Poland did not invite Putin to the 80th anniversary of World War II outbreak
The office of Poland’s President Andrzej Duda did not invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to participate in the events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Second World War outbreak.
“Russia is not included in the list of the invited countries,” Radio Poland quoted the president’s spokesman Błażej Spychalski.
According to Spychalski, "the invitations have been issued according to a modern, not a historical context," therefore, it was decided to refuse Putin’s presence, reads the statement on the TVP Poland In English language website.
Putin was not invited despite the Polish Foreign Ministry recommendation to invite the Russian president. This recommendation, in particular, was given by the then-deputy foreign minister Bartosz Cichocki, who in early March became the Polish ambassador to Ukraine, reports DW.
The spokesman stressed that the Foreign Ministry consultations were informal, and the presidential administration did not request the agency’s recommendations.
In November 2018, Putin participated in the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and even talked with the United States President Donald Trump at a gala dinner at the Élysée Palace.
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939, when the German battleship opened fire on Polish fortifications on the Westerplatte peninsula near Gdansk.
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