Russia will be invited to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy at the beginning of June, but not its President Vladimir Putin due to the Russian “war of aggression” in Ukraine, the Liberation Mission responsible for organizing this commemoration announced on Tuesday .
“Russia will, however, be invited to be represented so that the importance of the commitment and sacrifices of the Soviet peoples, as well as its contribution to the victory of 1945, are honored,” she added, confirming information from Europe 1. However, no details were given on the level at which Russia could be represented.
A presence 10 years ago despite the Ukrainian context
Vladimir Putin was invited to the 70th anniversary celebrations in June 2014, despite the annexation of Crimea three months earlier, due to the heavy price paid by Russia in the battle against Nazism.
The Russian president and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko then spoke to each other for the first time, in the midst of a pro-Russian insurrection in eastern Ukraine, which the West accused Moscow of stoking, or even directly orchestrating.
The meeting, in the presence of French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then opened the way for discussions involving the four countries, in the so-called “Normandy” format, in order to try to find a solution to the Ukrainian crisis which continued until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin, not invited to the 75th anniversary
Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, was not invited to the 75th anniversary of “D-Day” (D-Day), in 2019, while the situation was getting bogged down in eastern Ukraine.
He then assured that it was “absolutely not a problem”. And Moscow had called not to “exaggerate” the importance of the Allied landings, recalling the 27 million Soviet deaths during the Second World War.
“Historically, France has always invited to the ceremony the countries whose contingents landed in Normandy. Furthermore, the invitation could, in the past, be extended to the Russian Federation,” recalled the Mission.
Normandy landings: Russia invited to the 80th anniversary, but not Putin
Joost Klein made everyone part of his dream about the Eurovision Song Contest
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‘My dream is to perform at the Eurovision 2024.’ With these words, Joost Klein expressed his wish to perform at the largest European music event last summer. Now, nine months later, he is the Dutch entry with ‘Europapa’, an earworm that cannot be forgotten. How did he manage to get so many people on board?
Nowadays, just making music and performing doesn’t make an artist. It is also important to present yourself well online. Joost Klein has shown that he has mastered that part well. Marketing strategist Robert Hoekstra from online marketing agency Brandmerck from Sneek is impressed by him. “I am fascinated. He really did a great job,” he says. “He has used his identity well, dares to experiment on the right platforms, knows very well what the spirit of the times is and has built a strong community.”
And Joost puts that community to work, involving his supporters in his plans. ‘Can somebody make an international poster for our Online Campaign?’ he asks via the Instagram channel he created in September 2023 for his Eurovision Song Contest dream. In the days that follow, several posters pass by of people who responded to his call. “He asks everyone involved with him to participate and that ensures that the feeling of that community becomes much stronger. He has made Eurovision no longer just his dream, but also the dream of his followers,” says Hoekstra.
Build up
If you look at his videos on TikTok, it seems like it was thought up last minute. But there is more to that, says Hoekstra. “He thinks very carefully about what he does. He deliberately makes it look like it was just made up.” Even the spelling mistakes in the video and the caption? “Everything is conscious. He thinks about all the details.”
The fact that he consciously chooses this separate way of making videos and photos does not come by chance. He has been active on social media for almost ten years. It started with his YouTube channel EenhoornJoost. “There he learned how to build a community. How to approach that the right way. And that, for example, not everything has to be slick.”
Joost also has a knack for building a story, says Hoekstra. In July last year he started saying that participating in the Eurovision Song Contest was his dream. Gradually he posted videos and asked his followers to help him. And when he was allowed to go to the Eurovision Song Contest, he built his messages around the presentation of his song. “That combination of building momentum and asking for help from the online community ensured that he quickly had a lot of views for Europapa. His reach became much greater.”
Identity
The story that Joost tells is not just about the Eurovision Song Contest, it is also about his own life and identity.
Hoekstra: “On the one hand, it is about the things he has experienced, such as the loss of his parents, his psychological problems and his Frisian roots. He is very open about that. On the other hand, we see how he responds to the spirit of the times by incorporating techno or happy hardcore into his music.”
Various groups are addressed by him. “You either like it or you don’t like it at all. That was also created very consciously,” says Hoekstra. Ultimately, people will catch on once they get to know him. “You also saw that with his entry. The first time people hear Europapa they have to get used to it, but the more often they hear it, the more enthusiastic they become. You start to appreciate it more and more.”
Piece Joost
Ultimately, everyone wants a piece of Joost. Fans become part of his story by helping him, young and old feel connected to him through the themes he highlights and even large companies want to ride on his success. After his song presentation, companies such as Ikea, bol.com or Hema posted messages on social media referring to Europapa. “He did that very well. It is special to see that large companies are also joining in. You can’t direct that, it came about on its own.”
And this can also be seen in the many parodies that have been made, such as the versions of Ricky, Aart Lus & Ed Lip and TikTok Tammo. “He no longer has to make sure he gets attention. Other people take care of that too.”
Joost Klein made everyone part of his dream about the Eurovision Song Contest
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