Putin says ‘not a problem’ not to be invited to D-Day anniversary

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said it was “not a problem” that he was not invited to the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in northern France, attended by other world leaders.

“We also don’t invite everyone to every event. Why should I be invited everywhere?” he said of the memorial at which US President Donald Trump spoke along with French leader Emmanuel Macron. “I have enough business of my own here,” he said during an economic forum in Saint Petersburg.

Putin was at the 70th anniversary of the landings but this week Moscow insisted the significance of D-Day in the outcome of World War II should not be overplayed. Russia regularly accuses the West of failing to properly understand or acknowledge the enormous human losses -- estimated at 27 million deaths -- the Soviet Union suffered in the conflict.