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#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.

#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

🗓 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.

⭐️ Dear friends! From the bottom of our hearts we congratulate you on the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory! We will never forget our heroes and at what price this long-awaited victory was given. Peaceful skies and prosperity to you and your loved ones! #Victory80

🇦🇲🇧🇾🇰🇿🇰🇬🇷🇺🇷🇸🇹🇯🇹🇲🇺🇿 🗓️80 years ago, Nazism was defeated in the Second World War. We commemorate and honour this sacred date ❗️Attempts to revise or distort the outcome of WWII, to rehabilitate and glorify the Nazis and their accomplices, as well as to downplay the role of the peoples of the Soviet Union and participants in the liberation movements of European countries in defeat of Nazism are categorically unacceptable. ❌ Efforts to rehabilitate and glorify the Nazis and their accomplices and to deny the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by them are unacceptable. 🔻 We strongly condemn the destruction and desecration of monuments and burial sites of liberators of any nationality. 📢 We call upon all countries and peoples to honor the memory of those who forged in the Second World War, not to forget the lessons of the history. 📄Read the Statement in full #Victory80

🎥Belarus: A Land Unbroken — an RT Doc Film. Synopsis: During the Great Patriotic War Soviet Belarus, a part of the USSR, was under Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944. The fraternal Belarusian people, among the first to confront the Nazi invasion in June 1941, endured immense suffering and hardship. After seizing the territory of the Byelorussian SSR, the Hitlerites imposed a brutal and oppressive occupation regime. 🕯 The Nazis killed people of all nationalities through punitive operations, ghettos, and encircling concentration camps. During the Great Patriotic War, one in every three people in Belarus died. But the citizens of the Soviet Union endured all the horrors of war and never lost faith in Victory. The resistance movement in Belarus was one of the largest. Even children and teenagers joined the partisans to fight for their homeland. The occupation ended in 1944, when the Red Army, together with the partisans, launched Operation Bagration — the largest military operation in history. As a result of their combined efforts, Belarus was liberated. 📺 In this documentary, the filmmakers spoke to representatives from the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Belarus, leading experts, frontline veterans, home front workers, and descendants of the heroes who defended the Brest Fortress. Historians featured in the film shed light on the Nazi war crimes committed on Belarusian soil and highlight the courage and sacrifice of the Soviet soldiers who liberated Belarus from occupation. #Victory80

🗓 On September 7, 1945, a military parade of the allied forces of the #USSR, US, UK and France took place in Berlin near the walls of the defeated Reichstag on Alexanderplatz Square, marking the end of #WWII. The location of the parade – at the Brandenburg Gate, at the very heart of the German capital – was not chosen by chance. It was right here where the Battle of Berlin ended and the remnants of the Berlin group of German troops surrendered to the Red Army. Scheduled for September 7, the parade was timed to coincide with the victory over militaristic Japan. Representatives of the allied powers responded positively to Moscow's proposal to hold a joint parade in Berlin. However, on the eve of the event, after the date and all the details had been agreed upon, the US, UK and France announced that instead of the commanders-in-chief – Eisenhower, Montgomery and Tassigny – they would send lower-ranking generals, who were already stationed in Germany, to the parade. By doing so, the allies tried to downplay the significance of the parde, which emphasized the decisive role of the Soviet Union in taking Berlin. At that time, no one doubted who bore the brunt of the storming of the capital of the Third Reich. 🇷🇺 The USSR carried out thorough preparations for the parade. The Soviet command enlisted the Red Army's most distinguished soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals who had shown unrivalled courage in taking Berlin and the main centers of the reich – the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery. 🎖On September 7 at 11 am, the Berlin allied parade commenced. It was received by the Commander of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany Georgy Zhukov. The parade was opened by the combined regiment of the 248th Rifle Division of the Red Army, led by Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Lenev. The parade was closed by a column of the Soviet armor, with the latest heavy tanks IS-3 ("Joseph Stalin") marching. #WeWereAllies 💬 In his welcoming speech to the participants of the parade, Marshal Zhukov paid tribute to the exploits of the Soviet and Allied forces in the struggle for victory over Nazi Germany: Fighting friends, comrades in arms, soldiers, officers and generals... <...> The Second World War ended with a decisive and powerful strike from the great allied powers. Our victory is a triumph of an unprecedented military partnership of democratic states. From now on, people <...> will be eternally grateful to the great nations of America, England, the Soviet Union, the French Republic and China, to their valiant soldiers who, in the difficult time of military trials, gave each other helping hands, united to win a victory over a common enemy, to win the long-awaited peace on Earth. #Victory80#WeRemember

🎙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.

✍️ 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.

🎙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.

🎙 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