French President Emmanuel Macron has not ruled out the possibility of inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy next June, “if the situation changes” in Ukraine.
Macron reportedly made the comment on Wednesday in the course of an hour-long interview with state broadcaster France 5.
When asked about the upcoming anniversary celebrations and whether the Russian leader might make an appearance, Macron said it was a possibility, “if he holds peace talks and changes the situation” with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
At a press conference last week, Macron told reporters that the Ukraine conflict has made relations with Russia “virtually impossible” but that he would gladly take a call from Putin if he agrees to a peace “that respects international law and therefore Ukrainian interests and sovereignty.”
“I haven’t changed my number,” the French leader said at the time.
Macron’s comments came in response to remarks by Putin during his year-end telethon last Thursday. The Russian president noted that his country had enjoyed a “quite good working relationship” with France but that Macron had broken it off. Asked if Moscow was interested in resuming relations with Paris, Putin said yes “if there is interest.”
“If not, we’ll manage. We have other things to do,” the Russian leader added.
Putin last attended the Normandy ceremonies in 2014. The Elysee Palace did not send him an invitation to the 75th anniversary event in 2019, without an explanation. Asked about it at the time, the Russian president brushed it off by saying he was busy.
“But if we are imagining conspiracy theories, maybe Western leaders wanted to have their own chit chat before having some contact with us,” Putin told reporters at the time. “That doesn’t really matter. What matters is the truth about the history and about this horrible tragedy that happened to humanity during the Second World War.”
The snub came amid a series of incidents in which Western governments omitted the role the Soviet Union played in the Allied victory, prompting complaints from Moscow about historical revisionism.
The June 6, 1944 amphibious landings by American, British, Canadian and other allied troops marked the beginning of the campaign to liberate France from Nazi occupation. Two weeks later, the Soviet Union would launch Operation Bagration on the eastern front, dealing a decisive defeat to the German Army Group Center.