🕯 June 22 marks the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia.

82 years ago, at 4 am, Nazi Germany perfidiously attacked the Soviet Union after a lengthy artillery barrage and without a declaration of war. Nazi forces launched attacks along the entire length of the Soviet border, from the Barents to the Black Sea.

This is how the Great Patriotic War began, opening one of the most tragic chapters in the history of our country.

Romania and Italy sided with Germany. Slovakia, Finland and Hungary joined them in several days later. The aggressors controlled the industrial potential and other resources of virtually all the continental European countries.

The bloodiest war in history lasted 1,418 days and nights and culminated in the Victory of the Soviet Union and its allies, and it entailed the complete defeat of Axis countries.

❗️ The Soviet Union accounted for 40 percent of wartime losses. Its casualties totalled 26.6 million war dead, including over 8.7 million killed in action. The Nazis deliberately exterminated 7.42 million people on the occupied territories.

#WeRemember how, after living through the war and despite certain disagreements, the nations of the world were united by a striving to prevent another monstrous conflict in the future and to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Unfortunately, Nazi ideology has proved resilient over the decades. They are using Nazi ideology once again for monstrous geopolitical experiments aimed at containing Russia. Collaborators who found refuge in the West after the war, Nazi criminals and their young followers are brandishing the banner of these ideas today.

🕯 The Candle of Remembrance memorial event has been held every June 22 since 2009. Everyone can honour the memory of the deceased with a moment of silence, light a candle and lay flowers at a military burial site or a Great Patriotic War monument.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations #Victory78

🕯 August 8 marks the 15th anniversary of the Saakashvili regime's military aggression against the people of South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers from the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the zone of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict.

In the early hours of August 8, 2008, on the orders of the then President of Georgia, the Georgian armed forces launched the so-called "operation to impose constitutional order on the territory of South Ossetia," which resulted in numerous casualties, including among Russian citizens.

❗️ Georgia’s actions were a flagrant violation of international agreements on the peaceful settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict. The fact that those actions were deliberate was documented in the report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in the Caucasus established under the auspices of the European Union.

Russia’s involvement prevented the conflict from escalating further. The criminal military escapade undertaken by the Saakashvili regime met with an adequate response: in those extreme circumstances, Russia first conducted a successful operation to force the aggressor to peace, and then recognised South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia, which was destined to the same fate as the neighbouring republic, as sovereign independent states, taking them under its protection.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

🕯 On August 9, 1945, the United States carried out a nuclear strike on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, three days after dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The attack wiped the city off the face of the earth, killing more than 70,000 people instantly; another 95,000 died years and decades later from diseases caused by radioactive contamination.

💬 From the memoirs of an eyewitness, Yasuaki Yamashita: The A-Bomb had turned the centre of Nagasaki into an inferno of death and devastation. Communications and transportation were disrupted. There was no food in the city and we were starving. One week after the explosion we walked through the rubble of the city centre where fires still burned. Some years later I worked in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital. It was very painful to see the survivors still suffering from the effects of burns and radiation.

The attack on Nagasaki was the final stage of a monstrous test of a new weapon of mass destruction to see how effective it was when used on cities, infrastructure and people.

Americans took the bombing calmly, believing it would accelerate the end of the war (in reality, that was brought about by the USSR starting hostilities against Japan). US President Harry Truman, who ordered the attack on the Japanese cities, had no doubts about his decision until the end of his life, referring to the Japanese as savages and barbarians in his diary.

💬 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: Atomic bombings by the United States were in fact a show of force and an operational test of nuclear weapons on civilians. The United States was the first and only country to use this type of weapons of mass destruction. We must join our efforts to ensure that the terror and pain of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never repeat. The tragedy left a deep imprint on the hearts of the Russian people. (Sergey Lavrov’s message to the participants of the memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing, August 6, 2020).

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

#See4Yourself & #Think4Yourself

🎬 Maidan: Road to War. The story behind Maidan - an RT Doc Film.

Synopsis: The film presents events that took place from 2014 to 2022, as The Donetsk People's Republic and The Lugansk People's Republic were subjected to the Kiev regime's reign of terror and shelling on daily basis. "Maidan: Road to War" delves into the 2014 situation in Ukraine and pieces together the course of events. The film wants to draw the attention of the international community to the shelling and the deaths of civilians in the Donbass.

Maidan movement gained momentum in Kiev in 2013. Protests were prompted by the government’s decision to suspend the signing of the association agreement with the European Union. At first, the protests looked like a rock festival, but soon signs of hostility started to creep in from politicians and nationalists.

The protests were deliberately provocative from outside of Ukraine, namely - the US and the EU. Leaders of nationalist organisations admit they have been preparing for violent street riots long before the protests engulfed Kiev, as well as confirmed that they planned a revolution and the deposition of the government from the start.

Against the backdrop of the Western disinformation and attempts to rewrite history we refresh the true sequence of events and facts.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations
#LeastWeForget

🕯 On the Day of Memory and Sorrow, President of Russia Vladimir Putin per a long-standing tradition laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The ceremony was attended by combat veterans, servicemen and graduates of military universities. Flowers to the Eternal Flame were also laid by Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.

#Victory79 #WeRemember #NoStatuteOfLimitations

🕯 August 8 marks the 16th anniversary of the tragic events in South Caucasus.

It was 16 years ago in the early hours of August 8, 2008, when the Saakashvili regime carried out its treacherous attack against South Ossetia, while also assaulting the dislocation of a Russian peacekeeping force.

☝️ By acting this way, Georgia committed a grave violation of international agreements on settling the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict by peaceful means. Established under the EU’s auspices, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in the Caucasus concluded that Georgia undertook these actions intentionally.

▪️ The so-called operation to restore the constitutional order in South Ossetia resulted in multiple casualties, including among Russian nationals.

Russia stopped this criminal intervention by undertaking a peace enforcement operation against the aggressor and ensuring security for the people of South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia, by recognising the independence of these two republics.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

🕯The life of talented young journalist Darya Dugina was tragically cut short two years ago, on August 20, 2022. The investigative authorities of the Russian Federation have established that the brutal murder of the Russian journalist was organised and executed by the Ukrainian special services.

The cynical killing of Darya Dugina was followed by a series of attempted murders and assassinations of Russian journalists and public opinion leaders committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis.

Many others journalist have been targeted or come under fire when the Ukrainian Army attacked the civilian population and infrastructure with drones and other means.

There is no excuse for the silence of the concerned international organisations, which were initially designed to provide unbiased protection of the rights of media
representatives.

Today, we would like to point out again the unacceptability of applying double standards in the assessment of crimes against journalists.

Those responsible must receive the punishment they deserve!

Photo: Michael Tereshenko/Tass

#NoStatuteOfLimitations