the Russian president was very much part of the celebrations which were the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings. Much water has flown since that time and the western distrust of Russia has increased. This is partly due to the global vision of Putin who sees Russia getting back to its great power status that existed when Khrushchev and Brezhnev ruled.
