Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion
✍️ Article by @DipacademyMID Vice-Chancellor Oleg Karpovich
Why Eastern Europe distorts the history of World War II
Read in full
🔹 Influenced by the Young Europeans, political circles and the society in general in a number of Central and Eastern European countries have long revised their assessments of the nature of World War II and their attitude to Nazi collaborators, with these acquiring a clearly expressed anti-Russian slant.
🔹 Given that certain states including Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria had openly cooperated with Hitler’s Germany and sought to vindicate themselves and lay the blame for the tragedy on the USSR, many institutions that previously investigated Nazi crimes changed their tune and rushed to investigate “Communist crimes.”
🔹 After the Eastern European states joined the EU in 2004, they dexterously instilled a feeling of guilt in countries of Old Europe and suggested new assessments of the history of World War II, posing as “victims of communism.”
🔹 The demonization and denigration of the Soviet Union is automatically extended to Russia, which is allegedly characterised by its “imperial ambitions” and a propensity to bring “military pressure to bear on its opponents.”
🔹 Revising approaches to the history of World War II, the outcome of which formed the basis of the key international institutions, including the UN Security Council, could inflict an irreparable damage on the modern world order and place the entire world on the brink of a global nuclear disaster.
✍️ Article by @DipacademyMID Vice-Chancellor Oleg Karpovich
Why Eastern Europe distorts the history of World War II
Read in full
🔹 Influenced by the Young Europeans, political circles and the society in general in a number of Central and Eastern European countries have long revised their assessments of the nature of World War II and their attitude to Nazi collaborators, with these acquiring a clearly expressed anti-Russian slant.
🔹 Given that certain states including Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria had openly cooperated with Hitler’s Germany and sought to vindicate themselves and lay the blame for the tragedy on the USSR, many institutions that previously investigated Nazi crimes changed their tune and rushed to investigate “Communist crimes.”
🔹 After the Eastern European states joined the EU in 2004, they dexterously instilled a feeling of guilt in countries of Old Europe and suggested new assessments of the history of World War II, posing as “victims of communism.”
🔹 The demonization and denigration of the Soviet Union is automatically extended to Russia, which is allegedly characterised by its “imperial ambitions” and a propensity to bring “military pressure to bear on its opponents.”
🔹 Revising approaches to the history of World War II, the outcome of which formed the basis of the key international institutions, including the UN Security Council, could inflict an irreparable damage on the modern world order and place the entire world on the brink of a global nuclear disaster.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
💬 For many days now, I’ve been following a real-life drama unfolding in Germany with bated breath. Recently 25 people were arrested there on suspicion of plotting and supporting a coup d’etat.
Words cannot express how concerned we are about the German constitutional system, which nearly fell victim to a putsch. Just think about it: 25 historical re-enactors could have overthrown a democracy in the centre of Europe! But the Republic stood strong. The “dangerous terrorists” calling themselves Reichsburger (including Prince Reiss, for God’s sake) have been defeated.
But a little bit more and… I dread to imagine what could have happened. Neither the 200,000-strong Bundeswehr, nor the Ramstein air base with a 30,000-strong US contingent, nor the BND and BfV intelligence services could have prevented the revival of the Prussian monarchy and the German Empire.
But Berlin held back the 25 revolutionaries. It was an impeccable job, bravo. Our standing ovation. The constitutional system is safe once again.
But there is a small question. A tiny one.
When Joschka Fischer supported the allegedly “peaceful transition of power” following the 2005 “Orange revolution,” when Guido Westerwelle met with the leaders of Ukrainian opposition on Maidan in 2013, when Frank-Walter Steinmeier held “mediation talks” with the putschists and usurpers during Euromaidan, didn’t it amount to direct support of the same coup d’etat that was so dashingly and harshly suppressed by German authorities inside their own country? And this is not a case of change in the political paradigm of the Federal Republic of Germany, since the people at the top are the same. Yes, indeed the same Frank-Walter Steinmeier who now proudly boasts of the “German liberal democracy which defended itself” gave his full support to the putschists on Maidan. Unless he was replaced by a double along with Merkel.
The seizure of constitutional bodies of power including parliament, courts, territorial and national executive offices by ultra-right radicals – does that amount to an attempted coup or not? If so, then why at least three German foreign ministers directly and politically supported it in Ukraine? If not, then what sort of coup d'état attempt could it have been with those Reichsburger?
This is a direct question that Berlin has to answer.
💬 For many days now, I’ve been following a real-life drama unfolding in Germany with bated breath. Recently 25 people were arrested there on suspicion of plotting and supporting a coup d’etat.
Words cannot express how concerned we are about the German constitutional system, which nearly fell victim to a putsch. Just think about it: 25 historical re-enactors could have overthrown a democracy in the centre of Europe! But the Republic stood strong. The “dangerous terrorists” calling themselves Reichsburger (including Prince Reiss, for God’s sake) have been defeated.
But a little bit more and… I dread to imagine what could have happened. Neither the 200,000-strong Bundeswehr, nor the Ramstein air base with a 30,000-strong US contingent, nor the BND and BfV intelligence services could have prevented the revival of the Prussian monarchy and the German Empire.
But Berlin held back the 25 revolutionaries. It was an impeccable job, bravo. Our standing ovation. The constitutional system is safe once again.
But there is a small question. A tiny one.
When Joschka Fischer supported the allegedly “peaceful transition of power” following the 2005 “Orange revolution,” when Guido Westerwelle met with the leaders of Ukrainian opposition on Maidan in 2013, when Frank-Walter Steinmeier held “mediation talks” with the putschists and usurpers during Euromaidan, didn’t it amount to direct support of the same coup d’etat that was so dashingly and harshly suppressed by German authorities inside their own country? And this is not a case of change in the political paradigm of the Federal Republic of Germany, since the people at the top are the same. Yes, indeed the same Frank-Walter Steinmeier who now proudly boasts of the “German liberal democracy which defended itself” gave his full support to the putschists on Maidan. Unless he was replaced by a double along with Merkel.
The seizure of constitutional bodies of power including parliament, courts, territorial and national executive offices by ultra-right radicals – does that amount to an attempted coup or not? If so, then why at least three German foreign ministers directly and politically supported it in Ukraine? If not, then what sort of coup d'état attempt could it have been with those Reichsburger?
This is a direct question that Berlin has to answer.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 Several says ago, the discussion about the use of the words "glory" and "hero" was revived.
I have already talked about this, both in a dry and official manner, as well as with emotion, and… in different ways.
Let me once again remind those who use these code words either because of their illiteracy or their immorality.
In August 1939, the second congress of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) was held in fascist Italy. One of the decisions of the congress was to adopt the unified greeting of the Ukrainian fascists at that time: “Glory to Ukraine!” and the response cry “Glory to the Leader!” (Vozhdevy Slava).
Later, in 1941, after the OUN split into two factions (the OUN(m) and OUN(b)), Bandera’s supporters held their own second congress of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, this time in Krakow, where they also approved the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” / "Glory to the heroes!". Both phrases – the greeting and the response – were agreed upon and approved as a symbolic greeting, a kind of call sign, a code in the “friend or foe” sense of recognition. At the same time, in order to emphasise their isolation, the Melnikovites adhered to the response phrase “Glory to the Leader.”
Another “spicy” moment is that, according to the documents approved at the 1941 congress, the greeting was accompanied by the following gesture: “the greeting is made in the form of raising the straightened right arm at an angle to the right just above the head.”
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
This is how collaborators saluted the Wehrmacht and SS units back in those years, not just for their internal use, but for their identification in front of the Nazi SS.
The excuses of those who use the slogans today “jokingly” will not work. Every time someone uses these passcodes, they salute Nazism and fascism.
💬 Several says ago, the discussion about the use of the words "glory" and "hero" was revived.
I have already talked about this, both in a dry and official manner, as well as with emotion, and… in different ways.
Let me once again remind those who use these code words either because of their illiteracy or their immorality.
In August 1939, the second congress of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) was held in fascist Italy. One of the decisions of the congress was to adopt the unified greeting of the Ukrainian fascists at that time: “Glory to Ukraine!” and the response cry “Glory to the Leader!” (Vozhdevy Slava).
Later, in 1941, after the OUN split into two factions (the OUN(m) and OUN(b)), Bandera’s supporters held their own second congress of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, this time in Krakow, where they also approved the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” / "Glory to the heroes!". Both phrases – the greeting and the response – were agreed upon and approved as a symbolic greeting, a kind of call sign, a code in the “friend or foe” sense of recognition. At the same time, in order to emphasise their isolation, the Melnikovites adhered to the response phrase “Glory to the Leader.”
Another “spicy” moment is that, according to the documents approved at the 1941 congress, the greeting was accompanied by the following gesture: “the greeting is made in the form of raising the straightened right arm at an angle to the right just above the head.”
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
This is how collaborators saluted the Wehrmacht and SS units back in those years, not just for their internal use, but for their identification in front of the Nazi SS.
The excuses of those who use the slogans today “jokingly” will not work. Every time someone uses these passcodes, they salute Nazism and fascism.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Russian MFA spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
💬 The monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were ordered to vacate the monastery before March 29.
Does the US Department of State know of this? Usually, [whereas it suits its agenda] the relevant section of the American foreign policy department has an emotional response to religious harassment.
❗️ This time, the United States won’t be able “to not see” the oppression of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
💬 The monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were ordered to vacate the monastery before March 29.
Does the US Department of State know of this? Usually, [whereas it suits its agenda] the relevant section of the American foreign policy department has an emotional response to religious harassment.
❗️ This time, the United States won’t be able “to not see” the oppression of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 Remember when Berlin justified the persecution of the Russian media in Germany and removed RT from its satellite broadcast network, German officials then said that they had no influence on information processes?
A group of German lawmakers sent a request to the government about the situation regarding independent media outlets, not connected with the state treasury. They received an official response available here.
The 30-page document includes a long table listing the amounts paid by government agencies to media outlets over the past few years.
The “independent” media, supposedly free of any financial influence by the government, have received over 1.5 million euros in cash and bank transfers over that period. At least 200 German journalists were involved.
Why am I saying “at least”? Because this list does not fully account for the government money or include every journalist that Berlin has contracted for its information and propaganda activities. This is explicitly stated in the government's response: media collaboration with intelligence agencies is not subject to disclosure (see pp. 2 and 3).
That is, the German security forces have been paying journalists unspecified amounts for obscure services, with no trail, and no one should know anything, and the information will not be provided because of “state security considerations.”
Censorship and manipulation of the media in Germany is rampant.
https://yangx.top/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/5054
💬 Remember when Berlin justified the persecution of the Russian media in Germany and removed RT from its satellite broadcast network, German officials then said that they had no influence on information processes?
A group of German lawmakers sent a request to the government about the situation regarding independent media outlets, not connected with the state treasury. They received an official response available here.
The 30-page document includes a long table listing the amounts paid by government agencies to media outlets over the past few years.
The “independent” media, supposedly free of any financial influence by the government, have received over 1.5 million euros in cash and bank transfers over that period. At least 200 German journalists were involved.
Why am I saying “at least”? Because this list does not fully account for the government money or include every journalist that Berlin has contracted for its information and propaganda activities. This is explicitly stated in the government's response: media collaboration with intelligence agencies is not subject to disclosure (see pp. 2 and 3).
That is, the German security forces have been paying journalists unspecified amounts for obscure services, with no trail, and no one should know anything, and the information will not be provided because of “state security considerations.”
Censorship and manipulation of the media in Germany is rampant.
https://yangx.top/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/5054
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 Against the macabre backdrop of all these Western intrigues related to the International Criminal Court and the false accusations, in particular against Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, I wanted to dig into how Washington manipulated children.
In 1975, during the aggression launched by the US against Vietnam, and with the People’s Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam about to liberate Saigon, Washington made an unprecedented move as part of Operation Frequent Wind. Speaking at noon on April 3, 1975, at a Conference Centre in San Diego, President Gerald Ford said that he ordered Operation Babylift to be carried out under the command of Major General Edward J. Nash.
This kick-started a large-scale effort by the Americans to take children out of Vietnam, including newborn babies. They were airlifted from the country. There is archival footage showing President Ford in person fussing over children who were kidnapped from Vietnam, just like a murderous dictator hungry for some positive media coverage.
This criminal decision by Washington qualifies as a crime under Article II of the 1951 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. At the time, the Americans wanted to completely wipe out the cultural identity of these infants by putting them up for adoption by families in the United States and its allied countries.
Just watch these images: this is how the US military kidnapped children from Vietnam.
The terrible thing here is not just that Washington did this in 1975, de facto depriving thousands of children of their homeland and culture, and erasing their national, ethnic and social identity, but also how this so-called evacuation was carried out.
Operation Babylift was notorious for its poor management. This is an established fact. Unfortunately, there were even casualties. On April 4, 1975, Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, a US Air Force transport aircraft, crashed over Vietnam due to criminal negligence by the US military, killing 78 babies.
Nevertheless, the Americans awarded the crew and kept the operation going, smuggling 3,000 more babies out of Vietnam.
It has been impossible to establish the exact statistics so far. Now that these babies have grown up, many of them are out there trying to find their real parents.
I cannot wait to see the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for senior officials of the United States, the Pentagon and all these would-be humanitarian foundations who were involved in this operation.
Let me remind you what Sergey Lavrov said about the war itself: “I will not even mention the bloody war in Vietnam that lasted for many years. The US got into this war after staging the Gulf of Tonkin incident. <…> The Americans ignored UN General Assembly resolutions condemning these and other aggressive steps by the United States, turning a blind eye to them.” (October 4, 2022).
Now, let’s compare the horrors of Vietnam, which were quite real, with the care and attention children evacuated from the combat zone receive.
👉 Read in full
💬 Against the macabre backdrop of all these Western intrigues related to the International Criminal Court and the false accusations, in particular against Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, I wanted to dig into how Washington manipulated children.
In 1975, during the aggression launched by the US against Vietnam, and with the People’s Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam about to liberate Saigon, Washington made an unprecedented move as part of Operation Frequent Wind. Speaking at noon on April 3, 1975, at a Conference Centre in San Diego, President Gerald Ford said that he ordered Operation Babylift to be carried out under the command of Major General Edward J. Nash.
This kick-started a large-scale effort by the Americans to take children out of Vietnam, including newborn babies. They were airlifted from the country. There is archival footage showing President Ford in person fussing over children who were kidnapped from Vietnam, just like a murderous dictator hungry for some positive media coverage.
This criminal decision by Washington qualifies as a crime under Article II of the 1951 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. At the time, the Americans wanted to completely wipe out the cultural identity of these infants by putting them up for adoption by families in the United States and its allied countries.
Just watch these images: this is how the US military kidnapped children from Vietnam.
The terrible thing here is not just that Washington did this in 1975, de facto depriving thousands of children of their homeland and culture, and erasing their national, ethnic and social identity, but also how this so-called evacuation was carried out.
Operation Babylift was notorious for its poor management. This is an established fact. Unfortunately, there were even casualties. On April 4, 1975, Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, a US Air Force transport aircraft, crashed over Vietnam due to criminal negligence by the US military, killing 78 babies.
Nevertheless, the Americans awarded the crew and kept the operation going, smuggling 3,000 more babies out of Vietnam.
It has been impossible to establish the exact statistics so far. Now that these babies have grown up, many of them are out there trying to find their real parents.
I cannot wait to see the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for senior officials of the United States, the Pentagon and all these would-be humanitarian foundations who were involved in this operation.
Let me remind you what Sergey Lavrov said about the war itself: “I will not even mention the bloody war in Vietnam that lasted for many years. The US got into this war after staging the Gulf of Tonkin incident. <…> The Americans ignored UN General Assembly resolutions condemning these and other aggressive steps by the United States, turning a blind eye to them.” (October 4, 2022).
Now, let’s compare the horrors of Vietnam, which were quite real, with the care and attention children evacuated from the combat zone receive.
👉 Read in full
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 The UK recently blocked the webcast of the Arria-Formula Meeting at the UN Security Council. The meeting was expanded on Russia’s measures to evacuate children from the conflict zone.
This is yet another demonstration of blatant censorship by London – and that’s not all.
When London’s official representatives or their metropolitan neighbours talk obvious nonsense and tell lies, similar to Colin Powell’s infamous vial, fake stories by the White Helmets or the Skripal case, no one makes any attempt to block the streaming of the Security Council or Arria-Formula Meetings. What about freedom of expression and opinion which the West claims to vehemently support?
But UK officials think otherwise, claiming a UN platform should not be used to spread disinformation. But who found this undelivered report to be fake?
❗️ You might say this is absurd, but I say this is typical of them, a behaviour rooted in many years of impunity.
💬 The UK recently blocked the webcast of the Arria-Formula Meeting at the UN Security Council. The meeting was expanded on Russia’s measures to evacuate children from the conflict zone.
This is yet another demonstration of blatant censorship by London – and that’s not all.
When London’s official representatives or their metropolitan neighbours talk obvious nonsense and tell lies, similar to Colin Powell’s infamous vial, fake stories by the White Helmets or the Skripal case, no one makes any attempt to block the streaming of the Security Council or Arria-Formula Meetings. What about freedom of expression and opinion which the West claims to vehemently support?
But UK officials think otherwise, claiming a UN platform should not be used to spread disinformation. But who found this undelivered report to be fake?
❗️ You might say this is absurd, but I say this is typical of them, a behaviour rooted in many years of impunity.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova:
💬 Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Brodsky, who is by the way a native of Leningrad, the city which survived a siege during the Great Patriotic War, told ITON-TV, an Israeli website, in pure Russian:
“The way we view people like Bandera, Shukhevich, Melnik and the like is different compared to the way most Ukrainians view them. In fact, these people supported Nazi ideology. While fighting for Ukraine’s independence, they wanted Ukraine without Jews, or Poles, or communists, and probably many others. <…> And Ukraine, of course, is searching for its identity and its heroes. Of course, we do not like these heroes, but most Ukrainians view them as independence fighters. <…> However, in all objectivity, there is no stopping this process today. <…> It would be wrong to demand that Ukraine stop renaming streets or calling Bandera or Melnik heroes as a condition for our support for Ukraine or our assistance to Ukraine because, if you look at things the way they do, this is not going to happen.”
Not a single organisation for protecting the memory of Holocaust survivors raised an eyebrow. Hey! You receive billions in funding to keep this topic in the public space! Haven’t you missed something? The Holocaust must be remembered not only because it happened in the past, but also to make sure that it never happens again, and not just against a single ethnic group or religion, but against any of them.
Since there is no one else to defend the victims of the Holocaust but us, let me remind Mr Brodsky about the ethnic policy of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, with Stepan Bandera at its helm. Here is a quote from the second resolution of OUN B’s General Assembly in April 1941: “The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists combats Jews as supporters of the Russian Bolshevik regime.” And here is a quote by Yaroslav Stetsko, a Bandera and Melnik accomplice: “I therefore support the destruction of the Jews and the expedience of bringing German methods of exterminating Jewry to Ukraine, barring their assimilation and the like.”
In fact, there was a massive effort to exterminate, burn and bury, without any burials or markers, Jews in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, and these inhumanheroes were proactive in assisting this effort. About 1.4 million people perished this way.
What kind of heroes was Mikhail Brodsky referring to?
German society of the late 1920s and early 1930s was also searching for its identity and heroes. Instead of humanism, a great tradition in German culture, it chose two words: blood and soil (Blut und Boden). And the heroes lived up to this slogan by initiating the Holocaust, creating concentration camps, and killing women, infants and the elderly. For the next 90 years, Germany tried to wash itself clean of this identity. But this is something that leaves a permanent stain.
If Mikhail Brodsky believes that Kiev has the right to these heroes and identity, this is the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s business.
No one has the right to have such heroes. These were not heroes, but demons, and this was not an identity, but a disgrace for the people of Ukraine. This is an act of glorifying Nazism.
As for the idea that there is nothing anyone can do about it, how blasphemous of him to say that! This was the logic of those who sponsored Hitler in the 1930s. Most of them were Anglo-Saxons, by the way.
If this was the logic of Soviet soldiers, Brodsky would not have existed today, and there would be no memory of the Holocaust to preserve either.
In one of his songs, Vladimir Vysotsky wrote: “But our squadron commander corrected its course, as his boots sent the Urals spinning.” This meant the Soviet soldiers changed the course of history and enabled humankind to recover its true face. But this did not last, as it turns out. Here we go, all over again.
💬 Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Brodsky, who is by the way a native of Leningrad, the city which survived a siege during the Great Patriotic War, told ITON-TV, an Israeli website, in pure Russian:
“The way we view people like Bandera, Shukhevich, Melnik and the like is different compared to the way most Ukrainians view them. In fact, these people supported Nazi ideology. While fighting for Ukraine’s independence, they wanted Ukraine without Jews, or Poles, or communists, and probably many others. <…> And Ukraine, of course, is searching for its identity and its heroes. Of course, we do not like these heroes, but most Ukrainians view them as independence fighters. <…> However, in all objectivity, there is no stopping this process today. <…> It would be wrong to demand that Ukraine stop renaming streets or calling Bandera or Melnik heroes as a condition for our support for Ukraine or our assistance to Ukraine because, if you look at things the way they do, this is not going to happen.”
Not a single organisation for protecting the memory of Holocaust survivors raised an eyebrow. Hey! You receive billions in funding to keep this topic in the public space! Haven’t you missed something? The Holocaust must be remembered not only because it happened in the past, but also to make sure that it never happens again, and not just against a single ethnic group or religion, but against any of them.
Since there is no one else to defend the victims of the Holocaust but us, let me remind Mr Brodsky about the ethnic policy of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, with Stepan Bandera at its helm. Here is a quote from the second resolution of OUN B’s General Assembly in April 1941: “The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists combats Jews as supporters of the Russian Bolshevik regime.” And here is a quote by Yaroslav Stetsko, a Bandera and Melnik accomplice: “I therefore support the destruction of the Jews and the expedience of bringing German methods of exterminating Jewry to Ukraine, barring their assimilation and the like.”
In fact, there was a massive effort to exterminate, burn and bury, without any burials or markers, Jews in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, and these inhuman
What kind of heroes was Mikhail Brodsky referring to?
German society of the late 1920s and early 1930s was also searching for its identity and heroes. Instead of humanism, a great tradition in German culture, it chose two words: blood and soil (Blut und Boden). And the heroes lived up to this slogan by initiating the Holocaust, creating concentration camps, and killing women, infants and the elderly. For the next 90 years, Germany tried to wash itself clean of this identity. But this is something that leaves a permanent stain.
If Mikhail Brodsky believes that Kiev has the right to these heroes and identity, this is the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s business.
No one has the right to have such heroes. These were not heroes, but demons, and this was not an identity, but a disgrace for the people of Ukraine. This is an act of glorifying Nazism.
As for the idea that there is nothing anyone can do about it, how blasphemous of him to say that! This was the logic of those who sponsored Hitler in the 1930s. Most of them were Anglo-Saxons, by the way.
If this was the logic of Soviet soldiers, Brodsky would not have existed today, and there would be no memory of the Holocaust to preserve either.
In one of his songs, Vladimir Vysotsky wrote: “But our squadron commander corrected its course, as his boots sent the Urals spinning.” This meant the Soviet soldiers changed the course of history and enabled humankind to recover its true face. But this did not last, as it turns out. Here we go, all over again.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmitro Kuleba noted that this week Russians attacked UNESCO-protected sites and places of worship in Odessa.
💬 First, after what the Kiev regime has done to dozens of Orthodox churches, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, relics, monuments and memorials, he has no right to appeal to legitimacy.
As a matter of fact, the Kiev regime and illiterate operators of air defence complexes, whom the Ukrainian Armed Forces intentionally deploy in residential areas – the Ministry of Defence has already confirmed this – are also culpable for the damage to the Transfiguration Cathedral.
Second, the UNESCO secretariat holds a biased position regarding the situation in Ukraine.
Bureaucrats of this organisation refuse to notice the unlawfulness reigning in Ukraine for many years. Moreover, when Kuleba’s gang ordered the removal of the monument to Empress Catherine II the Great from its pedestal to be dragged off somewhere, UNESCO once again remained silent, and immediately afterwards decided to start “culturally protecting” the historic centre of Odessa, which cannot be called historic after the removal of the sculpture of its founder.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmitro Kuleba noted that this week Russians attacked UNESCO-protected sites and places of worship in Odessa.
💬 First, after what the Kiev regime has done to dozens of Orthodox churches, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, relics, monuments and memorials, he has no right to appeal to legitimacy.
As a matter of fact, the Kiev regime and illiterate operators of air defence complexes, whom the Ukrainian Armed Forces intentionally deploy in residential areas – the Ministry of Defence has already confirmed this – are also culpable for the damage to the Transfiguration Cathedral.
Second, the UNESCO secretariat holds a biased position regarding the situation in Ukraine.
Bureaucrats of this organisation refuse to notice the unlawfulness reigning in Ukraine for many years. Moreover, when Kuleba’s gang ordered the removal of the monument to Empress Catherine II the Great from its pedestal to be dragged off somewhere, UNESCO once again remained silent, and immediately afterwards decided to start “culturally protecting” the historic centre of Odessa, which cannot be called historic after the removal of the sculpture of its founder.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 Antony Blinken’s lies on the anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy
Read in full
Antony Blinken had the audacity to lie about one of the most appalling tragedies of World War II: the massacre of civilians in Soviet Kiev on September 29-30, 1941, in the Babi Yar ravine. Right after occupying the city, the Nazis began their cleansing operations. Within a few days, tens of thousands of Jews, Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war were executed. On September 29-30 alone, the Nazis brutally butchered 34,000 people: this was what Blinken was referring to as he cynically lied (more on this below) about the memory of this tragedy in the USSR, “forgetting” that the executions continued right up to the liberation of Kiev by the Red Army in November 1943.
But we remember everyone: tens of thousands of people of non-Aryan race, partisans and prisoners: all those whom the Nazis sentenced to die and whose remains were left in the Babi Yar ravine. Everyone who lost their lives. Everyone who fell victim to the German idea of superiority. Those who did not live to see the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR capital by the Soviet soldiers.
The US Secretary of State wrote in his post: “Soviets buried this history” by which he meant that they hushed it up. This is a blatant lie, monstrous in its ignorance and cynicism.
No other country in the world so consistently held Nazism accountable for the crimes of the Holocaust as the Soviet Union.
Perhaps there are still decent people left in the State Department who can convey the following information to Mr Blinken.
Already in March 1945, even before the Victory, Resolution No 378 of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR and the Ukrainian Communist Party Central Committee, On the Construction of a Memorial at Babi Yar, was adopted, in accordance with which work began to create a park and install a monument on the burial site of the victims of the Nazi occupiers. It was unveiled on July 2, 1976, on the territory that was later named the Babi Yar National Historical Memorial Reserve in Kiev. <...>
Yet Blinken had the audacity to write that we don’t or didn’t remember the past, and he did that on the anniversary of the tragedy. On the other hand, what is left to be desired from the US Secretary of State who was declared one of the most influential Jews in the world last year by an Israeli magazine but who found no words to condemn the honouring of a Nazi in the Canadian parliament? What do we want from the US Secretary of State who issues orders to finance the Nazi regime in Kiev, a regime that glorifies the collaborators Bandera and Shukhevich? What do we want from the US Secretary of State who issues an order to vote against the UN General Assembly resolution condemning neo-Nazism, racism and xenophobia? <...>
P.S. Blinken’s stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was a Holocaust survivor who was in several death camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. He recalled with gratitude the role of the USSR and Soviet soldiers’ contribution to the Victory over Nazism until the end of his life. Here is an almost prophetic quote of his from an interview with RIA Novosti in 2010: “We, Holocaust survivors who went through Auschwitz, are disappearing one after another. Very soon there will be no eyewitnesses of this catastrophe. And history will speak in the impersonal voice of novelists, researchers and historians at best. Remember Yevtushenko’s poem ‘There Are No Monuments Over Babi Yar’? Shostakovich wrote his 13th symphony called “Babi Yar.” At worst, these will be the voices of demagogues, falsifiers, those who say the Holocaust never happened.”
I wonder what he would say today about his stepson’s lies...
💬 Antony Blinken’s lies on the anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy
Read in full
Antony Blinken had the audacity to lie about one of the most appalling tragedies of World War II: the massacre of civilians in Soviet Kiev on September 29-30, 1941, in the Babi Yar ravine. Right after occupying the city, the Nazis began their cleansing operations. Within a few days, tens of thousands of Jews, Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war were executed. On September 29-30 alone, the Nazis brutally butchered 34,000 people: this was what Blinken was referring to as he cynically lied (more on this below) about the memory of this tragedy in the USSR, “forgetting” that the executions continued right up to the liberation of Kiev by the Red Army in November 1943.
But we remember everyone: tens of thousands of people of non-Aryan race, partisans and prisoners: all those whom the Nazis sentenced to die and whose remains were left in the Babi Yar ravine. Everyone who lost their lives. Everyone who fell victim to the German idea of superiority. Those who did not live to see the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR capital by the Soviet soldiers.
The US Secretary of State wrote in his post: “Soviets buried this history” by which he meant that they hushed it up. This is a blatant lie, monstrous in its ignorance and cynicism.
No other country in the world so consistently held Nazism accountable for the crimes of the Holocaust as the Soviet Union.
Perhaps there are still decent people left in the State Department who can convey the following information to Mr Blinken.
Already in March 1945, even before the Victory, Resolution No 378 of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR and the Ukrainian Communist Party Central Committee, On the Construction of a Memorial at Babi Yar, was adopted, in accordance with which work began to create a park and install a monument on the burial site of the victims of the Nazi occupiers. It was unveiled on July 2, 1976, on the territory that was later named the Babi Yar National Historical Memorial Reserve in Kiev. <...>
Yet Blinken had the audacity to write that we don’t or didn’t remember the past, and he did that on the anniversary of the tragedy. On the other hand, what is left to be desired from the US Secretary of State who was declared one of the most influential Jews in the world last year by an Israeli magazine but who found no words to condemn the honouring of a Nazi in the Canadian parliament? What do we want from the US Secretary of State who issues orders to finance the Nazi regime in Kiev, a regime that glorifies the collaborators Bandera and Shukhevich? What do we want from the US Secretary of State who issues an order to vote against the UN General Assembly resolution condemning neo-Nazism, racism and xenophobia? <...>
P.S. Blinken’s stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was a Holocaust survivor who was in several death camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. He recalled with gratitude the role of the USSR and Soviet soldiers’ contribution to the Victory over Nazism until the end of his life. Here is an almost prophetic quote of his from an interview with RIA Novosti in 2010: “We, Holocaust survivors who went through Auschwitz, are disappearing one after another. Very soon there will be no eyewitnesses of this catastrophe. And history will speak in the impersonal voice of novelists, researchers and historians at best. Remember Yevtushenko’s poem ‘There Are No Monuments Over Babi Yar’? Shostakovich wrote his 13th symphony called “Babi Yar.” At worst, these will be the voices of demagogues, falsifiers, those who say the Holocaust never happened.”
I wonder what he would say today about his stepson’s lies...
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion
✍️ Article by Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy Vice-Rectors Oleg Karpovich and Mikhail Troyansky
The end of the era of hypocrisy
• The explosive intensification of the crisis in Gaza has once again revealed the depths of the decline of the US-EU establishment, which is sacrificing the last shred of its respectability right before our eyes and parting with its liberal image as “citizens of the world” concerned with human rights and the common good.
❗️Instead of working toward de-escalation and steering the process to a negotiating track, politicians, primarily from Anglo-Saxon countries (followed by others), have begun to support Israeli authorities in their more forceful actions against Palestinians.
• We believe that manipulating UN Charter principles in the process is absolutely unacceptable, especially as the United States and its satellites quite recently were conveniently using this trick to unilaterally and selectively leverage some of the UN Charter principles to promote their own interests.
• Importantly, we fully understand and share the sorrow of the Jewish people who endured a horrible tragedy on October 7. However, in a situation where many decisions are made emotionally, responsible global players should attempt to de-escalate the situation, rather than pit the sides against each other.
• The West has all too willingly turned a blind eye to the suffering of civilians time and again, and is taking an extremely irresponsible approach to international crises.
• We can only hope that the tragedy of Israel and Gaza will serve as an important lesson for the collective West that got entangled in its own games and machinations and is losing credibility with the Global South right before our eyes.
☝️ The era of double standards that underpin the “rules-based order” is fading into the past.
Read in full
✍️ Article by Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy Vice-Rectors Oleg Karpovich and Mikhail Troyansky
The end of the era of hypocrisy
• The explosive intensification of the crisis in Gaza has once again revealed the depths of the decline of the US-EU establishment, which is sacrificing the last shred of its respectability right before our eyes and parting with its liberal image as “citizens of the world” concerned with human rights and the common good.
❗️Instead of working toward de-escalation and steering the process to a negotiating track, politicians, primarily from Anglo-Saxon countries (followed by others), have begun to support Israeli authorities in their more forceful actions against Palestinians.
• We believe that manipulating UN Charter principles in the process is absolutely unacceptable, especially as the United States and its satellites quite recently were conveniently using this trick to unilaterally and selectively leverage some of the UN Charter principles to promote their own interests.
• Importantly, we fully understand and share the sorrow of the Jewish people who endured a horrible tragedy on October 7. However, in a situation where many decisions are made emotionally, responsible global players should attempt to de-escalate the situation, rather than pit the sides against each other.
• The West has all too willingly turned a blind eye to the suffering of civilians time and again, and is taking an extremely irresponsible approach to international crises.
• We can only hope that the tragedy of Israel and Gaza will serve as an important lesson for the collective West that got entangled in its own games and machinations and is losing credibility with the Global South right before our eyes.
☝️ The era of double standards that underpin the “rules-based order” is fading into the past.
Read in full
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Maria Zakharova
💬 Nazis are marching in front of the White House. This is not a Mosfilm-produced sequel but a documentary chronicle of our days.
This horrifying and savage event is unfolding against the backdrop of the residence of US presidents, featuring Nazi symbols, Nazi chants and salutes from far-right groups.
Who organised this march?
It was orchestrated by followers and accomplices of the Kiev regime. Right Sector activist Roman Kashpur and activist Natalya Shaporinskaya are among the key figures. The latter is directly associated with the American "aid" agency, USAID. In February 2022, Samantha Power, administrator of USAID, spoke at a rally organised by Shaporinskaya's foundations.
So, while America voices concerns about the recent rise in antisemitic sentiments, as I discussed in a briefing, representatives of a group notorious for their blatant anti-Semitism, Judophobia, and various forms of racial intolerance and hatred on national grounds are openly chanting Nazi slogans right next to the White House lawn.
The Nazis spared no one: Jews, Slavs, Roma, and members of other communities deemed Untermensch by the Third Reich.
Today, this ideology flourishes with the support and tacit approval of US government authorities. This is not freedom of speech, but its complete distortion.
💬 Nazis are marching in front of the White House. This is not a Mosfilm-produced sequel but a documentary chronicle of our days.
This horrifying and savage event is unfolding against the backdrop of the residence of US presidents, featuring Nazi symbols, Nazi chants and salutes from far-right groups.
Who organised this march?
It was orchestrated by followers and accomplices of the Kiev regime. Right Sector activist Roman Kashpur and activist Natalya Shaporinskaya are among the key figures. The latter is directly associated with the American "aid" agency, USAID. In February 2022, Samantha Power, administrator of USAID, spoke at a rally organised by Shaporinskaya's foundations.
So, while America voices concerns about the recent rise in antisemitic sentiments, as I discussed in a briefing, representatives of a group notorious for their blatant anti-Semitism, Judophobia, and various forms of racial intolerance and hatred on national grounds are openly chanting Nazi slogans right next to the White House lawn.
The Nazis spared no one: Jews, Slavs, Roma, and members of other communities deemed Untermensch by the Third Reich.
Today, this ideology flourishes with the support and tacit approval of US government authorities. This is not freedom of speech, but its complete distortion.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
💬 The Telegraph, UK, published a heart-rending story that could well qualify for a Russophobia-of-the-Month prize. It’s about how the Russian Embassy in London had nearly upset the coronation of Charles III in May 2023.
It turns out that an unidentified drone was hovering over the Buckingham Palace during the solemn ceremony. The police, of course, as per modern British tradition to blame the Russians, immediately suspected… the Russian Embassy.
After some time it emerged that the drone had been launched by a certain Walid Marai, 36, a US citizen.
It is not reported whether he was a CIA spy or just wanted to take a photo of Charles III from an unusual angle. What a disappointment! To my mind, this detail would have been of interest for the UK public.
If the #RussiansDidIt version regarding the bogus Russian Embassy involvement had prevailed, Russian diplomats, as usual, would have been expelled. As it is, Walid Marai got off with a £5,000 fine.
💬 The Telegraph, UK, published a heart-rending story that could well qualify for a Russophobia-of-the-Month prize. It’s about how the Russian Embassy in London had nearly upset the coronation of Charles III in May 2023.
It turns out that an unidentified drone was hovering over the Buckingham Palace during the solemn ceremony. The police, of course, as per modern British tradition to blame the Russians, immediately suspected… the Russian Embassy.
After some time it emerged that the drone had been launched by a certain Walid Marai, 36, a US citizen.
It is not reported whether he was a CIA spy or just wanted to take a photo of Charles III from an unusual angle. What a disappointment! To my mind, this detail would have been of interest for the UK public.
If the #RussiansDidIt version regarding the bogus Russian Embassy involvement had prevailed, Russian diplomats, as usual, would have been expelled. As it is, Walid Marai got off with a £5,000 fine.