Найти похожее

🌟#OnThisDay8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim, was located in Nazi-occupied Poland) — the most terrifying German extermination camp in #WWII — was liberated by the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front during the Vistula–Oder offensive operation. #Auschwitz was created by the Nazis in 1940 in a building that used to serve as military barracks near a small town called Oswiecim, whose history dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having occupied Poland in 1939, the Nazis changed the town's name of Oswiecim to German Auschwitz. Later, in 1941-1943, two more imprisonment facilities were established in the vicinity of Oswiecim. They were: ▪️Auschwitz II — best known to the wider public as #AuschwitzBirkenau, was three kilometres away from the main facility — Oswiecim and located near Brzezinka, a Polish village (Birkenau in German). Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest "death factory". Equipped with crematoriums and gas chambers, it was created by the Nazis with only one aim — exterminate people. ▪️Auschwitz III (also known as Monowitz). Its prisoners were used by the Nazis for the Third Reich war industries. Following the so-called Wannsee Conference in 1942, the Nazis approved what was called the “final solution to the Jewish question”. Since then, Auschwitz-Birkenau was turned into the main "death factory" for the annihilation of Jews in Europe. ❗️ Prisoners of Oswiecim were held by the Nazis in inhuman, barbaric conditions. They had to do hard, exhausting work until total exhaustion, to endure poor sanitation in the camp's facilities, malnutrition and constant tortures by the guards and SS-troops. It was in Oswiecim that the Germans first tested the "Zyklon-B" poisonous agent on human beings. Prisoners of Auschwitz were also subjected to cruel medical experiments, led by a Nazi criminal, infamous retired military doctor Josef Mengele. In 1944, when the Red Army started the liberation of Europe, the Nazis, in an effort to cover the tracks of their crimes in Auschwitz, rushed to burn documents and destroy the camp's gas chambers, crematoriums, and deported as many prisoners as they could westward to other concentration camps deep in the Third Reich — over 58,000 prisoners were evacuated by the Nazis before Oswiecim and liberated by the Soviet forces in January, 1945. *** In January 1945, the units of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched the Vistula-Oder offensive and, successfully expelling the Nazis from Poland, finally reached Auschwitz. ⚔️ In the late hours of January 27, following three days of fighting the retreating enemy, the Red Army took over Oswiecim and opened the gatesofAuschwitz. The camp’s 7,000 prisoners were freed. Most of them were sick or suffering from extreme exhaustion and tortures. Rescued prisoners burst into tears of joy when they greeted their liberators. Some facilities of the camp were instantly made a hospital. According to various historic estimates, in 1940-1945, from 1.5 to 4 million people perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over the past years, we are witnessing a campaign in several European countries, including Poland, to rewrite and falsify the history of WWII and, in particular, to erase the memory of the feat performed by the Soviet soldiers-liberators who saved the Auschwitz prisoners. 🎙 From a briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues (January 23, 2025): 💬 "This year, like all those years before, Russian representatives will not be invited to the commemoration ceremonies at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27. That is, there will be no one there to mention the Soviet liberator soldiers and express gratitude to them. In this regard, there is something that needs to be said to the organisers and all the Europeans who will be there: Your lives, your work and leisure, the very existence of your nations, your children have been paid for by Soviet soldiers, their lives, their blood. It was them who crushed the Third Reich machine. You are forever in their debt." 🕯#WeRemember

🗓#OnThisDay in 1984, Hero of the Russian Federation, Air Force Major Roman Filipov was born. At school, Roman Filipov dreamt of a career in the Air Force, following in his father’s footsteps. After completing his 11-year secondary education, he enrolled in the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School. ✈️ At the age of 18, he was assigned to the 187th Guards Air Assault Regiment based in the village of Chernigovka, the Primorye Territory. He quickly rose through the ranks, starting as a senior pilot and eventually becoming deputy air squadron commander at an assault air regiment of the Eastern Military District. He was then deployed to the Air Group of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria. Upon arrival, he took part in military operations as a flight commander, piloting Sukhoi Su-25SM ground-attack aircraft. Roman Filipov was an ace Class 1 Pilot and frequently participated in Russia’s national Aviadarts exercises. His total flying time was 1,300 hours as he completed 80 combat sorties. ▪️ He perished in the line of duty in Syria on February 3, 2018, while returning to base after a fly-by over the Idlib de-escalation zone. His Su-25SM was shot down by terrorists using a portable surface-to-air missile system. He tried to keep his plane airborne, diverting it from houses on the ground. Once he successfully accomplished this, he ejected from the aircraft. He was encircled by militants on the ground, conducted an unequal battle against the enemy, became severely injured, and, when the enemy forces approached him at minimum distance, exploded himself with a grenade, shouting: “This is for our guys!”. 🎖 Major Roman Filipov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously) for his heroism, courage and bravery in the performance of military duty. #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

🇷🇺 On November 4, our country celebrates National Unity Day.#OnThisDay 412 years ago, a popular uprising liberated Moscow from Polish-Lithuanian invaders. Thousands of our country’s residents ofdifferent ethnicities, social strata & religions managed to close ranks to counter the existential threat and gave an example of genuine courage and loyalty to their Fatherland. In the early 17th century, the Russian state was going through one of the hardest periods in its history called the Time of Troubles. The Moscow branch of the Ryurik dynasty that used to rule the country for seven centuries, died out. Numerous impostors began to claim the throne, pretending to be Tsar Ivan IV's son, the deceased Tsarevich Dmitry. ▪️Our country was one step away from losing its sovereignty and could have vanished from the map of the world for good. The first of the impostors, False Dmitry I, managed to seize the throne in 1605 thanks to the support of Sigismund III King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The adventurer hoped to annex the Seversk and Smolensk regions to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and spread Catholicism in Russia, but he miscalculated – a year later the unpopular False Dmitry I was deposed by the boyars, and the throne was taken by Vassily Shuisky, a representative of the Suzdal branch of the Rurikovich dynasty. The next impostor, False Dmitry II, was proposed in 1606 by Sigismund III’s opponents from among the Polish nobility. The north-west and north of Russian lands fell under the control of foreign invaders, and False Dmitry II himself settled in the town of Tushino, 17 kilometers from the Kremlin. In such circumstances Vassily Shuisky appealed to Sweden for help. Sigismund III, who was at war with the Swedes at the time, used this as a pretext for open intervention. In the autumn of 1609, Polish-Lithuanian troops besieged Smolensk and occupied a number of Russian cities. After False Dmitry II fled under the onslaught of the army of the Russian commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky in early 1610, some of the boyars who had been in Tushino made a compact with Sigismund III on naming his son Wladislaw tsar-elect. Power in the country passed to the boyar council who were forced to swear allegiance to Wladislaw. The interventionist troops occupied the Kremlin. ⚔️ Patriarch Hermogenes of Moscow and All Russia issued a call to resist foreign invaders, but the first national resistance alliance to gather in Ryazan was defeated. The initiator of the second resistance, the zemstvo headman Kuzma Minin, managed to gather an impressive army in Nizhny Novgorod of over 10,000 landowners, peasants, Cossacks, riflemen and nobles. Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, who was in that region for medical treatment, was elected to lead the army. In August 1612, they approached Moscow and in autumn defeated the superior forces of the interventionists in fierce battles. 👑 The liberation of the capital and the consolidation of the masses were a powerful boost for the revival of the Russian state. In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor (a nation-wide assembly) elected a new Russian tsar, Mikhail Romanov, the first of the new dynasty. By 1618, the last troops of Polish-Lithuanian and Swedish invaders were pushed out of Russia. 💬 President of Russia Vladimir Putin(Sevastopol, November 4, 2021): The people of Russia <...> came together <...> to defend their homeland, chase out the invaders and traitors, restore a strong state, and stop sectarian strife. They took on the task of saving the country and paved the way for Russia’s revival and strengthening. More than four centuries have passed since then, but the feat accomplished by the people still strikes us with its powerful outflow of patriotic feelings, and the fact that people came to understand that there was nothing more important than their Motherland’s destiny and future. 📜Learn more in our in-depth historical delve.

🎖October 14 marks 81 years since the Sobibor uprising — a special date in the history of World War II. 📅 It was #OnThisDay in 1943, that the only successful mass escape from the Nazi death camps took place — the Sobibor uprising, led by a Soviet prisoner of war, the Red Army lieutenant Alexander Pechersky. ▪️During the war, Nazi Germany established about 14,000 concentration camps, with the so-called death camps among them, used by the Nazis to exterminate people. Sobibor was one those death camps formed in German-occupied Poland with one aim — to ensure the “final solution to the Jewish question.” Sobibor had been in operation since May 1942. It was located near the village of Sobibor in the south east of Poland near the Western Bug River and the Polish-Soviet border. The camp was set up by the Nazis on a railroad haul between towns Chelm and Wlodawa, which made it possible to ship prisoners to Sobibor by train cars. Sobibor was literally a death factory designed to slaughter people in the most brutal and terrifying ways. Each and every day, up to six trains each carrying 2,000 people — both military and civilians, including senior people, women, and children — delivered prisoners to that camp. ▪️Captives in Sobibor were shot, gassed, starved or exploited to the death. People were subjected to heinous medical experiments. Prisoners were brought to Sobibor for further torture and slaughter from Austria, Czechoslovakia, France. It is known that the two so-called "children trains" left the Netherlands for Sobibor in June 1943. During the time the camp was in operation, the Nazis massacred there up to 250,000 POWs. Sobibor was well-guarded by the Nazis. The camp was fenced off by four rows of three-metre-high barbed wire. The territory around was mined. There were sentinels on towers along the perimeter. Sobibor was also cordoned off by 200 guards, with about a hundred SS soldiers among them. Ukrainian collaborators, including those serving in 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), were in charge of maintaining the “order” in Sobibor. Given all that, escaping from Sobibor seemed unthinkable. ⚔️ On October 14, 1943, the uprising in Sobibor under the leadership of Alexander Pechersky took place. Encouraged by the Soviet officer, the prisoners performed a truly heroic feat — in an unequal battle with the Nazis, POWs killed 11 or, according to other sources, 12 SS soldiers and several guards. Having overpowered the enemy literally with bare hands, the prisoners rushed undaunted to the central gate of Sobibor under heavy machine-gun fire from the towers. Nothing could stop the doomed prisoners, neither the minefields surrounding the camp, nor the barbed wire, nor the gun fire. As a result of the uprising in Sobibor, about 300 prisoners managed to escape from this hell on Earth. Many survivors who managed to escape further joined the ranks of the resistance and continued their fight against the enemy. Alexander Pechersky himself joined the Belarusian partisans, and in 1944 fought the Nazis again. ☝️The Sobibor uprising is known to be the only ever successful mass escape from Nazi death camps in the history of WWII. The Nazi SS command, unable to bear the shame and trying to hide the traces of their crimes against humanity in Sobibor, ordered to raze the camp to the ground. The crimes committed in Sobibor were part of the charges against the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials, and the stories told by eyewitnesses and participants of the uprising were depicted in many books and films. Todaythe Alexander Pechersky Foundation in Russia plays an important role in preserving the memory of the Sobibor prisoners’ feat. #Victory79#WeRemember

🗓#OnThisDay În urmă cu 212 ani, la 26 noiembrie 1812, pe râul Berezina a început ultima bătălie importantă din Războiul pentru Apărarea Patriei din 1812, care a dus la înfrângerea armatei lui Napoleon. https://t.me/MFARussia/22995

👩‍🚀#OnThisDay 61 years ago, Soviet cosmonaut & parachute enthusiast Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Her mission aboard the Vostok-6 spacecraft was a complete world sensation, inspired millions of women in the Soviet Union and abroad. The issue of launching a female cosmonaut was raised immediately after Yury Gagarin’s triumphant return from orbit. The goal was to compare the impact of outer space on male and female organisms and to study the possibility of launching civilian specialists into space in the future. 🚀 The Vostok-6 blasted off the Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 16 1963. The flight itself lasted for two days,22 hours and 50 minutes, the spacecraft orbited Earth 48 times. Until now Tereshkova remains the only female cosmonaut to undertake a solo space mission. 🎖 Valentina, then only 26, lifted off as a Lieutenant and came back a Captain. Three days after landing, she was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union title. Later, she received Hero of Socialist Labour of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Vietnam and Mongolia and became an honorary citizen of 18 Russian and foreign cities. Tereshkova became the 6th Soviet cosmonaut, the 12th person in space and the youngest woman in orbit.

⚓️#OnThisDay in 1941, the first Arctic convoy, codenamed Dervish, arrived at Archangelsk harbour. Seven vessels were escorted by the UK military ships. The convoy sailed from Liverpool with a stopover in Hvalfjörður, Iceland, and laid out a route for the further escort of ships delivering strategic cargoes to the northern ports of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. In accordance with their commitments made at the Moscow Conference in 1941, the Lend-Lease Act and other agreements, the United States and the UK used Arctic routes to supply the USSR with armaments, military hardware and other cargoes. The ships returned with strategic raw materials and other supplies. Sea deliveries of military cargoes through the Black and Baltic Seas were ruled out because of Hitler’s rapid advance towards Crimea and Leningrad whereas the route across the Pacific Ocean was too long. The Arctic route was the shortest but the Soviet Union did not have a fleet to carry half a million tones of military supplies. Given this, British sailors took over the burden of Arctic sea transport and its protection. The convoys were formed in the UK and after refueling in Iceland headed to northern Soviet ports. As a rule, an Arctic convoy consisted of seven to eight loaded transport ships, which sailed in line-ahead formation constantly changing their course to thwart submarine attacks. Arctic convoys became a vivid example of combat teamwork maintained by the navies of the anti-Hitler coalition during WWII. Their history keeps many examples of heroism and self-sacrifice of British, American and Soviet sailors and pilots, as well as citizens of other countries, who escorted the convoys in harsh polar conditions. 🕯 During the war, a total of 78 convoys were dispatched, with 85 merchant ships and 16 British Navy warships failing to reach their destination. More than 3,000 British sailors lost their lives. 💬 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (excerpt from the briefing of August 19, 2021): Russia and the UK are now paying tribute to the memory, heroism and dedication of those involved in the convoys. Their heroic crossing of the North Atlantic is forever inscribed in golden letters in the history of the liberation of Europe from Nazism. The further course of the war confirmed the Arctic Convoy’s significant contribution to the success of the joint struggle against the common enemy, which cannot be overestimated.

▪️September 1st marks 8️⃣6️⃣ years since World War II began — the bloodiest conflict in the history of mankind. 61 states, with over 80 percent of the world’s population, were drawn into that ordeal unleashed by the 'Axis' powers; hostilities spread to 40 countries. #WWII claimed many dozens of millions of peoples' lives (by some estimates, 80+ mln perished), including ~27 million citizens of the Soviet Union. *** As for the background of the greatest tragedy of the XX century, the entire range of contradictions that provoked WWII stemmed from World War I and can be traced back to the Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919. The system of international relations in Europe, framed by the UK and France,made the basis for the rise of revanchist sentiments in the defeated and humiliated parties to the Treaty of Versailles — Germany and Italy. The League of Nations, the organization established to settle international disputes within the legal framework, technically became a tool for the Western powers to achieve their political goals. Not surprising that in Europe, torn by contradictions, fascism rapidly gained popularity. Politicians and extreme right-wing ideologues, who were convinced of the superiority of their nation and ethnicities, came to power first in Italy (1922) and then in Germany (1933). With the establishmentof the Nazi dictatorship in Germany, the threat of a new war in Europe became a reality. At the core of Hitler’s misanthropic ideology lay the infamous doctrine of "racial superiority" — according to Hitler’s interpretation, Germans belonged to a chosen Aryan master race, destined to rule the world. Thus, in the heart of Europe, an absolute evil emerged, posing a threat to the peace and freedom of entire nations and peoples. By the mid-1930s, it became evident that renewed German aggression in Europe was just a matter of time. ☝️ In an attempt to contain the emerging threat of German revanchism, the Soviet Union proposed the initiative to establish collective security system based on anti-fascist principles. However, Paris and London, where anti-Soviet sentiment was deeply entrenched, rejected the idea of cooperating with Moscow against Hitler. Instead, France and UK sought to strike a deal with Germany. In the West. the elites failed to understand the danger and threat that Nazi ideology posed to the entire world, cynically believing that Hitler's aggression could be redirected eastward in a manner typical to the Brits. ❗️ The Western countries pursued the so-called 'policy of appeasement', which eventually resulted in the infamous Munich Betrayal of 1938 — with the tacit consent by the UK and France, Hitler ruthlessly annexed the sovereign state of Czechoslovakia. It was only Moscow that was willing to provide military assistance to the Czechoslovakians, but was unable to do so due to Poland that was playing along with Hitler and taking advantage of Czechoslovakia’s annexation by occupying Cieszyn region. A year later, a similar drama played out in the Far East: the Anglo-Japanese treaty was signed in June 1939, untying Tokyo’s hands in China. TheSoviet Union could have become the next victim of militarist Japan. The Japanese command had been planning a possible attack against our country. Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 was a direct consequence of the policy of intrigues and anti-Soviet manuevers pursued by the West, which did not allow to create an anti-Hitler coalition to jointly resist the Third Reich. 🌟Defeating the most aggressive reactionary forces was the most important outcome of theGreat Victory of May 9, 1945, which crushed the inhumane ideologies of Nazism, Fascism, and Japanese militarism, along with their adepts. Thanks to the joint effort of the USSR, the selflessness of Soviet soldiersliberators, and the self-dedication of home front workers, entire countries and millions of people around the world were, in fact, rescued from extermination, perishing in Nazi concentration camps, or from being turned into slaves.

🎙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.