Well-known historians, military men, representative of the President's staff, Russian government, Foreign Ministry and several foreign diplomatic missions took part in the conference.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent official greetings to the conferees. "The results of the conference should help find effective means to fight against new challenges and threats," he stressed.
According to deputy head of the US mission in Russia John Beyrle, "it is symbolic that Vladimir Putin, George Bush, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac will go to Normandy this year to mark this important date".
The Overlord landing operation in Normandy began on June 6, 1944. US, British and Canadian troops took part in it. The French Resistance movement supported them.
All in all, 2.8 million servicemen were deployed on the British Isles.
The operation ended on July 2 with the formation of an important strategic base on the western coast of France. So, the second front was open, which drew a number of Nazi units away from the Soviet Union.
The final decision on the landing of allied troops in France was taken at the Tehran conference in 1943. It was the first meeting of the Soviet, US, and British leaders Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
