#Victory81
🌟 On February 2, 1943, the #BattleOfStalingrad — one of the most brutal battles of the Great Patriotic War and #WW2, which turned the tide of that terrible and bloody conflict — concluded with the total and complete defeat of the Nazi forces.
The fight for Stalingrad lasted for2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ days and nights, surpassing all previous battles in world history both in scale and intensity. The combat to the death took place in Stalingrad for each and every alley, every house, every inch of the ground. During that battle, more than 2.1 million people were involved on both sides.
The Nazi invaders, obsessed with the illusion of their superiority and strive to enslave the Soviet people, failed in Stalingrad — never ever had the Germans managed to break the spirit or morale of the defenders of our Motherland. The Red Army soldiers, showing unparalleled courage,braveryandheroism, stood their ground with steadfastness and achieved a great victory that would eventually define the outcome of the entire #WWII.
The Nazi war machine suffered a crushing and catastrophic defeat, which, as history would show, was fatal for Germany.
☝️ At Stalingrad, the Red Army showed that the Third Reich and Nazism are beatable, that they can and will be destroyedonce and for all.
***
In the summer of 1942, the Nazi troops launched another major offensive on the southern flank of the Soviet–German front.
At that time, the target was #Stalingrad— a key industrial and transport hub on the Volga river. Had the Nazis succeeded, Hitler’s barbarians would have severed crucial supply lines, seized the rich agricultural regions of Kuban and Stavropol, and broken through to the Caucasus, where they hoped to capture abundant oilfields.
The entire power of the Nazi war machine fell on Stalingrad on July 17 — the city’s heroic defence commenced. The enemy committed up to 80 Wehrmacht divisions to that attack, followed by savage combat for the city raging almost all around the clock days and nights. The Soviet defenders fought firmly, leaving not a single inch of our Motherland.
The Wehrmacht troops, commanded by infamous Nazi General Friedrich Paulus (it was him who devised operation 'Barbarossa' plan — Germany’s treacherous attack on the Soviet Union) were confronted by the Soviet 62nd and 64th armies. Vasily Chuikov, the commander of the 62nd Army, is rightly considered to be one of the architects of the victory at Stalingrad — the brilliant tactician, he refined and put into practice assault-group strategy that became key to our triumph in Stalingrad.
By mid-November 1942, after fierce and lasting resistance and regrouping of forces, the Red Army created favourable conditions to launch counter-offensive near Stalingrad👉 from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943, the Soviet forces brilliantly executed the operation 'Ring', having successfully encircled Nazis 6th Army in “cauldron” between the Don and Volga rivers.
OnJanuary 31, Field Marshal Paulus and his staff unconditionally surrendered. On February 2, the last pockets of Nazis' resistance were eliminated, with Germany’s 'axis' troopscompletely destroyed.
🎖 The Battle of Stalingrad ended in aRed Army's brilliant military triumph. The Nazis lost up to 1/4 of all the personnel and equipment deployed on the entire Eastern Front.
Since then,the word “Stalingrad” has echoed, and will forever echo, in the hearts and collective memory of our people as an enduring reminder of the Great Heroic Feat performed by the defenders of our Motherland.
***
On November 29, 1943, during the Tehran Conference, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill presented Joseph Stalin with a sword specially forged by the order of King George VI in tribute to the courage and resilience of Stalingrad defenders.
Inscribed on the blade were the words:
TO THE STEEL-HEARTED CITIZENS OF STALINGRAD • THE GIFT OF KING GEORGE VI • IN TOKEN OF THE HOMAGE OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE
The sword became an iconic commemorative relic, symbolising the Anglo-American allies’ eternal tribute to the Heroic Soviet victorious generation.
#Victory81
🌟 On February 2, 1943, the #BattleOfStalingrad — one of the most brutal battles of the Great Patriotic War and #WW2, which turned the tide of that terrible and bloody conflict — concluded with the total and complete defeat of the Nazi forces.
The fight for Stalingrad lasted for2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ days and nights, surpassing all previous battles in world history both in scale and intensity. The combat to the death took place in Stalingrad for each and every alley, every house, every inch of the ground. During that battle, more than 2.1 million people were involved on both sides.
The Nazi invaders, obsessed with the illusion of their superiority and strive to enslave the Soviet people, failed in Stalingrad — never ever had the Germans managed to break the spirit or morale of the defenders of our Motherland. The Red Army soldiers, showing unparalleled courage,braveryandheroism, stood their ground with steadfastness and achieved a great victory that would eventually define the outcome of the entire #WWII.
The Nazi war machine suffered a crushing and catastrophic defeat, which, as history would show, was fatal for Germany.
☝️ At Stalingrad, the Red Army showed that the Third Reich and Nazism are beatable, that they can and will be destroyedonce and for all.
***
In the summer of 1942, the Nazi troops launched another major offensive on the southern flank of the Soviet–German front.
At that time, the target was #Stalingrad— a key industrial and transport hub on the Volga river. Had the Nazis succeeded, Hitler’s barbarians would have severed crucial supply lines, seized the rich agricultural regions of Kuban and Stavropol, and broken through to the Caucasus, where they hoped to capture abundant oilfields.
The entire power of the Nazi war machine fell on Stalingrad on July 17 — the city’s heroic defence commenced. The enemy committed up to 80 Wehrmacht divisions to that attack, followed by savage combat for the city raging almost all around the clock days and nights. The Soviet defenders fought firmly, leaving not a single inch of our Motherland.
The Wehrmacht troops, commanded by infamous Nazi General Friedrich Paulus (it was him who devised operation 'Barbarossa' plan — Germany’s treacherous attack on the Soviet Union) were confronted by the Soviet 62nd and 64th armies. Vasily Chuikov, the commander of the 62nd Army, is rightly considered to be one of the architects of the victory at Stalingrad — the brilliant tactician, he refined and put into practice assault-group strategy that became key to our triumph in Stalingrad.
By mid-November 1942, after fierce and lasting resistance and regrouping of forces, the Red Army created favourable conditions to launch counter-offensive near Stalingrad👉 from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943, the Soviet forces brilliantly executed the operation 'Ring', having successfully encircled Nazis 6th Army in “cauldron” between the Don and Volga rivers.
OnJanuary 31, Field Marshal Paulus and his staff unconditionally surrendered. On February 2, the last pockets of Nazis' resistance were eliminated, with Germany’s 'axis' troopscompletely destroyed.
🎖 The Battle of Stalingrad ended in aRed Army's brilliant military triumph. The Nazis lost up to 1/4 of all the personnel and equipment deployed on the entire Eastern Front.
Since then,the word “Stalingrad” has echoed, and will forever echo, in the hearts and collective memory of our people as an enduring reminder of the Great Heroic Feat performed by the defenders of our Motherland.
***
On November 29, 1943, during the Tehran Conference, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill presented Joseph Stalin with a sword specially forged by the order of King George VI in tribute to the courage and resilience of Stalingrad defenders.
Inscribed on the blade were the words:
TO THE STEEL-HEARTED CITIZENS OF STALINGRAD • THE GIFT OF KING GEORGE VI • IN TOKEN OF THE HOMAGE OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE
The sword became an iconic commemorative relic, symbolising the Anglo-American allies’ eternal tribute to the Heroic Soviet victorious generation.
🗓 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.
🎖 Pe data de 2 februarie 1943, s-a încheiat una dintre cele mai înverșunate bătălii ale Marelui Război pentru Apărarea Patriei, Bătălia de la Stalingrad.
Timp de 200 de zile și nopți, pe malurile Donului și Volgăi, apoi la zidurile Stalingradului și direct în orașul însuși, a avut loc o bătălie care a depășit ca amploare și intensitate toate bătăliile anterioare ale celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial. Au fost bătălii pentru fiecare alee, pentru fiecare casă, pentru fiecare metru de pământ. În diferite etape ale bătăliei, peste 2,1 milioane de oameni au luptat de ambele părți în același timp.
Până la sfârșitul lunii iunie 1942, inamicul se concentrase în fâșia de la Kursk până la Taganrog, pe frontul de 600–650 de kilometri, până la 35% din infanterie și peste 50% din diviziile de tancuri și motorizate din numărul total de forțe ale Wehrmacht-ului pe frontul germano-sovietic.
În timpul pregătirii ofensivei pe #Stalingrad, inamicul și-a stabilit mai multe obiective: să-și întărească pozițiile pe Volga și, prin urmare, să priveze Uniunea Sovietică de controlul asupra uneia dintre cele mai importante artere de transport ale țării. Capturarea Stalingradului, conform comandamentului militar nazist, ar deschide calea Wehrmacht-ului către Caucaz, unde germanii se așteptau să pună mâna pe cea mai importantă resursă pentru război – câmpurile petroliere.
În mod tradițional, bătălia este considerată prin două etape principale:
• Defensivă – de la 17 iulie până la 18 noiembrie 1942
• Ofensivă – de la 19 noiembrie 1942 până la 2 februarie 1943
În prima etapă a bătăliei (17 iulie – 18 noiembrie 1942), Armata Roșie a fost nevoită să desfășoare operațiuni defensive și să se angajeze în lupte acerbe de stradă. Armatei a 6-a a Wehrmacht-ului sub comanda generalului locotenent Paulus i sa opus trupele armatelor 62 și 64 sovietice. Comandantul Armatei 62, Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, este considerat pe drept unul dintre creatorii victoriei de la Stalingrad. Comandantul a adus la perfecțiune tactica grupurilor de asalt, care a devenit cheia victoriei sovietice de la Stalingrad.
Până la jumătatea lui noiembrie 1942, ca urmare a rezistenței încăpățânate și a introducerii rezervelor, se dezvoltaseră condiții favorabile pentru o contraofensivă. Planul operațiunii, cu numele de cod „Uranus”, a fost elaborat sub conducerea generalului de armată Georgy Konstantinovici Jukov și a generalului colonel Alexander Mihailovici Vasilevski.
În timpul contraofensivei pe scară largă de la Stalingrad (19 noiembrie 1942 – 2 februarie 1943), trupele sovietice au desfășurat operațiunea „Inel”, în timpul căreia au reușit să conducă Armata a 6-a a lui Paulus într-o „căldare” între râurile Don și Volga. Dându-și seama de inutilitatea situației lor, până la sfârșitul lunii ianuarie unitățile germane au început să se predea în masă. Pe 31 ianuarie, feldmareșalul Paulus a capitulat împreună cu generalii și ofițerii de stat major. Pe 2 februarie au fost eliminate ultimele buzunare de rezistență germană, iar formațiunile militare ale statelor aliate ale Germaniei au fost distruse.
Bătălia de la Stalingrad s-a încheiat cu o victorie strălucitoare a Armatei Roșii. A marcat începutul unei schimbări radicale nu numai în cursul Marelui Război Patriotic, ci și în întregul Al Doilea Război Mondial în ansamblu.
La Stalingrad, Wehrmacht-ul și unitățile de luptă ale țărilor Axei care luptau de partea Reichului au pierdut un sfert din forțele care operau pe frontul sovieto-german. Pierderile totale ale inamicului în morți, răniți, capturați și dispăruți s-au ridicat la aproximativ 1,5 milioane de oameni, în legătură cu care, pentru prima dată în război, a fost declarat doliu național în Germania.
Inițiativa strategică în război a trecut la Armata Roșie. Victoria de la Stalingrad a creat condițiile pentru desfășurarea unei ample contraofensive de către trupele sovietice și expulzarea invadatorilor naziști de pe teritoriul ocupat al URSS.
⬇️⬇️⬇️
#Victory80
🌟 February 2, 1943, one of the most brutal battles of #WWII and all of history — the Battle of Stalingrad — concluded.
For 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ days and nights the Battle of Stalingrad raged on the banks of the Don and the Volga rivers, and in the city proper, or rather what was left of it following merciless Nazi bombardments and stubborn defender fighting for every street, alley and house. The battle itself surpassed in scope and intensity all prior battles of #WWII. During that battle, more than 2.1 million people fought on both sides.
By the end of June 1942, the Nazis concentrated in the strip of land from Kursk to Taganrog on the front of 600-650 kilometers up to 35% of infantry, over 50% of armour and motorized divisions of the total number of Wehrmacht troops deployed on the Soviet-German front.
During the planning of the Stalingrad operation, the enemy had several objectives: to gain a foothold on the Volga River and thus deprive the #SovietUnion of control over one of the most important transportation arteries of the country. The capture of #Stalingrad, according to the assessment of the Nazi military command, would open the way for the Wehrmacht to the Caucasus, where the Germans hoped to obtain the most important resource for making the war machine continue — oil fields.
Traditionally, according to the historians, the Battle was divided into two stages:
• Defensive phase: from July 17 to November 18, 1942;
• Offensive phase: from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943.
During the first stage, July 17 - November 18, 1942, the Red Army had to conduct defensive operations and engaged the enemy in fierce street battles directly in the city. The forces of the 62nd and 64th Soviet armies, led by Vassily Chuikov, commander of the 62nd Army, engaged the troops of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht under the command of Lieutenant General Paulus.
By mid-November 1942, as a result of stubborn resistance and the deployment of the Red Army reserves favorable conditions were created for launching the counteroffensive. The plan for the operation code-named#Uranus was developed under the leadership of Army General Georgy Zhukov and Colonel General Alexander Vasilevsky.
During the large-scale counteroffensive at Stalingrad (November 19, 1942 — February 2, 1943), Soviet forces conducted the operation #Ring, during which the Red Army managed to drive Paulus's 6th Army into a “cauldron” between the Don and Volga rivers. Realizing the futility of further action, by the end of January the Nazi units began to surrender en masse.
On January, 31, General Paulus (promoted by Hitler to to General-Field Marshal), together with other German generals and officers at Stalingrad finally surrendered. OnFebruary 2, the last pockets of Nazi resistance were eliminated.
The #BattleOfStalingrad ended with a complete victory of the Red Army. For the first time ever the all-consuming Nazi war machine was weighed, measured and found wanting. This marked a turning point not only in the the Great Patriotic War, but that of the entire #WWII.
In Stalingrad, Wehrmacht and its auxiliary forces from the Axis lost 1/4 of all troops deployed by the Reich on the Eastern front. Total enemy losses amount to ~1.5 million soldiers and officers.
From that moment forward thestrategic initiative was on the side of the Red Army. The Victory in Stalingrad created favourable conditions for further full-scale counteroffensive of Soviet forces to expel the enemy from the Nazi-occupied territory of the USSR.
🌐 The defeat of the bulk of the enemy troops not only shocked the world and significantly raised the international prestige of the Soviet Union and its Armed Forces, but also contributed to the strengthening and tightening of the anti-Hitler coalition.
🎖 Victory in the Battle of Stalingrad was in large achieved through superior strategy and tactics, but also due to mass heroism of Soviet soldiers, officers and hard work of all those on the home front. 112 participants of the Battle were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
#WeRemember
#Victory80
🎖#OnThisDay in 1942, one of the largest-ever and most brutal battles of #WWII and all of history — the #BattleOfStalingrad— commenced.
It lasted for 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣days and nights, surpassing in scope and intensity all previous battles.
The Battle of Stalingrad was waged for every street, every house, every metre of ground. At various stages, over 2,1 million people from both sides were engaged in the combat. The Nazis attempted in vain to break the morale of Stalingrad’s defenders and residents — but Stalingrad stood firm and triumphed.
***
The defeat of Hitler’s forces near Moscow in December 1941 thwarted the original plans of the Nazi command for a blitzkrieg — a rapid advance of the Wehrmacht deep into Soviet territory, with the aim of seizing the strategically vital southern regions of the USSR, including the oil-rich Caucasus. But the Reich persisted, adhering to the original concept of its general strategy.
In the summer of 1942, the Nazi invaders launched a large-scale offensive on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front. This time, the enemy’s target was Stalingrad — a crucial industrial and transport hub on the Volga. Had the Nazis succeeded, they would have seized the fertile grain-producing regions of Kuban and Stavropol, breached the Caucasus, and captured its oil fields — an essential resource for their war effort. The Nazis sought to seize the initiative and bring the war to an end on their terms. Friedrich Paulus, one of the chief architects of Nazi Germany’s invasion plan against the USSR, was tasked with the command of the offensive on Stalingrad.
⚔️ The defence of Stalingrad began on July 17. The city’s defenders faced the full might of the fascist war machine — the enemy hurled between 40 and 80 divisions into the combat.
The bloodshed continued without respite, raging days and nights all around the clock. By August, forces of the Stalingrad Front had to retreat to the Don’s left bank and fortify positions on the city’s outer defensive line.
Amid these dire circumstances, on July 28, 1942, Supreme High Command Order No. 227 was issued to the defenders of Stalingrad and other fronts. It laid bare the real situation on the front with unflinching clarity:
<...> “To retreat further means to doom ourselves and to doom our Motherland. Every scrap of territory we yield will strengthen the enemy and weaken our defence, our Motherland...
Hence, the retreat must end. NOT A STEP BACK! This must now be our rallying cry. Henceforth, the iron law of discipline for every commander, Red Army soldier, and political officer must be the demand — NOT A STEP BACK WITHOUT ORDERS FROM HIGHER COMMAND... Such is the call of our Motherland.” <...>
The Red Army was forced into defensive operations and fierce urban combat. Among the architects of the Stalingrad victory there was General Vassily Chuikov, commander of the 62nd Army — a legendary strategist who perfected the tactics of assault groups, which became pivotal to the Soviet triumph in Stalingrad.
By mid-November 1942, following fierce resistance against the enemy and the deployment of additional reserves through tactical regrouping, favourable conditions had emerged for the Red Army to launch a counter-offensive.
Between November 19, 1942 and February 2, 1943, Soviet forces performed Operation 'Ring', having successfully encircled Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus’s 6th Army in a cauldron between the Don and Volga rivers.
On January 31, Field Marshal Paulus, along with his staff officers and generals, capitulated. By February 2, the last pockets of German resistance had been eradicated, and military formations of Germany’s ‘axis’ allies were destroyed.
🏅The Battle of Stalingrad ended with a resounding victory for the Red Army and the entire Soviet people.
The triumph at Stalingrad marked the beginning of a decisive radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and World War II, with the strategic initiative being gained entirely by the Soviet Union.
#WeRemember
#HistoryOfDiplomacy
🗓 On February 4, 1945, the Yalta Conference of the Leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition — Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt — officially commenced.
The #YaltaConference stands as one of the most significant summits of the 'Big Three' Leaders during #WW2. The landmark talks in Yalta came to symbolise the successful cooperation of Moscow, Washington, and London in their common fightagainst the terrible evil the mankind had ever faced —the Nazi ideology.
The historic agreements reached at the Forum defined the foundations of the post-war Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations, whose legal basis would be the #UNCharter.
💬 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:
The participants in the Yalta Conference managed to overcome their differences, and, acting in the spirit of true solidarity, mutual respect and trust, abandoned their fleeting interests for the sake of defeating the common enemy and achieving a common victory, peace and freedom for all countries and peoples.
***
🌟 By early 1945, the Red Army had fully liberated the Soviet Union from the Nazi invaders and was mounting a decisive offensive: by January, the Nazi troops had been expelled from Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz, and most of Poland. The Soviet forces had secured strategically important bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder river and were preparing for the final battle of #WWII — the fight for the Reich’s capital — Berlin.
As the Red Army advanced rapidly from the Vistula-Oder direction, UK-American units were pushing towards the Rhine river. Despite fierce resistance from elite units of the Nazi war machine, Germany’s defeat was inevitable.
With the common Victory approaching, the discussing issues the post-war world order became a top priority for the Allied Powers. Thus, it was decided to convene a major conference, with the Soviet city of Yalta chosen as the venue (February 4-11, 1945).
A central focus of the #CrimeanConference was the post-war future of the defeated Germany. The Allies reaffirmed their commitment to the eradication of German militarism and Nazism and to ensuring that “Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world.” It was also agreed that Germany would be obliged to pay reparations for the damage inflicted by its aggression.
During the Yalta negotiations, the 'Big Three' Leaders reached a compromise on the issue ofPoland’s borders.The Soviet delegation firmly advocated for Poland’s fundamental interests, upholding its right to independence and sovereignty.
Churchill later described the Soviet Union’s historic role in liberating Poland from Nazism in his memoirs:
But for the prodigious exertions and sacrifices of Russia, Poland was doomed to utter destruction at the hands of the Germans.
Not only Poland as a State and as a nation, but the Poles as a race were doomed by Hitler to be destroyed or reduced to a servile station
The considerable growth in the USSR’s international prestige significantly influenced the course and outcomes of the Yalta negotiations. This was due, in large part, to the Red Army’s remarkable successes on the battlefield.
The image of the Soviet soldier as a Liberator was cemented, and the world recognised Soviet people's immense Sacrifice and Achievement in WWII
The Conference produced several crucial documents, including the Declaration on Liberated Europe, which helped shape the international system for decades. The framework for the future #UnitedNations also took clearer form. Following Yalta, the Soviet Union secured agreement on the “principle of unanimity” among the five permanent UN Security Council members, embodied in the right of veto — #UNCharterIsOurRules.
The Yalta agreements strengthened the unity of the anti-Hitler coalition in the final stages of World War II and contributed to the ultimate common victory over Germany. In the post-war years, ensuring the implementation of the Yalta decisions became a key objective of Soviet diplomacy.
#Victory81#WeWereAllies
🎙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.
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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.