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🗓 86 years ago — on August 23, 1939 — the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Non-Aggression Treaty in Moscow. This document was an important achievement of the Soviet diplomacy ahead of #WWII: the USSR was able to buy time to better prepare to repel Hitler’s impending attack, which had been seen as inevitable due to the failed policy of “appeasement” by Western European states and their refusal to forge a collective security agreement with our nation against Nazism. Signing the non-aggression treaty with Germany was a difficult but necessary decision by the Soviet leadership, driven by national security considerations and the urgent need to deter Nazi aggression in the east. *** In the 1930s, twenty years after the end of World War I, the threat of a new large-scale armed conflict in Europe began to grow. A key factor for this was the crisis of the Versailles system of international relations, designed by Britain and France, which paved the way for rising revanchist sentiments in the states it had humiliated — Germany and Italy. With the Nazis’ rise to power in Germany, the threat of a new war in Europe became real. Hitler’s misanthropic ideology was rooted in the notorious doctrine of “racial superiority.” The Nazis used this doctrine to justify Germany’s pursuit of world domination. In this way, an absolute evil emerged at the heart of Europe, endangering the peace and freedom of entire nations. By the mid-1930s, it became evident that another German aggression in Europe was inevitable — it was merely a matter of time. In an effort to counter the rising threat of German revanchism, the Soviet Union suggested the creation of a collective security system in Europe, founded on anti-fascist principles, to unite efforts and deliver a joint response to the common threat. Yet in Paris and London, where anti-Soviet sentiments ran deep, the idea of cooperation with Moscow was rejected as such. Instead, Western powers sought to strike a deal with Germany, aiming to pacify the Germans through unilateral concessions. The political establishments of the West failed to grasp the existential threat posed by Nazi ideology, cynically believing that Hitler’s aggression could be redirected eastward. The “appeasement” tactics whetted the aggressor’s appetite. In March 1938, with the connivance of Paris and London, Hitler carried out the Anschluss of Austria. In September, following the criminal “Munich conspiracy” and with the approval of the UK and France, he cynically dismembered the sovereign state of Czechoslovakia. Warsaw, which was interested in getting part of Czechoslovakia’s territory for itself, prohibited flights of Soviet aircraft to render aid to Czechoslovak army. Already a de facto accomplice of Hitler, Poland had supported every single foreign policy move of the Reich. ❗️A new war in Europe became inevitable. Thus, “appeasement” policy ended in total failure. Attempting to sate the Nazis’ insatiable ambitions, the Western powers failed to restrain the aggressor or thwart its criminal plans. The Soviet Union remained the only European power still striving to organise collective resistance against Nazi Germany. In the spring and summer of 1939, the USSR initiated consultations with France and Britain in Moscow. However, the negotiation process failed to yield practical results — the Western powers that until the last moment hoped for a compromise with Hitler, engaged in secret talks with Germany behind the Soviet Union’s back. 👉The Soviet diplomacy ran out of chances to build a collective security system in Europe. Moscow also had to take into account the Japanese factor — the hostilities on the Khalkhin-Gol that began in May 1939. The Soviet leadership could not afford a war on two fronts. By August 1939, several European nations had concluded non-aggression pacts with Hitler. The Soviet Union was the last major power to follow the suit. As a result, our country gained valuable time to prepare for a clash with the world’s most powerful army at that time. 📖Learn more in our in-depthhistorical feature.

🎙Address by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to participants in the 13th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues(May 28, 2025) 💬 Vladimir Putin: I am pleased to welcome you to Moscow for the 13th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues. Over the past nearly fifteen years, your Forum has convincingly affirmed its significant status and authority. I know that in these days, participants of the Meeting — representatives of delegations from many states — can expect a substantial programme, with the main discussion dedicated to the prospects of establishing a new global security architecture. ☝️ As for Russia, our approaches remain principled and unchanged. I have said it before and will reiterate: we are convinced that the new security architecture must be equal and indivisible — that is, all states must receive firm guarantees of their own security, but not at the expense of the security and interests of other countries. It is vital to make our continent a space of peace and stability, an example of sustainable economic, social, and cultural development. We believe that the foundation for creating such a universal security system could be the existing and well-established multilateral cooperation formats, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and others. Your current meeting is widely attended by states of the Global South and East. It is they, in essence, who form the global majority, seek to influence regional and international processes more actively, and uphold the principle of sovereign equality and the right to their own development model. Undoubtedly, in building joint efforts, it is necessary to rely on positive historical experience, on the lessons of the past. This year marks the 80th Anniversary of the end of #WWII, which fundamentally influenced the development of the international community. The experience of uniting states in the fight against evil, against Nazism and militarism, the understanding of the colossal price humanity paid for peace and freedom, for the right of peoples to choose their own path of development, laid the foundations of the post-war world order and led to the creation of the UN — a universal, legitimate organisation based on the principles of international law, which has helped overcome many geopolitical challenges. Today, it is especially important to preserve the truth about the events of those years, to counter attempts to rewrite history, to cast doubt on the decisive contribution of the peoples of the Soviet Union to the Victory over Hitler’s Germany, and to glorify Nazi criminals and their accomplices. Just recently, on May 9, we solemnly marked the Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The celebrations in Moscow became yet another symbol of unity around the ideals of the Great Victory, demonstrating once again the commitment of our friends and partners to shaping a safer world, to constructive cooperation, and to jointly addressing global challenges. I am convinced that this latest meeting of high representatives overseeing security issues will contribute to the development of new important approaches to strengthening international peace and stability and will help advance dialogue for the benefit of all countries and peoples. I wish you success.

🕯December 3marks the Day of the Unknown Soldier in Russia, honouring the feat of all soldiers who perished for the Motherland, yet whose names remain unknown. #OnThisDay in 1966, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Red Army's victory over Nazi forces in theBattle of Moscow, a ceremony of the burial of the unknown soldiers' remains was held in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. These remains were originally located in a mass grave on the 41st kilometre of the Leningrad Highway and were discovered during construction activities on the road. Back in 1941, during the Battle of Moscow, this very place saw fierce and bloody battles between the Soviet forces and Nazi invaders. ▪️ On May 8, 1967, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden was unveiled. "Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal", — the worldwide famous words were inscribed upon the granite slab on the Tomb. Soviet newspapers noted back then: "...he [the Unknown Soldier] was slain for his Motherland, for his home — Moscow. This is all we know about him." 💬 Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky remarked: "The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the ancient walls of the Moscow Kremlin shall serve as a monument of eternal glory to the heroes who died on the battlefield for their Motherland. Henceforth, the ashes of the one who shielded Moscow with his chest rest here". The Eternal Flame was set at the Tomb. In December of 1997, the Honor Guard was instituted near the Eternal Flame. In total, approximately two million Soviet and Russian citizens were reported missing in action during the wars and conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Russian Ministry of Defence carries out on a regular basis search operations to perpetuate the memory of heroes who perished for the Motherland. Russian diplomats abroad are engaged in extensive efforts aimed at preserving historical memory, countering attempts to distort the history of #WWII and to question the Great Victory of the Soviet people. The Embassies of Russia all across the world ensure the maintenance, repair and restoration of Soviet monuments and war graves. ❗️ Regrettably, as part of a disgraceful campaign to distort history of #WWII, a policy ofstate vandalism is being pursued in certain countries of Eastern Europe, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in particular, with the one aim — to eradicate Russia's memorial heritage — the monuments to Soviet heroes and liberators. By order of the official authorities, criminal acts are being perpetrated in these countries to desecrate mass graves, when the remains of fallen soldiers are barbarically exhumed for the purpose of their subsequent "reburial in accordance with European practice" in specially designated locations. 🎗 It is prohibited for Russian compatriots in Europe, under the threat (!) of criminal prosecution, to pay tribute to heroes who fought against Nazism. The Russian MFA highlights these outrageous incidents. The memory of all who sacrificed their lives for our future is and will remain immortal. #WeRemember

◼️ June 22 is the #DayOfMemoryAndSorrow in Russia, the the most tragic date in the modern history of our country. On this day 8️⃣4️⃣ years ago — on June 22, 1941 — the Soviet Union was attacked, unprovoked and without a declaration of war, by the Nazi Germany and its European cronies, which unleashed the full might of its vicious war machine. For our people on that day the Great Patriotic War began — the bloodiest and most brutal, devastating and terrible war, which lasted 1418 days and claimed lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens. Obsessed with the ideas of racial superiority, the Hitlerites and their henchmen in Europe planned to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth, and the survivors left — to turn into slaves of the Third Reich. The Germans invaded our country with one goal — to physically annihilate the Soviet people, to destroy our nation's centuries-old cultural and spiritual heritage — the Nazis and their allies carried out a genocide. 2️⃣2️⃣.0️⃣6️⃣.1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣1️⃣ At dawn at 4 am, the enemy aviation launched massive strikes on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases, deployments of the Red Army forces and cities along the entire western state border of the USSR to a depth of up to 250-300 km. Together with Nazi Germany,Romania, Italy, Finland and other states allied to the Third Reich took part in the aggression. The industries of almost the entire continental Europe served the aggressors. The people of the USSR were informed on the radio about the attack by the Nazis and, thus, the beginning of the war. At noon on June 22, 1941, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership addressed the nation: 🎙 "Today, at 4 a.m. in the morning, the German troops have invaded our country, without making any demands on the Soviet Union and without a declaration of war. They have attacked our borders in many places and have subjected our towns to aerial bombardments. This unheard-of attack on our nation, despite the non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany, is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations."<...> Our cause is right. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours!" It was the Soviet Union that bore the main burden of the Nazi aggression in Europe. It was the Soviet Victorious People who showed unparalleled heroism, courage and fortitude, fighting to the last drop of blood for the freedom of our Motherland, crushed Nazism and saved Europe from the Nazi 'plague'. It was on the Eastern Front of the European theater of #WWII that the Nazis and their henchmen lost more than 75% of their forces fighting the Red Army. 🌟 The Great Victory was achieved at a high price. The Soviet Union's losses amounted to 40% of all human casualties during WWII — almost 27 million people. Of these, more than 8.7 million perished on the battlefield, 7.42 million people were deliberately and cold-bloodedly killed by the Nazis. Over 5 million Soviet citizens were taken into slavery and moved to Germany and Reich-occupied European countries. To this day June 22 still echoes in the hearts of all Russians with grief, sorrow and pain for the lives lost and fates of entire generations broken. There is no family in our country and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union that was not affected by that terrible war. There is #NoStatuteOfLimitations for the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators on our land. On this day, we bow our heads in memory of our ancestors who perished during the Great Patriotic War. 🎙 Excerpt from the comment by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the occasion of the Day of Memory and Sorrow(June 21, 2025): 💬 "Unlike the "collective West", we do not divide the victims of the Nazis into categories — they all deserve justice and for their executioners to be punished. We, regardless of race, nationality and religion, mourn the 2.6 million Jewish citizens of the USSR, millions of Slavs and representatives of other ethnic groups of the multinational Soviet people who became victims of genocide".

📰Interview with Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova for 'Zapiski Sledovatelya' Journal No. 2/2025, published by Russia's Investigative Committee(May 30, 2025) ✍️The Legal Front of Memory Key talking points: • Combating manifestations of racism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism, and countering attempts to rewrite history and distort the outcomes of #WWII are among Russia’s priorities on the human rights track. • Today we see increasingly frequent attempts to rewrite the history and results of WWII, to erase the memory of heroic anti-fascist fighters, to destroy monuments built in their honour, and to ban the wearing of military decorations that are strongly associated with Victory. • History is being falsified in an openly hostile manner, which includes glorifying Nazi collaborators and disrespecting the memory of Soviet soldiers and civilians who died in the fight against fascism, questioning the Red Army’s liberation mission in Eastern Europe <...> The decisions of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences and the Nuremberg Tribunal verdicts are also being questioned. • This tendency to rewrite history and glorify Nazi henchmen has become part of the Kiev regime’s state ideology and policy. The neo-Nazi elites are trying to cement Ukraine’s independence by denying its Soviet past, praising the Waffen-SS Galicia Division <...> • In line with efforts to combat the glorification of Nazism and the distortion of history, every year since 2005, Russia has submitted a resolution on combatting glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, to the UN General Assembly. On December 17, 2024, during the plenary session of the 79th #UNGA in New York, 119 countries voted in support of this document. • Russia and a group of like-minded countries submitted a draft resolution on the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War IIto the ongoing 79th UN General Assembly, which was adopted on March 4. <...> Our partners’ unified stance on this matter constitutes a substantive contribution to countering the rewriting of history. • It is a matter of principle for us that the international community recognise the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis in the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War as the genocide of the Soviet people. • The actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Nazi-affiliated armed groups reveal signs of genocidal intent. They wanted to eliminate Russians and Russian speakers in #Donbass <...>, adepts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and people in this region in general as an ethnic, religious and national entity. • Ukraine initiated proceedings in the UN International Court of Justice in February 2022, right after the start of the special military operation, as per the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. However, it turned to the Kiev regime’s disadvantage. • The International Court of Justice issued its preliminary objections under this case on February 2, 2024. In this document, it rejected all the claims made by Ukraine alleging that Russia violated the Convention. The court went on to rule that further proceedings will focus on whether Ukraine itself committed acts of genocide in Donbass. Therefore, the Kiev regime filed the lawsuit only to become a defendant in this case. • On November 18, 2024, Russia submitted its main pleading document, the Counter Memorandum, as part of these proceedings. In fact, this is the first time since the Nuremberg Trials that Russia de facto assumed the role of the prosecution in an international tribunal. But there are even more parallels with the Nuremberg Trials — just as during these trials, we are dealing with a Nazi regime which was targeting civilians with mass atrocities on racial, ethnic and national grounds. Read the interview in full

◼️ June 22 is the #DayOfMemoryAndSorrow in Russia, the the most tragic date in the modern history of our country. On this day 8️⃣4️⃣ years ago — on June 22, 1941 — the Soviet Union was attacked, unprovoked and without a declaration of war, by the Nazi Germany and its European cronies, which unleashed the full might of its vicious war machine. For our people on that day the Great Patriotic War began — the bloodiest and most brutal, devastating and terrible war, which lasted 1418 days and claimed lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens. Obsessed with the ideas of racial superiority, the Hitlerites and their henchmen in Europe planned to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth, and the survivors left — to turn into slaves of the Third Reich. The Germans invaded our country with one goal — to physically annihilate the Soviet people, to destroy our nation's centuries-old cultural and spiritual heritage — the Nazis and their allies carried out a genocide. 2️⃣2️⃣.0️⃣6️⃣.1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣1️⃣ At dawn at 4 am, the enemy aviation launched massive strikes on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases, deployments of the Red Army forces and cities along the entire western state border of the USSR to a depth of up to 250-300 km. Together with Nazi Germany,Romania, Italy, Finland and other states allied to the Third Reich took part in the aggression. The industries of almost the entire continental Europe served the aggressors. The people of the USSR were informed on the radio about the attack by the Nazis and, thus, the beginning of the war. At noon on June 22, 1941, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership addressed the nation: 🎙 "Today, at 4 a.m. in the morning, the German troops have invaded our country, without making any demands on the Soviet Union and without a declaration of war. They have attacked our borders in many places and have subjected our towns to aerial bombardments. This unheard-of attack on our nation, despite the non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany, is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations."<...> Our cause is right. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours!" It was the Soviet Union that bore the main burden of the Nazi aggression in Europe. It was the Soviet Victorious People who showed unparalleled heroism, courage and fortitude, fighting to the last drop of blood for the freedom of our Motherland, crushed Nazism and saved Europe from the Nazi 'plague'. It was on the Eastern Front of the European theater of #WWII that the Nazis and their henchmen lost more than 75% of their forces fighting the Red Army. 🌟 The Great Victory was achieved at a high price. The Soviet Union's losses amounted to 40% of all human casualties during WWII — almost 27 million people. Of these, more than 8.7 million perished on the battlefield, 7.42 million people were deliberately and cold-bloodedly killed by the Nazis. Over 5 million Soviet citizens were taken into slavery and moved to Germany and Reich-occupied European countries. To this day June 22 still echoes in the hearts of all Russians with grief, sorrow and pain for the lives lost and fates of entire generations broken. There is no family in our country and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union that was not affected by that terrible war. There is #NoStatuteOfLimitations for the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators on our land. On this day, we bow our heads in memory of our ancestors who perished during the Great Patriotic War. 🎙 Excerpt from the comment by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the occasion of the Day of Memory and Sorrow(June 21, 2025): 💬 "Unlike the "collective West", we do not divide the victims of the Nazis into categories — they all deserve justice and for their executioners to be punished. We, regardless of race, nationality and religion, mourn the 2.6 million Jewish citizens of the USSR, millions of Slavs and representatives of other ethnic groups of the multinational Soviet people who became victims of genocide".

@RusEmbMalta Press Release 🇷🇺 Ahead of the Victory Day anniversary, we would like to once again draw attention to the growing challenges related to the distortion of the history of World War II and the glorification of Nazism. In recent years, a troubling trend of so-called “historical aggression” has become increasingly evident – deliberate attempts to rewrite history for political purposes. In a number of countries, we are witnessing the dismantling and desecration of monuments to those who fought against Nazism, while marches of former SS members and their supporters take place, and new memorials are erected in honor of those associated with racist ideologies. Such developments cannot but cause serious concern ⚠️ The Russian Federation consistently treats the fight against the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism, racism, xenophobia, and the falsification of history as a key priority of its international human rights agenda. This work is carried out systematically, including within multilateral frameworks Since 2005, Russia has annually introduced at the UN General Assembly the resolution “Combating glorification of Nazism…”. The latest resolution, adopted on 15 December 2025, was supported by 119 states, with 43 countries co-sponsoring it. Despite political pressure and attempts to undermine the initiative, the voting results clearly demonstrate that the majority of the international community rejects efforts to revise the outcomes of World War II and remains committed to the principles of the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Tribunal. At the same time, a special commemorative meeting of the UN General Assembly held on 7 May 2025, initiated by Russia and supported by 53 states, highlighted the continued relevance of preserving historical truth and recognizing the decisive contribution of the Soviet people to the Victory. Russia firmly condemns any manifestations of the glorification of Nazism and attempts to distort historical facts. Preserving the memory of World War II is not only about the past – it is a cornerstone of international stability and a safeguard against repeating the tragedies of history. 🤝 Today, it is essential to consolidate international efforts to prevent the glorification of Nazism, counter historical revisionism, and preserve an objective understanding of World War II as a foundation for peace, security, and mutual respect among nations. #VictoryDay#WWII#NoToNazism#StopFalsification

#Victory80 🌟 In the early hours of May 1, 1945, the #VictoryBanner was raised atop the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin. It became a symbol of the triumph of the Soviet Union & its peoples in the fight against Nazism. The legendary Red Banner №5, which became the famous Victory Banner, was raised over the dome of the defeated Reichstag by the 756th Rifle Regiment’s scouts, Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov & Junior Sergeant Meliton Kantariya. Before the assault, a decision was made for a group of Soviet soldiers to hoist the flag over the Reichstag, which would embody the final collapse of Nazism. 🚩 A total of 9 makeshift banners were promptly made, designed after the state flag of the USSR. Ultimately, a battle flag of the 150th Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class Idritsa Rifle Division, 79th Rifle Corps, 3rd Striking Army of the 1st Belarusian Front, became the Victory Banner. On April 29, the fierce fighting for the Reichstag began, which the Nazis had turned into a fortified point of resistance. It was defended by over a thousand men, including SS troops supported by artillery and armor. The Reichstag was of special symbolic importance to the Nazi Germany. The Germans considered it their main fortress during the final days of #WWII. The Soviet command was sure that the storming of that citadel, which was a symbol of German Nazism, would especially affect morale of the enemy and eventually completely demoralize the fascists. ⚔️ On April30at 1:50 p.m., a Red Army unit broke into the Reichstag through breaches in the walls, with a fierce close combat unleashing. The Nazis took advantage of effectively advancing inside the building they new well, throwing grenades at Soviet soldiers & firing back with machine-guns: they basically had nothing to lose. ⏱️ At 2.25 p.m., Red Army soldiers Bulatov and Koshkarbayevplaced a makeshift red flag to the column of the main entrance to the Reichstag — it was the first of the banners the liberators raised over the Reichstag. ⏱️ At 10.30 p.m., staff sergeants Gizet Zagitov, Alexander Lisimenko & Alexey Bobrov as well as Sergeant Mikhail Minin supported by Captain Neustroyev’s battalion were the 1st to hoist a red banner on the roof of the Reichstag atop of the Goddess of Victory sculpture. The 3rd red banner was raised on the western facade of the roof by the scouts of the 674th Regiment led by Lieutenant Sorokin. ⏱️ In the early hours of May 1, finally, the Red Banner №5 was raised over the dome of the captured Reichstag by the 756th Rifle Regiment’s scouts, Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov & Junior Sergeant Meliton Kantariya, led by deputy battalion commander Lieutenant Alexey Berest, covered by riflemen from Ilya Syanov's squad. That flag ultimately became the Victory Banner. 📃 By a Presidential Executive Order of April 15, 1996, the Red Banner hoisted atop of the Reichstag by Yegorov & Kantariya was declared the symbol of the Soviet people’s Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. #WeAreProud

#Victory80 🏅8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, on April 13, 1945, the Soviet forces liberated the capital of Austria during the #Vienna Offensive. 🌟 By the spring of 1945, the Red Army drove the Nazi invaders out of Poland,Hungary and Slovakia and rapidly launched an offensive towards Germany. The Third Reich’s defeat was only a matter of time: the Soviet forces were preparing to attack Berlin. *** Austria, annexed by the Nazis as a result of anschluss in 1938, served as a shield for the Third Reich’s southern regions during #WWII. The capital of Austria — the city of Vienna — was a strategically important point of the Nazi defence, which the enemy was committed to hold at any cost. ⚔️ In March 1945, during the successful offensive along the Austrian line of advance, the Red Army broke the resistance of the Nazi units deployed between the Danube and Lake Balaton (Hungary) and defeated the troops of the Nazi army group 'South'. Having advanced by that time up to 80 kilometers to Vienna, the Soviet forces launched the operation to liberate the Austrian capital. The enemy undertook extensive preprations to hold the city. The streets were barricaded and mine-strewn. Firing points were set up in residential buildings. Destroyed houses were used to camouflage tanks and artillery pieces. All bridges over the Danube were prepared by the Nazis for demolition. In the event of retreat, the Nazis were ready to tear down the Austrian capital to the ground, including by destroying (!) itshistorical architectural heritage. On April 5, 1945, the Soviet forces attacked the Nazi garrison in Vienna. Intense fighting erupted on the city outskirts. The Red Army was confronted by the most prepared enemy units and formations, including SS tank divisions. Soviet soldiers fought to death against the Nazis for every quarter and every building of the city. With a view to prevent victims among the city's population and protect Vienna from destruction by the Nazis, the Soviet command addressed local residents: 📢The Red Army entered Austria not to occupy its territory but only to defeat the enemy Nazi troops and liberate the country from German occupation. It also called on the Vienna residents to help fight the Nazis — this call was answered by many Austrian patriots. On April 13, the last enemy point of resistance in the city centre was crushed, with Vienna being completely liberated from the Nazis. During the fierce and brutal fighting for Vienna, the Red Army crushed Wehrmacht's 11 armoured divisions, destroyed the 6th SS Tank Army, and captured more than 130,000 enemy soldiers and officers. The Soviet people paid a high price for the liberation of Vienna from the Nazis: 38,000 Red Army soldiers gave their lives for saving the city from fascists. Having liberated Vienna, our country provided aid to the city residents. The population was supplied with food: hundreds of tonnes of grain, meat, sugar, salt and other products were given to the Austrians. After the war, the people of Vienna recalled how their “fear of hunger had disappeared” and spoke with gratitude about the generosity of the Soviet people, which “exceeded all expectations.” 🎙 An excerpt from the briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (April 9, 2025): 💬 “By acting swiftly and selflessly, the Soviet forces prevented the destruction of Vienna. It was thanks to the decision by the Soviet command not to use artillery that Vienna has preserved its historical outlook.” *** 🌟 A monument to the Soviet soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the liberation of Austria from Nazism was unveiled on August 19, 1945, on #Schwarzenbergplatz in the centre of Vienna. The country has 217 monuments and war graves on its territory. Tens of thousands Red Army soldiers, who saved Europe from the Nazi plague, are buried in Austria. ❗️ In 1955, under the State Treaty for the Re-establishment of Independent and Democratic Austria (Art.19), Vienna took the obligations to respect, preserve and maintain the graves of the soldiers on Austrian territory.

@RusEmbMalta Press release 📞Telephone Conversation Between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump 🗓️ On June 14, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held another substantive and sincere telephone conversation, which lasted approximately 50 minutes. 🔻 Key discussion points: 🌍Middle East escalation – The two leaders focused on the dangerous deterioration of the situation between Israel and Iran. – President Putin strongly condemned the Israeli military operation against Iran and voiced serious concerns over the risk of further escalation with unpredictable consequences for the entire region. – He informed President Trump of his recent calls with the Israeli Prime Minister and the President of Iran, stressing the importance of preventing further conflict and confirming Russia’s readiness to mediate. – Vladimir Putin recalled that Russia had earlier proposed constructive steps to facilitate agreements between the US and Iran regarding the nuclear programme, but Israel launched its strikes just before the planned June 15 round of negotiations. 🇷🇺 Russia reaffirmed its principled stance and commitment to diplomatic resolution. 🇺🇸 President Trump, while acknowledging the effectiveness of Israel’s actions, also described the situation as highly alarming. – Both leaders agreed that, despite the complexity of the situation, a return to negotiations on the Iran nuclear issue remains possible. – Donald Trump noted that the US negotiating team is prepared to resume indirect talks with Iran, facilitated by Oman (as had happened in five previous rounds). 🔹Russia–Ukraine talks – President Putin updated President Trump on the implementation of the June 2 Istanbul agreements between Russian and Ukrainian delegations. – He reported that an exchange of POWs was currently underway, including those seriously wounded and under the age of 25. – Ukraine had also received two batches of bodies of the deceased. – Russia confirmed its willingness to resume talks after June 22, as previously agreed. – Donald Trump acknowledged this and reiterated his interest in a swift resolution of the conflict. 🎂Personal exchange – President Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his 79th birthday. – Both presidents expressed appreciation for their personal relationship, which allows for open, constructive dialogue on even the most difficult bilateral and global issues. – Vladimir Putin also congratulated the US on Flag Day and the 250th anniversary of the US Army. – The conversation ended with a mutual reminder of the wartime alliance between Russia and the US during World War II 🇷🇺🤝🇺🇸 #Putin#Trump#RussiaUSA#MiddleEast#Iran#Israel#Ukraine#PeaceTalks#WWII