🗓 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.
🕯“Nevsky Pyatachok” is the name given to a small bridgehead on the Neva River – a narrow strip of land some 50 kilometres from St Petersburg. It became one of the most tragic and decisive places of the Great Patriotic War.
During the Siege of Leningrad, this ground witnessed some of the fiercest and most crucial battles. Here, Red Army units held their ground against overwhelming Nazi forces, repeatedly seeking to pierce the German encirclement and open even the narrowest corridor to the besieged “northern capital”, bringing hope to its starving population.
More than 200,000 Soviet warriors perished on this small patch of land, turning it into one of the most tragic battlefields of the siege.
💬 Today, a memorial stands on the “Nevsky Pyatachok”. Its inscription is as a grim testament for the living:
Ye who live should know – this land we did not want to abandon.
And we never left. By the dark waters of the Neva River, we made our last stand.
We perished so that you might live.
#WeRemember
🕯 Condolences on the Passing of Great Patriotic War and Second World War Veteran Viktor Khomenko
🇷🇺The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canada has received with deep sorrow the news of the passing of Viktor Khomenko (born March 28, 1917), who died in his 1️⃣0️⃣9️⃣th year.
❗️Viktor Khomenko was one of the oldest veterans of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in the world.
From the very first days of the war, he stood in defense of his Motherland, took part in the defense of Leningrad, and followed a long combat path to Victory, demonstrating courage recognized by high state awards.
In peacetime, he remained actively engaged in public and educational work, sharing the truth about the war with younger generations and serving as a living example of modesty, dignity, and inner strength. He was an active member of the Canadian Association of the Second World War Veterans from the Soviet Union.
The Embassy of Russia in Canada extends its deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Viktor Khomenko, as well as to the Association.
An irreparable loss. Eternal memory to the Hero.
🔴🔴No one is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.
#WeRemember
🌟 On the occasion 80th anniversary of the Day of Liberation of Vienna from Nazi invaders Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE A.Lukashevich, Russian Ambassador to Austria D.Lyubinsky, Permanent Representative of Russia to International Organizations in Vienna M.Ulyanov, as well as Ambassadors of the CIS honored the memory of Soviet soldiers at the Schwarzenberg Square in Vienna
#WeRemember
8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, on the night of February 2, 1945, Soviet POWs made a daring escape from the Mauthausen concentration camp.
In the rebellion, considered among the largest in World War II, over 400 Soviet prisoners of war escaped from the notorious German Nazi concentration camp that belonged to the third, toughest category of concentration camps for “the incorrigible enemies of the Reich.”
With beatings, torture, abuse and starvation being the camp’s routine, lives of prisoners held no value: they could be killed by an SS officer or by a fellow inmate serving in the camp’s administration at any moment.
Citizens of the USSR, Poland, and Hungary were the most numerous groups of prisoners. Up to 335,000 people passed through the camp during its existence, including over 120,000 who perished there.
🕯 A total of 32,180 Soviet civilians and military personnel were tortured to death at the Mauthausen camp. Among those brutally murdered was Lieutenant General of the Red Army Dmitry Karbyshev.
In the early hours of February 2, 1945, the prisoners made a daring escape attempt. They jumped out the barrack windows and hurled whatever they could find at the machine gun towers. Those who managed to get over the fence dashed barefoot across the snow-covered outer perimeter of the camp.
Nearly all of the ~400 rebelling prisoners were killed during the escape or the hunt; only about ten remained alive.
❗️ In May 1945, the remaining prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp were liberated. The camp staff were arrested and brought to trial in 1946. All 61 "defendants" were found guilty, with 58 receiving death sentences and three sentenced to life imprisonment. The death penalties were executed on May 27-28, 1947.
#WeRemember
🦅 On August 1, Russia commemorates the Day of Remembrance for Russian Soldiers Who Fell in World War I. On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire, and by August 2, had already invaded its territory.
Thus, our country joined the then largest and bloodiest armed conflict in history.
At the beginning of the XX century, Europe was effectively divided into two opposing blocs — the Entente (the British Empire, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (the German Empire, Austro-Hungary, and Italy). Each side had mutual grievances, and their subsequent arms race marked the preparations for a large-scale war.
The immediate trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo. He was killed by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the nationalist organisation "Young Bosnia".
On July 23, Austro-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, deliberately containing demands that were impossible to meet. The Serbian government responded with restraint, accepting many of the conditions, but rejected some key points, including allowing Austro-Hungarian police onto Serbian territory. As a result, on July 28, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
🇷🇺 Russia, long regarded as the protector of Orthodox Slavic nations in the Balkans, could not remain uninvolved and on the night of July 31, declared a general mobilisation.
On August 1, the German Empire declared war on the Russian Empire; two days later — on France. On August 4, the British Empire declared war on Germany. On August 6, Austro-Hungary declared war on Russia. Thus, within the span of a single week, the leading European powers were drawn into the conflict.
The war that had begun among a few European countries gradually engulfed 38 nations. The conflict lasted just over four years but surpassed all previous wars in human history in both scale and consequences.
The total number of mobilized soldiers reached 73.5 million. During the hostilities, 10 million people were killed — as many as had died in all European wars over the previous thousand years — and 20 million were wounded, 3.5 million of whom were left permanently disabled.
🥈 The Russian Empire had to fulfill its obligations as an ally while also pursuing its own strategic objectives. The most important directions, from the country's perspective, were the Southwestern and Caucasus fronts, while the Northwestern and Western directions played a less central role. However, due to treaty obligations, the Russian command undertook a full-scale offensive in East Prussia in 1914.
Under these difficult conditions, our soldiers and officers demonstrated exceptional courage and bravery.
One of the symbols of Russian valour was the defence of the Osowiec Fortress. German troops used chemical weapons — a mixture of chlorine and bromine — killing most of the garrison. To the enemy's shock, the surviving defenders launched a bayonet charge and drove them into retreat. This event went down in history as the "Attack of the Dead Men."
One of the most significant and vivid episodes of World War I, according to many historians, was the famous Brusilov Offensive by the Russian Imperial Army on the Southwestern Front. It pushed Austro-Hungary to the brink of collapse and forced the German Empire to divert substantial forces from Verdun in France to the “Russian theatre of war.”
🕯The self-sacrifice of Russian soldiers and officers is hard to overestimate. Over the course of the war, over 2 million of them perished.
Our country honours the memory of the heroes of those days: in 2004, the Memorial Park Complex to the Heroes of World War I was opened in Moscow, and in 2014, a monument to the heroes of World War I was unveiled on Poklonnaya Hill. In total, 20 monuments and memorials have been erected across Russia and abroad.
👉Read more
#WeRemember
🕯 On June 22, Russian Embassy in Cambodia held the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow Meeting. Exactly 84 years ago, Hitler's Germany attacked the Soviet Union.
H.E. Mr Anatoly Borovik, employees of the diplomatic mission and members of their families, as well as teachers of the Embassy School laid flowers at the Obelisk to the Fallen Soldiers and lit candles. The memory of the perished in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) was honored with the Minute of Silence.
#WeRemember
🕯“Nevsky Pyatachok” is the name given to a small bridgehead on the Neva River – a narrow strip of land some 50 kilometres from St Petersburg. It became one of the most tragic and decisive places of the Great Patriotic War.
During the Siege of Leningrad, this ground witnessed some of the fiercest and most crucial battles. Here, Red Army units held their ground against overwhelming Nazi forces, repeatedly seeking to pierce the German encirclement and open even the narrowest corridor to the besieged “northern capital”, bringing hope to its starving population.
More than 200,000 Soviet warriors perished on this small patch of land, turning it into one of the most tragic battlefields of the siege.
💬 Today, a memorial stands on the “Nevsky Pyatachok”. Its inscription is as a grim testament for the living:
Ye who live should know – this land we did not want to abandon.
And we never left. By the dark waters of the Neva River, we made our last stand.
We perished so that you might live.
#WeRemember
🦅 On August 1, Russia commemorates the Day of Remembrance for Russian Soldiers Who Fell in World War I. On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire, and by August 2, had already invaded its territory.
Thus, our country joined the then largest and bloodiest armed conflict in history.
At the beginning of the XX century, Europe was effectively divided into two opposing blocs — the Entente (the British Empire, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (the German Empire, Austro-Hungary, and Italy). Each side had mutual grievances, and their subsequent arms race marked the preparations for a large-scale war.
The immediate trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo. He was killed by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the nationalist organisation "Young Bosnia".
On July 23, Austro-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, deliberately containing demands that were impossible to meet. The Serbian government responded with restraint, accepting many of the conditions, but rejected some key points, including allowing Austro-Hungarian police onto Serbian territory. As a result, on July 28, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
🇷🇺 Russia, long regarded as the protector of Orthodox Slavic nations in the Balkans, could not remain uninvolved and on the night of July 31, declared a general mobilisation.
On August 1, the German Empire declared war on the Russian Empire; two days later — on France. On August 4, the British Empire declared war on Germany. On August 6, Austro-Hungary declared war on Russia. Thus, within the span of a single week, the leading European powers were drawn into the conflict.
The war that had begun among a few European countries gradually engulfed 38 nations. The conflict lasted just over four years but surpassed all previous wars in human history in both scale and consequences.
The total number of mobilized soldiers reached 73.5 million. During the hostilities, 10 million people were killed — as many as had died in all European wars over the previous thousand years — and 20 million were wounded, 3.5 million of whom were left permanently disabled.
🥈 The Russian Empire had to fulfill its obligations as an ally while also pursuing its own strategic objectives. The most important directions, from the country's perspective, were the Southwestern and Caucasus fronts, while the Northwestern and Western directions played a less central role. However, due to treaty obligations, the Russian command undertook a full-scale offensive in East Prussia in 1914.
Under these difficult conditions, our soldiers and officers demonstrated exceptional courage and bravery.
One of the symbols of Russian valour was the defence of the Osowiec Fortress. German troops used chemical weapons — a mixture of chlorine and bromine — killing most of the garrison. To the enemy's shock, the surviving defenders launched a bayonet charge and drove them into retreat. This event went down in history as the "Attack of the Dead Men."
One of the most significant and vivid episodes of World War I, according to many historians, was the famous Brusilov Offensive by the Russian Imperial Army on the Southwestern Front. It pushed Austro-Hungary to the brink of collapse and forced the German Empire to divert substantial forces from Verdun in France to the “Russian theatre of war.”
🕯The self-sacrifice of Russian soldiers and officers is hard to overestimate. Over the course of the war, over 2 million of them perished.
Our country honours the memory of the heroes of those days: in 2004, the Memorial Park Complex to the Heroes of World War I was opened in Moscow, and in 2014, a monument to the heroes of World War I was unveiled on Poklonnaya Hill. In total, 20 monuments and memorials have been erected across Russia and abroad.
👉Read more
#WeRemember
🕯 Yesterday, a mourning ceremony was held in Beslan, North Osetia, in memory of the victims of a bloody attack, committed by a group of terrorists on September 1-3, 2004, at the School No.1.
Schoolchildren released 334 white balloons into the sky, in memoriam of the 334 people, who perished as a result of the heinous crime.
The mourning ceremony commenced with a minute of silence at exactly 1.05 pm — the time when an explosion occurred in the school's gymnasium.
#WeRemember
🦅 On August 1, Russia commemorates the Day of Remembrance for Russian Soldiers Who Fell in World War I. On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire, and by August 2, had already invaded its territory.
Thus, our country joined the then largest and bloodiest armed conflict in history.
At the beginning of the XX century, Europe was effectively divided into two opposing blocs — the Entente (the British Empire, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (the German Empire, Austro-Hungary, and Italy). Each side had mutual grievances, and their subsequent arms race marked the preparations for a large-scale war.
The immediate trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo. He was killed by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the nationalist organisation "Young Bosnia".
On July 23, Austro-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, deliberately containing demands that were impossible to meet. The Serbian government responded with restraint, accepting many of the conditions, but rejected some key points, including allowing Austro-Hungarian police onto Serbian territory. As a result, on July 28, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
🇷🇺 Russia, long regarded as the protector of Orthodox Slavic nations in the Balkans, could not remain uninvolved and on the night of July 31, declared a general mobilisation.
On August 1, the German Empire declared war on the Russian Empire; two days later — on France. On August 4, the British Empire declared war on Germany. On August 6, Austro-Hungary declared war on Russia. Thus, within the span of a single week, the leading European powers were drawn into the conflict.
The war that had begun among a few European countries gradually engulfed 38 nations. The conflict lasted just over four years but surpassed all previous wars in human history in both scale and consequences.
The total number of mobilized soldiers reached 73.5 million. During the hostilities, 10 million people were killed — as many as had died in all European wars over the previous thousand years — and 20 million were wounded, 3.5 million of whom were left permanently disabled.
🥈 The Russian Empire had to fulfill its obligations as an ally while also pursuing its own strategic objectives. The most important directions, from the country's perspective, were the Southwestern and Caucasus fronts, while the Northwestern and Western directions played a less central role. However, due to treaty obligations, the Russian command undertook a full-scale offensive in East Prussia in 1914.
Under these difficult conditions, our soldiers and officers demonstrated exceptional courage and bravery.
One of the symbols of Russian valour was the defence of the Osowiec Fortress. German troops used chemical weapons — a mixture of chlorine and bromine — killing most of the garrison. To the enemy's shock, the surviving defenders launched a bayonet charge and drove them into retreat. This event went down in history as the "Attack of the Dead Men."
One of the most significant and vivid episodes of World War I, according to many historians, was the famous Brusilov Offensive by the Russian Imperial Army on the Southwestern Front. It pushed Austro-Hungary to the brink of collapse and forced the German Empire to divert substantial forces from Verdun in France to the “Russian theatre of war.”
🕯The self-sacrifice of Russian soldiers and officers is hard to overestimate. Over the course of the war, over 2 million of them perished.
Our country honours the memory of the heroes of those days: in 2004, the Memorial Park Complex to the Heroes of World War I was opened in Moscow, and in 2014, a monument to the heroes of World War I was unveiled on Poklonnaya Hill. In total, 20 monuments and memorials have been erected across Russia and abroad.
👉Read more
#WeRemember
🌟 On January 27, Gleb Shubin, the Cultural Attaché of the Russian Embassy in Pakistan, delivered a lecture to Russian language students at the Allama Iqbal Open University. The lecture was dedicated to the 82nd anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade and the 81st anniversary of Soviet troops liberating prisoners from the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
Mr. Shubin emphasized that the courage and unyielding will of the residents of Leningrad and the Soviet Union as a whole during World War II thwarted Nazi Germany's inhuman plans.
❗️The Russian diplomat noted that the Soviet people's unparalleled heroism and countless sacrifices in the bloodiest war in human history were decisive in defeating Nazism and ensuring the independence and stable development of most countries in Eurasia.
#WeRemember
🥇 The 872-day Siege of Leningrad was a harrowing ordeal for everyone who remained in the city. However, each resident of Leningrad contributed to the future victory through their hard work and fortitude. Every citizen, both young and old, actively participated in the defence of the city, extinguishing fires, clearing rubble, building fortifications, working at industrial enterprises, and helping the wounded.
❗️ All this happened against the backdrop of terrible exhaustionfrom hunger and constant shelling by the enemy.
Children's diaries have a unique place in commemorating the resilience of ordinary people whose will to live triumphed over the oppression of the Third Reich. During this difficult time, some of the city’s children documented on paper the terrible events they witnessed day by day.
🕯 The most famous of these diaries was Tanya Savicheva's notebook, where six out of nine pages chronicle the dates of her relatives' deaths: her mother, grandmother, sister, brother and two uncles. Tragically, Tanya herself died during evacuation in the Gorky Region on July 1, 1944, at the age of 14.
Keeping a diary helped these children cope with anxiety, fear and loss. Under the onslaught of hunger, constant shelling and bombing, and the death of loved ones, a piece of paper and a pencil provided solace and support. These written accounts offer invaluable insights into the experiences of people during those terrible 872 days of the Siege.
📚 Today, on the 80th Anniversary of the lifting of the Siege, we share excerpts from the diaries of children who witnessed those tragic events.
#WeRemember