PARIS, February 5. /TASS/. The upcoming visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Moscow on May 9, 2020 on the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War highlights the attention he places on developing relations with Russia, Macron’s special representative for relations with Russia Jean-Pierre Chevenement said Wednesday.

"The decision of the president of the [French] republic to visit Moscow on May 9 on the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazism reflects his clear approach to ties with Russia," the envoy said. "Russians have special feelings about this date because they contributed decisively to the victory," he underscored. Chevenement noted, "More than 25 million Russians died in that war."

The French president’s representative recalled that in 2014 "Russian leader Vladimir Putin accepted the invitation to travel to France to take part in celebrations in Normandy" marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day. At the same time, Chevenement pointed out that "no Western leader attended commemorative events held in memory of Stalingrad’s defenders." "I see certain inequality in this," he lamented.

In July 2019, the Kremlin’s press service reported that the French president had accepted the invitation to pay a visit to Moscow on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of World War II victory.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow’s intention to hold large-scale celebrations of one of the most significant events of the 20th century. The Russian leader spoke about the serious preparations to celebrating the 75th anniversary of the victory in May 2020 because it is important to preserve the historic truth about the Second World War.