Russian Consulate in Cape Town

✍️ Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the rise of Neo-Nazi sentiments in Europe in the article for Izvestia newspaper(August 28, 2025) Selective Memory Read in full(telegraph) We have been discussing the rise of neo-Nazi manifestations in Europe for many years now. First, they vilify the Red Army, and then they forget about the Holocaust. The other day, in a letter to President Emmanuel Macron, US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner (father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law), expressed “deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France” and accused the government of “the lack of sufficient action to confront it.” He also claimed that nearly half of French youth lack even basic knowledge about the Holocaust. <...> The Élysée Palace’s reaction was ... psychotic. The Ambassador was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry, where he was reminded of the “duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of another country.” In addition, he was told that his revelations “fall short of the quality of the transatlantic partnership … and of the trust that must prevail between allies.” Let’s turn to the main point. The situation with the collective memory of the Holocaust in the EU is a direct consequence of a purposeful policy of fragmenting the history of #WWII. Westerners tried to consider the tragedy of the Jewish people without taking into account the total genocide carried out by the Third Reich in Eastern Europe as part of freeing up the “living space” for the “Übermensch” race. Then, the history of the liberation by the Red Army was systematically vilified. This was most clearly seen in the transformation of the commemorative events in Europe on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. As you may recall, it was established by the UN General Assembly in 2005 and is observed annually on January 27, the day of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz by the Red Army. <...> The UN Secretariat does not invite Soviet veterans on this day, either. Only the Russian mission does this. It organises commemorative events at the UN every year on January 27, where the main heroes are the participants of the Great Patriotic War and former concentration camp inmates. <...> Why did (and does) the West treat them, the heroes, like this? 👉 It’s just because their presence was not supposed to remind the high guests of the historical truth. The Eurocrats and Western European capitals, including Paris, London, and Berlin, unless they openly approved, did not react in any way to the revanchism of the “Young Europeans,” who declared war on the Soviet memorial legacy and legalised the rehabilitation of the blood-stained Holocaust executioners. <...> Letters, notes, and articles of outrage in fighting this evil of denial and fragmentation of history will not help. It’s time to learn that without the unconditional recognition of the liberating role of the Red Army, which stopped the genocide carried out by Nazi executioners and their henchmen, the memory of the victims of the Holocaust is also doomed to be forced out of the European public mind. Is there any guarantee that at some point an influential politician will not show up somewhere abroad and say about the Holocaust, what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan had to say regarding the genocide of the Armenian people: “The international recognition of the Armenian genocide is not among our foreign policy priorities.” ☝️ Such guarantees do not exist. But there is one unconditional guarantee: the Holocaust victims will not be forgotten, and the memory of the heroes who destroyed Nazism and saved the survivors will be preserved. We will do everything to ensure that this truth is never forgotten.

🗓 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.

#Victory80 🌟 On August 5, 1941, the heroic defence of Odessa — the operation of the Red Army and the USSR’s Black Sea Fleet to defend the city from the Nazi invaders during #WWII. In the early days of Germany's aggression against the Soviet Union, Odessa and its suburbs became the frontline. By early August 1941, the enemy troops encircled the city; its glorious and heroic defence lasted for 73 days. Hitler wanted his forces to break through the Soviet defence lines along the Dniester and seize Odessa. Romanian and German troops mounted their first assault against the city on August 20, 1941, but the Red Army managed to stop the enemy offensive (17 divisions and 7 brigades) and keep them at a distance of 10 to 14 kilometres from the city’s outskirts. Up to 100'000 Odessa residents contributed to preparing the city to fight against the Nazis. Home front workers, including women and teenagers, put enormous efforts every day to build defensive structures: digging trenches, installing barbwire, and erecting barricades. The city’s defenders planted 40'000 mines and dug over 250 kilometres of anti-tank ditches. Almost 38'000 Odessa residents moved to the catacombs to launch a resistance movement behind the Nazi lines. The partisans destroyed 5'000 enemy soldiers and officers, derailed 27 enemy trains carrying military assets, and bombed 248 vehicles. Although the enemy outnumbered Odessa’s defenders, they deterred the Nazi invasion for two months. Owing to their courageous efforts, the Supreme High Command managed to redeploy substantial military forces and equipment to defend Crimea and Sevastopol — Black Sea Fleet’s base. According to varying estimates, the enemy lost over 160'000 soldiers and officers, approximately 200 planes and some 100 tanks in the Battle for Odessa, which made it harder for the Nazi Army Group South’s right wing to advance further east. 🎖 On May 1, 1945, Odessa became one of the first Hero Cities alongside Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Sevastopol, as per an executive order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. #WeRemember#GreatPatrioticWar

#Think4Yourself 🎥Cults: The Cia's Secret Weapon — an RT Doc Film. Synopsis: A story how Ukrainian neo-Nazis turned generations of Russian-speaking and even ethnically Russian kids into nationalists and Russophobes, full of hate and having acquired lethal skills. Gennady Mokhnenko presented himself as a pastor and was involved in recruiting orphaned children as soldiers for the Ukrainian army, leading a neo-Nazi totalitarian sect in Severodonetsk. The transformation of children from orphanages into cold-blooded killers was actively supported by foreign religious organizations. Security service personnel are finding traces of their involvement in nearly every liberated settlement of Donbass. The strange Ukrainian 'religion' is the result of a secret CIA project called 'Prolog,' which emerged right after the end of #WWII. Even back then, US intelligence agencies aimed to foster separatist and nationalist sentiments in Soviet Ukraine. Today, the Ukrainian nationalist cult 'RUNVira' still promotes the ideas of Ukrainian exceptionalism and harbours hatred towards Russians and Jews. This documentary tries to give answers to the following questions: ❓ How did Ukraine become a centre for neo-Nazi cults, and who is responsible for it? ❓ How did this country become one of the global centers of spiritual permissiveness? ❓ Why are the newly formed Ukrainian 'churches' seizing Orthodox holy sites? ❓ What are the main goals of these sectarians?

◼️ 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

🎙Address by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to participants of 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.

#Victory80 🌟 80 years ago, on May 9, 1945, at 0:43 am Moscow time, the Instrument of UnconditionalSurrender of the Nazi Germanywas signed. This historic document marked the Soviet Union’s Victory in the Great Patriotic War, brought an end to #WWII in Europe, signalled the final collapse of Nazism. *** Earlier, on May 2, 1945, following the fall of the Reichstag — the main Nazi stronghold — and the surrender of the Berlin garrison, the Red Army completed its successful operation to capture Berlin. The Soviet forces crushed Nazi resistance, taking full control of the Nazi government headquarters, including Hitler's Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery) and bunker. Germany’s final & unconditional surrender to the Allies was preceded by several local capitulations of the Nazi troops along various fronts. Moreover, in April 1945, certain Nazi military leaders, who were aware that the Third Reich’s collapse was imminent, fearing justice for their crimes, sought secret talks with Anglo-American forces, trying to divide the Allied anti-Hitler coalition. On April 29, just before the surrender of the Berlin garrison, the Nazi troops surrendered in Italy. Days later, on May 4, the Wehrmacht capitulated in the Netherlands, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, and Northwest Germany. On May 5, German troops also laid down their arms in Western Austria. 👉 Desperate to surrender to the British-American forces, on May 5, the Nazi delegation arrived in the French city of Reims, where the headquarters of the Allies' command was located. There, on May 7, the Act of Military Surrender was signed. Article 4 of the document did not rule out the signing of another, definitive act: “This act of military surrender… will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender… applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole.” Due to that, the Soviet leadership deemed the Reims document only as a preliminary instrument, believing that the official surrender of the Nazis had to be ensured in Berlin, the city where the Nazi aggression originated from. At the Soviet government’s request, a second and final ceremony of surrender took place. ✍️ In the early hours of May 9, 1945, at 0:43 Moscow time (22:43 CET), the final and definitive Instrument of UnconditionalSurrender of the Nazi Germany was signedat the ceremony in #Karlshorst, Berlin. The surrender was accepted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov on behalf of the Soviet Union and Deputy Commander of the Allied forces Marshal Arthur Tedder on behalf of the Western Allies. From the German side, the Instrument was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Colonel General Hans-Jurgen Stumpff, & Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg. With the Instrument being signed, the Nazi government was officially dissolved, the defeated German military laid down arms. 🖋 From the memoirs by military correspondent Konstantin Simonov: 💬 “Zhukov stands up and says: “The German delegation may leave the hall.” The Germans stand up. Keitel… turns on his heel and leaves. And instantaneously, all tension in the room relaxes, and everybody exhales in unison. The act of surrender has been signed, and the war is over.” On May 9, 1945, at 2:10 am Moscow time, announcer Yury Levitan read out the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany & the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declaring May 9 Victory Day. From that moment forward, the Soviet Union and later Russia, as well as the most former Soviet republics have celebrated Victory Day on May 9. 🎙 An excerpt from a briefing of Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, May 6, 2025: 💬 "The peoples of the Soviet Union not only defeated the Wehrmacht, but also brought life, liberation and salvation to the peoples of Eastern and Central Europe. The Red Army, the Soviet soldiers literally stopped the Nazi extermination machine in its tracks and put out the crematoria of the Holocaust. Those who deny this are clearly supporting the resurgence of Nazism and the rise of neo-Nazism". 📖Learn for more in our in-depth historical delve.

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial plaques in the Foreign Ministry building (Moscow, May 6, 2025) 💬 These days, we are marking a great date, the 80th anniversary of the glorious Victory won by the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. Today, we, the Foreign Ministry staff, with the participation of our veterans and young employees, must make the oath to be eternally loyal to the gains, feats of valour, and heroism, which have guaranteed life to our state, to our common Motherland, the Soviet Union, and the future of rising generations. In those years, many employees of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and their colleagues from the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade left for the front and defended our capital and our Motherland along with Red Army troops and civilian volunteers. They made their contribution to the Great Victory. At the same time, the diplomats, who were filling in for them at the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, as well as their secret service and intelligence colleagues, ensured diplomatic and foreign policy support for the Soviet people’s heroic struggle to save Europe from Nazism. <...> Throughout the war, the diplomats were doing what was necessary to preclude treason. Today, these documents have been declassified and published. They found out in due time that the British were in the lead of preparations for Operation Unthinkable. It was unthinkable indeed, implying as it did an attack on the Soviet Union with the aim (how familiar it sounds today) of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on it. That experience is invaluable for us now. <...> Today, they have again rallied against us under the banners of Nazism (in the literal sense of the word) by supporting the openly racist, anti-Russian Zelensky regime that stages torch processions and throws troops with chevrons of Nazi divisions on their sleeves into the war’s meat-grinder. Like before Operation Unthinkable, they are threatening to inflict a “strategic defeat” on us on the battlefield. 🏅 It is important not only to cherish the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and #WWII, who have ensured our future and current development (development, I am sure, for long decades and centuries to come), but also to remember the diplomatic experience and lessons of those events. <...> These days, 80 Eternal Flames are being lighted in our country for the first time. A tradition has been born to take a particle of the Eternal Flame in the Alexander Gardens in Moscow and bring it to someone’s small motherland. Not so long ago, residents of Lugansk did this, followed by a number of other cities. Symbolically, this happens soon after the Happy Easter, when particles of the Holy Fire from Jerusalem travel all over the world, with people celebrating Easter Sunday. For us, this Victory also means a resurrection of the whole of our people,of our history, traditions and pride. We are in duty bound to convey these feelings to our children and grandchildren as our mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers have conveyed them to us. I want to congratulate the Foreign Ministry staff, the staff or our missions in the regions of the Russian Federation, at embassies and consulates on the upcoming holiday of Great Victory. My special greetings go to our veterans, who are, as usual, on station. They symbolise the generation bridge that has made it possible for us to survive and emerge strengthened from most different situations, including those linked to wars and diplomatic battles. ☝️Everything is still ahead. No one has promised that all problems can be solved at one go. Life is requiring constant efforts. I hope that our team that has repeatedly proven its mettle in most difficult situations will continue to implement with honour the foreign policy charted by President of Russia Vladimir Putin. It is aimed at ensuring in an unconditional manner the Russian Federation’s legitimate, vital interests on the international scene. Read in full

#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 25, 1945, only fifteen days before Nazi Germany’s surrender, the historic Meeting of Soviet and American troops on the Elbe River took place. On that day, the 58th Rifle Division of the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front, under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev, linked up with units of the 69th and 104th Infantry Divisions of the US 1st Army, led by General Omar Bradley. #WeWereAllies This event had major symbolic significance, signalling the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany and marking the climax of the fight against Nazism. The spirit of unity in the fight against the common enemy, later known as the #SpiritOfTheElbe, laid the groundwork for future post-war cooperation. ☝️ It is no coincidence that, on April 25, 2020, to mark the 75th anniversary of this historic event, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump issued a joint statement: “The Spirit of the Elbe is an example of how our countries can put aside differences, build trust, and cooperate in pursuit of a greater cause. As we work today to confront the most important challenges of the 21st century, we pay tribute to the valour and courage of all those who fought together to defeat fascism. Their heroic feat will never be forgotten.” Back in 1945, Soviet and US brothers-in-arms, setting aside cultural differences and language barriers, exchanged badges, insignia, personal items and even valuables as keepsakes. Celebrations continued at the Soviet command headquarters on the eastern bank of the Elbe, where General Bradley met with Marshal Konev. At the end of the event, the Soviet commander presented his American counterpart a banner bearing the inscription “From the soldiers of the 1st Ukrainian Front” and his warhorse. General Bradley later sent Konev a "Willys" jeep. Soldiers on both sides eagerly anticipated the moment of meeting and firm handshake. General Joseph Lawton Collins, Commander of the US 7th Army Corps, nominated several Soviet soldiers for American military awards for their distinguished combat performance during the advance to the Elbe. On April 28, Marshal Konev and General Bradley met again. During the meeting, the US general emphasised that the "people of the United States had always admired the battles and victories of the glorious Red Army, adding that American soldiers and officers aspired to follow the example set by the forces of the 1st Ukrainian front". A reporter from Life magazine took a picture of two participants in the Elbe meeting, Alexander Sylvashko, right, and William Robertson, left, making them world-famous overnight. Both soldiers often recalled this historic meeting. Alexander Sylvashko said that if the spirit of camaraderie between American and Soviet soldiers had endured, the world might have become a different and better place. William Robertson described the atmosphere of the meeting with Soviet forces as one that gave him a sense of global unity. *** In the years that followed #WWII, even during the Cold War, when former allies of the Anti-Hitler Coalition became bitter rivals, the Spirit of the Elbe was alive in the hearts of those who had taken part in that legendary meeting in Torgau. The Soviet and American veterans who had performed a heroic deed in the name of saving the world from the 'Nazi plague' cherished the memory of their wartime brotherhood, their shared struggle, and the hardships they had overcome. 🖋 In 1963, Private Joe Polowsky of the US Army, who had been part of the scout unit that first crossed the Elbe and met with Red Army units, wrote a letter to Marshal Konev on behalf of American veterans. ✉️ The letter reads, in part: "The soldiers on both sides pledged to do all they could to build a better life based on goodwill, mutual respect and peace between our two nations – a peace their children and all humanity needed. And the promise made on April 25, 1945, must be upheld.”

#Victory80 🗓 80 years ago, on April 16, 1945, the Berlin Offensive — one of the Red Army’s key strategic operations during #WWII — commenced. The operation resulted in the finaldefeat of the enemy’s Berlin group of forces and, with Hitler’s war machine being completely crushed. The Soviet forces took the capital of the Third Reich — #Berlin. The Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany was signed — the document that heralded the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. *** 🌟 By spring 1945, the Red Army successfully carried out a series of offensive operations aimed at liberating the countries and peoples of Central and Eastern Europe from the Nazi invaders. Hitler’s troops and their henchmen were expelled from Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Poland; Vienna and the capital of modern Slovakia, Bratislava, saved from the Nazi plague. Nevertheless, WWII was far from end. The final battle for the liberation of Europe from the Nazi plague, the Battle of Berlin, was coming. *** By mid-April, 1945, the Soviet forces — having liberated Poland from the Nazis — consolidated positions along the Oder and Neisse rivers and started preparations to launch the offensive on Berlin. Mere dozens of kilometres separated the Red Army from the capital of Hitler’s Germany. The enemy installed deeply echeloned defences and deployed elite Wehrmacht units against the Soviet forces. To attack Berlin, the Soviet Supreme High Command deployed forces from the 1st Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov); the 2nd Belorussian Front (Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky); and the 1st Ukrainian Front (Marshal Ivan Konev). ⚔️ The Berlin Offensive began at 5:00 AM on April 16 with a massive artillery fire. Following this, 143 powerful spotlights were activated to blind and disorient the enemy. Infantry and armoured units then launched their assault. Enemy resistance intensified as Soviet forces advanced. Fierce fighting erupted at the Seelow Heights — a critical defensive point just 60 kilometres away from Berlin — where the Wehrmacht’s 9th Army, blocking the direct route to the Reich’s capital, was destroyed. Within several days, the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts breached the Oder-Neisse defensive line of the Nazis, advanced 30 kilometres towards Berlin, and started encircling the city to destroy its garrison. • April 20: Red Army units reached Berlin. Soviet long-range artillery started shelling, with brutal tank battles erupting on the city’s outskirts. • April 25: The 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts linked up west of the city, completing the encirclement of the enemy’s Berlin group of Nazi troops. • April 29: Fierce fighting started in the heart of Berlin, where Germany’s highest governmental and military authorities were located. During the storming of the Reichstag on the night of April 30 — May 1, the legendary #VictoryBanner was raised — a symbol of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazism. • May 2: Berlin’s garrison surrendered. By May 5, the Nazi resistance was crushed. A total of 134,000 German soldiers and officers were captured. ✍️ On the night of May 8–9, Marshal Zhukov and the Allied representatives accepted Germany’s unconditional surrender at Karlshorst. So, WWII in Europe ended. *** 🎖The Berlin Operation saw the Red Army not only crush the last major and most elite Wehrmacht force but also liberate approximately 200'000 prisoners from Nazi concentration camps within the combat zone. Over 600 Soviet soldiers were awarded the title #HeroOftheSovietUnion for their valour.