World leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have flocked to France to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in WWII. Amid the celebrations, many of the official meetings have focused on the Ukrainian crisis.
06 June 2014
Interpretive dance is used to commemorate The D-Day anniversary.
Hollande: "This isn't just a day that remembers the dead, but obliges the living."
Hollande says we should recognize the contribution of Soviet forces in battling to free the world from fascism, and says German victims of the Nazi terror should also be taken into account.
Hollande has called for the five beaches where Allied Forces landed in Normandy to be recognized as UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Hollande tells the veterans in attendance: "Thanks for having been there. You'll always be remembered on this beach."
Hollande speaks at #DDay70 ceremony - LIVE FEED http://t.co/4uCtVIUndR#DDaypic.twitter.com/EHVw9Hy7Jk
— RT (@RT_com) June 6, 2014
Speaking at the D-Day Ceremony, President Hollande said "We have a duty of memory to all victims." Regarding those who served in 1944, he said "For them, 20 was the age of duty... The age of sacrifice."
WATCH LIVE: World leaders in #DDay 70th anniversary ceremony in Ouistreham http://t.co/4uCtVIUndR#DDay70pic.twitter.com/QATr6PFp72
— RT (@RT_com) June 6, 2014
Vladimir Putin has met with Ukraine’s president-elect Petro Poroshenko amid the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Both leaders agreed that bloodshed in Ukraine should be stopped immediately, according to the Kremlin press secretary, Dmitry Peskov. Military actions on the part of Kiev as well as pro-federalization protesters should also be ended, Putin and Poroshenko said.
Vladimir Putin has met with Barack Obama in the Chateau de Benouville, Normandy, where world leaders arrived for lunch. Putin and Obama spoke briefly on the situation in Ukraine and the crisis in the country’s east, said Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov.
“Putin and Obama spoke in favor of immediately reducing violence and military actions [in Ukraine],” he added.
French President Francois Hollande has arrived at the international commemoration ceremony for D-Day at Ouistreham in Normandy.
News lige nu - Margrethe har fået Putin til bords #DDaypic.twitter.com/zThcYfgRk2
— Michael R. Wichmann (@MRWichmann) June 6, 2014
Preps in full swing for Ouistreham Beach ceremony - overfly by Patrouille de France & speech by Hollande expected pic.twitter.com/6M6BMOR01s
— Marina Kosareva (@MKosareva) June 6, 2014
Vladimir Putin has discussed economic consequences in crisis-torn Ukraine with the country’s President-elect Petro Poroshenko, reports the press office of France’s President Francois Hollande.
UPDATE: #Putin meets #Ukraine president-elect #Poroshenko, #Merkel at #DDay#Dday70 ceremonies http://t.co/tb6OP69FDspic.twitter.com/QBhvmpRgfT
— RT (@RT_com) June 6, 2014
Un déjeuner à Bénouville @CGduCalvados@Prefet14#70èmepic.twitter.com/viBlXtqVe2
— Jean-Léonce Dupont (@jldupont14) June 6, 2014
All world leaders have posed for a photo in front of the Chateau de Benouville, where they arrived for lunch. After the photo, Vladimir Putin spoke briefly to Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel and newly-elected Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
#DDay - Arrivée du président Barack Obama pour le déjeuner d'Etat au château de #Bénouville#Normandiepic.twitter.com/RFXVTfsM9Q
— GendarmerieNationale (@Gendarmerie) June 6, 2014
Family PHOTO at D-Day 70th anniversary ceremonies http://t.co/4uCtVIUndRpic.twitter.com/Mpw3RyH5E3
— RT (@RT_com) June 6, 2014
Russia has “a great responsibility” in stabilizing the situation in Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Vladimir Putin during the closed meeting in Deauville, Normandy, within D-Day celebrations, said a German spokeswoman.
"In this discussion, the chancellor expressed that now, after the recognized presidential elections in Ukraine, the time must be used to bring about stabilization, especially in eastern Ukraine," she added.
According to the Russian president’s aide Yury Ushakov, Putin and Merkel were looking for compromises on the Ukraine question.
France’s President Francois Hollande is personally meeting each world leader who is arriving in the Chateau de Benouville, Caen, Normandy for lunch. He already welcomed Queen Elizabeth II, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s newly-elected President Petro Poroshenko and US Barack Obama.
#DDay - La Garde Républicaine prête à accueillir les autorités au château de #Bénouville#Normandiepic.twitter.com/AHcO3LNwbY
— GendarmerieNationale (@Gendarmerie) June 6, 2014
About 20 world leaders are now meeting for lunch at the Chateau de Benouville, near Caen in Normandy.
British PM David Cameron said he felt a mixture of "awe and gratitude" during the meeting in Bayeux with D-Day veterans, he told the Press Association.
“I think the clear evidence of what happened in 1944 and 1945 is the importance of standing up together for freedom and security,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth II has arrived at Bayeux community in the Calvados department in Normandy to commemorate British soldiers who died on D-Day. The queen, now 88, is only the head of state present at Friday’s celebrations who lived through the 1944 invasion in World War II
“Hundreds of thousands of servicemen made the journey across the Channel by sea and air, and through their brave actions and dogged determination, established a vital foothold in occupied Europe,” Elizabeth II said in a written message carried in the official D-Day brochure.
VIDEO: Interviews with some of the men and their memories of D-Day: http://t.co/VxQT4mP896
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 6, 2014
French President Francois Hollande has opened the official ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
"This day, which began in chaos and fire, would end in blood and tears, tears and pain, tears and joy at the end of 24 hours that changed the world and forever marked Normandy," he said.
Vladimir Putin has met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Normandy amid the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Their conversation will be held behind closed doors.
This is the first meeting of Merkel and Putin since the crisis broke out in Ukraine.
"We come to remember why America and our allies gave so much for the survival of liberty at its moment of maximum peril," US President Barack Obama said, speaking at Colleville-sur-Mer.
The US president spoke from the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial site, which has nearly 10,000 white marble tombstones.
"And we come to tell the story of the men and women who did it, so that it remains seared into the memory of the future world," Obama added.
#DDay in Deauville, waiting for Putin and Merkel to arrive. pic.twitter.com/cVgM5uhotj
— Olga Lozovic (@OlgaLozovic) June 6, 2014
I'm standing on Sword beach. Exactly 70 years ago British soldiers were fighting their way ashore here. #DDay70pic.twitter.com/M6BYZgcNuZ
— sophieraworth (@sophieraworth) June 6, 2014
Wreaths, parades, parachute-landings and fireworks will be staged on Friday in honour of history's largest amphibian assault on June 6, 1944 when 160,000 U.S., British and Canadian troops waded ashore to confront Nazi Germany's forces, hastening its defeat.
French President Francois Hollande will be joined at the commemorations by 17 leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama, Britain's David Cameron, Canada's Stephen Harper, Germany's Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin of Russia.
05 June 2014
Russian President Putin and his French counterpart Francois Hollande held a “constuctive” bilateral meeting in the Elysee palace, Dmitry Peskov, Press Attaché for the Russian president told Itar-tass.
"They exchanged views on the state and prospects of bilateral relations,”Peskov said adding the leaders thoroughly “discussed aspects of resolving the crisis in Ukraine."
Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov were also present at the meeting.
Following the meeting with Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron told the BBC that he urged Moscow to stop meddling in Ukraine.
"This was a meeting with a very clear and firm set of messages, which is that there is an opportunity for a successful, peaceful and stable Ukraine especially now there's been a presidential election," Cameron told the BBC. "But the status quo, the situation today, is not acceptable and it needs to change."
The leaders of Russia and France have concluded their 1.5-hour-long dinner. Neither Francois Hollande nor Vladimir Putin made any public statements when they bid each other farewell at the Elysee Palace.
French President Francois Hollande has greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Elysee Palace. The two leaders proceeded to a separate dinner, which reportedly represents part of Hollande's diplomatic efforts to defuse the tension over Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and UK Prime Minister David Cameron actually shook hands, but only after the cameras were gone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“The leaders shook hands, that was without TV cameras,” Peskov told Itar-Tass.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and UK Prime Minister David Cameron met in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport ahead of the D-Day celebrations. The meeting started “without a traditional handshake,” Itar-Tass reports.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande met at the luxurious Chiberta restaurant in central Paris.
Kiev must take the first step in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine and stop its military operation in which civilians are being killed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists in Paris. According to Lavrov, the eastern Ukrainians rejecting Kiev’s rule will then have the chance to sit down at the negotiation table.
“I am convinced that the first step must be made by those, who hold themselves responsible for the security of their state… Thus, the first step should be to stop the so-called “counter-terrorist” – and, effectively, punitive – operation, and I am certain that in that case both Lugansk and Donetsk will do what has been repeatedly said: they will be ready to cease fire and sit down at the negotiation table,” Lavrov stressed.
With that, the external players influencing the sides in Ukraine must also support the way of peace and end the violence, the top Russian diplomat added.
The US wants Ukraine to be “a bridge between the East and the West,” US Secretary of State John Kerry told journalists in Paris on Thursday.
According to Kerry, the recent Ukrainian election, in which Petro Poroshenko was elected president, will open up opportunities for the recovery of the country’s economy.
Kerry’s Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, stressed that Moscow too wants Ukraine to be “a peaceful and stable state, where all the citizens feel equal and have their rights respected.”
“Ukraine should become a bridge, not a pawn,” Lavrov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday met in the French capital, Paris, and discussed the Ukrainian crisis ahead of D-Day celebrations.
Following the meeting, Lavrov told journalists that only Ukrainians can achieve peace in their country, stressing that “the outside players, influencing different Ukrainian parties, must not whip up tension, must not provoke hard-line attitudes,” as well as other actions aimed at pitting different groups of Ukrainians against each other.
The Russian and the American sides “clearly confirmed the need for immediate cessation of the military operation” in eastern Ukraine, Lavrov said.
“It [the operation] has already gone out of all proportion: residential areas are being fired at with artillery and aviation, more and more civilians are being killed,” Lavrov stressed.
“We very much hope that the US influence on the elected President of Ukraine [Petro] Poroshenko will be used to stop the tension and confrontation,” he said.