Ukraine's Poroshenko, Russia's Putin to attend D-Day anniversary
Source: Reuters
MOSCOW/PARIS - Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko will attend the 70th anniversary of the World War Two "D-Day" landings in Normandy, his office said on Wednesday, potentially creating an opportunity for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine, neighbours that share close historical ties, are in tatters after protesters pushed a Moscow-friendly Ukrainian president from power in February and Russia annexed Crimea.
Russia has deployed tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border and warned it could send them in to protect Russian-speakers in the east, while Poroshenko and Ukraine's pro-Western government have ignored Moscow's demands for an end to the operation against pro-Russian separatists.
Should the two men come face-to-face it would be the first time Russia's president meets a pro-Western Ukrainian politician since Moscow's annexation of the Crimea in March.
Read more: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/363139/news/world/ukraine-s-poroshenko-russia-s-putin-to-attend-d-day-anniversary
