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🕯Condolences on the passing of Burdett “Burd” Sisler (April 14, 1915) The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canada expresses its sincere condolences on the passing of Burdett Sisler Canada’s oldest citizen and a veteran of the Second World War, who passed away at the age of 110. Mr.Sisler belonged to a generation whose courage and sacrifice shaped the course of history. TheSoviet Union and Canada fought as brothers in arms to defeat Nazism, to secure peace forfuture generations. ❗️We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, loved ones, and all Canadians. 🔴🔴No one is forgotten! Nothing is forgotten! #Victory81#WeRemember#Lestweforget

Khatyn Massacre 8️⃣3️⃣ years ago, in Nazi-occupied Belarus, an entire village was wiped out. 149 people were burned alive. 75 of them were children. This atrocity was carried out by Ukrainian collaborators under German command (the 118th Schutzmannschaft Battalion and the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger). 🇨🇦Canada gave asylum to two Nazi butchers of Khatyn: Joseph Vinnitskii and Vladimir Katriuk. ❗️They were never held accountable for their crimes and died in peace. Memory cannot be selective. No one is forgotten! Nothing is forgotten! #Victory81#WeRemember

#Victory81 🏅 In January 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi siege, which had lasted 8️⃣7️⃣2️⃣ days. During this time, the city endured severe hunger, constant shelling, and bombing. ◾️ Facts about the genocide of the Soviet people in Leningrad 👉 More than 1 million people fell victim to the genocide. Of these, over 600,000 residents — children, women, the elderly, soldiers wounded and maimed at the front — died of hunger, cold, exhaustion, and disease. Leningraders saw death all around them every day, but they did not lose their dignity and faith in Victory. The memory of the Leningrad siege is preserved by museums, memorials, and the Piskarevskoye Cemetery, and the stories of survivors remind us of the courage and resilience of the city's residents. #WeRemember 🎥The film was produced by the Information Department of the Administration of the Governor of St. Petersburg, commissioned by the Government of St. Petersburg, with the support of JSC "GATR" and the Archives Committee.

#Victory81 🏅 In January 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi siege, which had lasted 8️⃣7️⃣2️⃣ days. During this time, the city endured severe hunger, constant shelling, and bombing. ◾️ Facts about the genocide of the Soviet people in Leningrad 👉 More than 1 million people fell victim to the genocide. Of these, over 600,000 residents — children, women, the elderly, soldiers wounded and maimed at the front — died of hunger, cold, exhaustion, and disease. Leningraders saw death all around them every day, but they did not lose their dignity and faith in Victory. The memory of the Leningrad siege is preserved by museums, memorials, and the Piskarevskoye Cemetery, and the stories of survivors remind us of the courage and resilience of the city's residents. #WeRemember 🎥The film was produced by the Information Department of the Administration of the Governor of St. Petersburg, commissioned by the Government of St. Petersburg, with the support of JSC "GATR" and the Archives Committee.

🔥 In anticipation of the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Belgium and the Permanent Mission of Russia to the European Union, together with staff of the Russian House in Brussels, began holding a series of traditional memorial events at the graves of Soviet soldiers and citizens throughout the Kingdom. 🧧On May 5 of this year, A flower-laying ceremony was held at the graves of Soviet citizens buried in the cemeteries of Peysan, Kevi, and Chime. 🧧On May 8 of this year, staff of the Russian House in Brussels, as well as activists of the Russian compatriots movement, visited the cemetery of the Brussels commune of Ixelles and laid flowers at the grave of the legendary participant in the Belgian Resistance movement, Marina Shafrova-Marutaeva. 🎗Marina Shafrova-Marutaeva actively participated in the underground struggle against the Nazi invaders and was nicknamed the "Belgian Joan of Arc" for her heroic deeds. Commemorative events in Belgium will be held throughout May. #Victory81#WeRemember

🇫🇷🎗 Paris honors Russian participants in the French Resistance 🗓 On May 7, on the eve of Victory Day, Russian Ambassador to France A.Yu. Meshkov, accompanied by the military attaché, laid a wreath at the monument to Russian participants in the French Resistance, located in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. 🌺 The ceremony was attended by Russia's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, R.Zh. Alyautdinov, the leadership of the Russian House of Science and Culture in Paris (RDNC) and the Russian Trade Mission in France, as well as concerned French and Russian compatriots. "To date, 180,000 Soviet citizens and people from the former Russian Empire who participated in the anti-fascist Resistance have been identified. We remember each of them. And this monument is dedicated to a famous soldier, a Russian participant in the French Resistance," A.Yu. Meshkov emphasized in his speech. 🎼 Performances by students of the children's musical theater "Gameins" and the grandson of a Resistance participant, actor and public figure Guillaume Rath, added a special solemnity and touching touch to the event. They performed the anthem of the French Resistance, "Song of the Partisans," as well as the famous Soviet composition "We Need One Victory." #Victory81#WeRemember

🎖 On January 18, 1943, the Red Army broke the siege of Leningrad during the operation 'Iskra'. The blockade of our Northern capital by the Nazis lasted for 872 days, having claimed the lives of around 1 million people, including more than 600'000 — children, women, seniors, and the fighters wounded and crippled at the frontline — who died of starvation. Alongside German troops, military units from European countries conquered by Hitler participated in the Siege of Leningrad — the 'Norway', 'the Netherlands' and 'Flanders' legions, as well as the Spanish infantry division. From the Narva direction, Baltic units — Latvian and Estonian battalions — were kept in reserve by the Nazis. From the north, the Finnish army besieged Leningrad and also shelled the city with its artillery. The Nazi command's orders were absolutely clear: to block the city, shoot anyone crossing the front line, and bring about the total destruction of the city's population. ❗️But Leningrad endured and never ever gave up fighting. Most of that time communication with Leningrad was almost only possible by air or through the only available transport artery across Lake Ladoga that became known as the 'Road of Life'. The Soviet forces repeatedly tried to break the siege, finally succeeding on January 18, 1943, during the operation 'Iskra'. To liberate the besieged city, it was decided to launch the main strikes near Shlisselburg, in the narrowest part of the Nazi defence lines adjoining Lake Ladoga. ⚔️ The Red Army broke the siege on January 18. A narrow corridor only 11 km wide opened on the southern shore of Ladoga for supplies and evacuation. The enemy was thrown 10−12 km away from the southern part of the Ladoga sector of the frontline. After 16 months of heroic fight against Hitler’s invaders, the second most significant city of the Soviet Union regained a reliable land-based connection with the Motherland. Three weeks after the siege was broken, a railway was built to carry the first trains with food supplies and munitions. Electricity supply improved. The breaking of the siege of Leningrad became a radical turning point in the battles in the northwestern sector of the Soviet-German front. The plans of Hitler’s command to take Leningrad by storm were completely disrupted. The threat of the Wehrmacht joining forces with the Finnish army to block the city was completely removed. ✍️ On the occasion of breaking the siege the city, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a special letter on behalf of all Americans to Leningrad residents. It read, in part: In the name of the people of the United States of America, I present this scroll to the City of Leningrad as a memorial to its gallant soldiers and its loyal men, women and children who, isolated from the rest of their nation by the invader and despite constant bombardment and untold sufferings from cold, hunger and sickness, successfully defended their beloved city throughout the critical period from September 8, 1941 to January 18, 1943, and thus symbolized the undaunted spirit of the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and of all the nations of the world resisting forces of aggression. *** #Victory81 🌟 The blockade was finally lifted on January 27, 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive. #NoStatuteOfLimitation: In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, the Saint Petersburg City Court officially recognised the actions of the Nazi Germany's occupant troops — along with their collaborators, including armed units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France, and Czechoslovakia — as a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an ACTOFGENOCIDE against national and ethnic groups representing the population of the Soviet Union. #WeRemember#LestWeForget

🎖️On 9 May 2026, to mark the 81st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, a ceremony was held at the communal cemetery in Evere, Brussels, where wreaths were laid at the memorials of Soviet citizens who fell in the struggle against Nazism, as well as of members of the Belgian Resistance. The event was attended by Ambassador of Russia to the Kingdom of Belgium Denis Gonchar, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the EU and Euratom Karen Malayan, heads of diplomatic missions of CIS Member States and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Archdiocese of Brussels and Belgium. The participants of the ceremony honoured the memory of the fallen heroes and paid tribute to the heroic act of those who liberated Europe. The staff of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the EU traditionally joined the annual nationwide Immortal Regiment campaign by organizing an exhibition featuring the photographs of relatives who took part in the Great Patriotic War. ❗Preserving and protecting the historical memory have always been and remain among the key priorities of the military memorial work of Russian diplomatic missions. Commemorative events with the participation of Russian diplomats are also taking place in other Belgian towns where burial sites of Soviet soldiers are located. Eternal memory and glory to the Soviet soldiers who bravely fought for the Great Victory and to all those who struggled for a world free from fascism. No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten! #Victory81#WeRemember

🚩The Immortal Regiment in Ethiopia 💐The 'Immortal Regiment' march took place at the Russian Embassy in Ethiopia, commemorating the 81st Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. More than 100 participants carried in their hands portraits of their relatives who crushed Nazism and sacrificed their lives in the name of defending our Motherland from this «brown plague». 🎗We bow our heads in the bright memory of those who defended our Motherland and gave us the opportunity to live. #Victory81#WeRemember

🎗 As part of the Embassy's ongoing memorial activities, Russian diplomats laid flowers on the graves of Soviet servicemen buried in Shaftesbury (Dorset), Tidworth (Wiltshire) and Aldershot (Hampshire). Such visits are conducted on a regular basis. Together with committed compatriots, we systematically inspect and help maintain military burial sites across the United Kingdom ensuring they are properly cared for. Preserving the memory of those who gave their lives in defence of the Motherland is not only our moral duty, but also a matter of historical justice — one that must remain above political expediency, particularly as we approach the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. #Victory81#WeRemember

#Victory81 🌟On April 17, 1944, the Battle for Right-Bank Soviet Ukraine concluded – also known as the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive – one of the largest and longest campaigns of the Great Patriotic War. It lasted from December 24, 1943, to April 17, 1944. Vast forces were committed on both sides during the operation – around 4 million people in total. The troops of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, commanded by Nikolay Vatutin, Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky and Fyodor Tolbukhin, faced two German army groups – Army Group South and Army Group A. ☝️This was the only operation of the Great Patriotic War in which all six Soviet tank armies were advancing simultaneously. After the liberation of Kiev, the Nazis sought to hold on to Right-Bank Ukraine at any cost. This area was of crucial military and strategic importance to the Germans: losing it opened the way for the Red Army to the Carpathians, Moldova, Romania and onward to the Balkans. The enemy had concentrated over 1.7 million soldiers and officers, 16,800 guns and mortars, 2,200 tanks and assault guns, and around 1,500 aircraft on Right-Bank Ukraine. The Soviet High Command committed 2.3 million troops, 28,800 guns and mortars, over 2,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery systems, and 2,300 aircraft. *** The first offensive against the enemy was launched in late December 1943, when units of the 1st Ukrainian Front broke through German defences and liberated Korosten, Brusilov, Kazatin, Skvira and other towns and villages. On January 5, 1944, the 2nd Ukrainian Front went over to the offensive and by mid-January had liberated Kirovograd. In early February 1944, near Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, Soviet troops encircled a large German grouping. All attempts to break out and relieve it were thwarted, and by February 17-18 the pocket had been eliminated. In the first half of February 1944, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front liberated Lutsk, Rovno and Shepetovka. At the same time, the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts smashed several major enemy groupings, liberating Apostolovo, Nikopol and Krivoy Rog. After Nikolay Vatutin was seriously wounded in a clash with Banderites, Georgy Zhukov took command of the 1st Ukrainian Front. On March 4, 1944, his troops resumed the offensive, liberated a number of cities and cut the key railway lines Ternopol-Proskurov and Lvov-Odessa. In April 1944, the Red Army fully liberated the Nikolayev and Odessa regions, as well as a significant part of Moldova. The 4th Ukrainian Front then commenced the operation to liberate Crimea. *** ⚔️The results of the Dnieper-Carpathian Operation were of exceptional military and strategic importance. Soviet troops advanced 250-450 kilometres deep into enemy-held territory and routed the southern wing of the German strategic front. The enemy suffered devastating losses: 10 divisions and 1 brigade were completely destroyed, while another 59 divisions, including 12 tank and 3 motorised divisions, lost between half and three-quarters of their personnel. Most of Right-Bank Ukraine was liberated: Khmelnytsky, Vinnitsa, Ternopol and Chernovtsy regions, parts of the Rovno and Ivano-Frankovsk regions. 57 major cities were freed from Nazi occupation. The Red Army’s advance to the borders of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania became a major factor in the rise of the national liberation movements in those countries. The Nazis were later driven out of those territories through joint efforts, with Soviet troops playing the decisive role. The liberation of Right-Bank Ukraine ended the years of terror imposed by the Nazis and their loyal OUN-UPA nationalist accomplices. 🕯 According to various estimates, atrocities of the Nazi occupiers and nationalist punitive units on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR claimed the lives of around 4.5 million civilians. We honour their memory, as well as that of millions of other victims of the Soviet people murdered at the hands of Hitler’s executioners, on April 19 – the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People. #WeRemember

#Victory81 🏅April 4 marks 81 years since the liberation of Bratislava from the Nazi invaders. Slovakia's capital was cleared of Hitler’s occupiers during the Bratislava-Brno Offensive (March 25 – May 5, 1945), carried out by the 2nd Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky. 💬 Chief of Staff of the 2nd Ukrainian Front Marshal Matvei Zakharov stressed that Slovak partisans provided valuable assistance to Red Army units and formations, including by sharing timely intelligence: “Before the offensive on Bratislava began, the Front command managed to establish contact with Slovak partisans. They helped us greatly by supplying valuable information about the German army’s fortification system, the defence plans for individual cities, and the strength and combat composition of the enemy forces opposing us”. ☝️To avoid civilian casualties and spare Bratislava’s historic cityscape, Soviet forces refrained from using heavy artillery. By April 2, Red Army formations had broken into the eastern and north-eastern districts of the city. On April 4, Soviet troops reached the central fortress – Bratislava Castle – where the remnants of the German garrison had taken shelter. By the end of the day, the city had fallen. Scattered Nazi units retreated in haste towards Vienna. As during the liberation of other European countries, the Red Army provided humanitarian and economic assistance to the people of Bratislava and helped restore infrastructure. By April 10, 1945, Bratislava’s central streets and squares had already been cleared of rubble and debris, the sewerage system was back in operation, and residents began returning en masse from nearby villages to their homes. During the Bratislava-Brno Offensive, troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front advanced 200 km, routed 9 Wehrmacht divisions, and created the conditions for further offensives towards Prague and Vienna. 🎆To mark the victory, a ceremonial salute was fired in Moscow. The units that distinguished themselves in the battle for the city were awarded the honorary title “of Bratislava”. 6,845 Red Army soldiers fell in the battle for Bratislava. Most are buried at the Slavin military memorial complex in the centre of the Slovak capital. #WeRemember