
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 6, 1994                   TAG: 9406060055
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

EVENT EXCLUSION RILES RUSSIANS

Russian officials and veterans have expressed bitter resentment that they were not invited to the D-Day commemoration in Normandy where President Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II and other world leaders will preside on today.

Many also have expressed irritation at Western news media accounts that treat the D-Day landing as the key turning point in the war.

Soviet troops of course did not join with the American, British and Canadian soldiers who conducted the daring amphibious assault 50 years ago. But most Russians believe that it was their sacrifice on the eastern front - and particularly their long and horribly costly victory at Stalingrad - that broke the back of the Nazi army and allowed the D-Day invasion to succeed.

"Only two of the most important participants in the war were not invited to the commemoration," the Rossiskaya Gazeta newspaper commented Saturday. "The first is clearly understood: After all, it is Germany that was defeated in the war. But probably it is also clear why Russia was not invited. It would be uncomfortable to highlight your own military successes in the presence of those who made the main contribution to the victory over Hitler's Germany."

The Russian resentment at being excluded today is part of a wider sense among many in Moscow that the West does not accord Russia the respect it deserves as a great power. Many politicians and others are convinced that Washington and its traditional allies are happy to see Russia poor and weakened - and would do whatever is necessary to keep the country on its knees.

The unhappiness over D-Day follows a similar dispute with Germany, which has scheduled ceremonies in Berlin to mark the departure of Allied troops from that city without including the Russians in the celebrations. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Russian President Boris Yeltsin instead will lead a lower-key ceremony in Weimar to mark the departure of the last Russian troops.

Soviet textbooks, while paying scant attention to the war in the Pacific, have taught that the West waited too long to open a western front. More than 20 million Soviets were killed during the war - compared with 405,000 Americans.

by CNB