Trudeau: Russia should be part of D-Day ceremony, despite Ukraine invasion

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau supports France’s decision to invite Russian officials to a D-Day commemoration, despite “extreme disagreement” with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“As we commemorate the victory over fascism and Nazism in World War Two, it’s important to recognize all the countries that were involved,” Trudeau told reporters in Toronto.

“But that does not preclude our extreme disagreement with the endangering of people around the world, and indeed of the rules-based order that the current Russian regime is involved in.”

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Trudeau said Moscow must be held accountable for violating fundamental rules about respecting sovereign borders, and that his message to any Russian officials has been consistent.

“If lines on a map can be redrawn by a neighbour with a larger army, then the period of stability that we have known since the end of World War Two would come to an end, and the prosperity and opportunity available — not just to people in Western democracies, but all around the world — would be at risk,” he told a Thursday news conference.

Mission Libération, the French government committee organizing the 80th anniversary commemorations for D-Day, told European media last week they have invited officials from Russia. They did not invite President Vladimir Putin, who is subject to an international arrest warrant for war crimes related to the forced transfer of children from Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the ceremonies as will Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Bloc Québécois foreign-affairs critic Stéphane Bergeron predicted there would be “awkwardness” at the commemorations, while Liberal MP John McKay said Trudeau should have a message prepared for any Russian officials he encounters.

“It should be straightforward, it should be blunt, and it should be (that) Putin needs to leave Ukraine, now,” McKay said.

The Russian embassy in Ottawa and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress did not have an immediate response when asked for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2024.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press