🎙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.
📰Interview with Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova for 'Zapiski Sledovatelya' Journal No. 2/2025, published by Russia's Investigative Committee(May 30, 2025)
✍️The Legal Front of Memory
Key talking points:
• Combating manifestations of racism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism, and countering attempts to rewrite history and distort the outcomes of #WWII are among Russia’s priorities on the human rights track.
• Today we see increasingly frequent attempts to rewrite the history and results of WWII, to erase the memory of heroic anti-fascist fighters, to destroy monuments built in their honour, and to ban the wearing of military decorations that are strongly associated with Victory.
• History is being falsified in an openly hostile manner, which includes glorifying Nazi collaborators and disrespecting the memory of Soviet soldiers and civilians who died in the fight against fascism, questioning the Red Army’s liberation mission in Eastern Europe <...> The decisions of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences and the Nuremberg Tribunal verdicts are also being questioned.
• This tendency to rewrite history and glorify Nazi henchmen has become part of the Kiev regime’s state ideology and policy. The neo-Nazi elites are trying to cement Ukraine’s independence by denying its Soviet past, praising the Waffen-SS Galicia Division <...>
• In line with efforts to combat the glorification of Nazism and the distortion of history, every year since 2005, Russia has submitted a resolution on combatting glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, to the UN General Assembly. On December 17, 2024, during the plenary session of the 79th #UNGA in New York, 119 countries voted in support of this document.
• Russia and a group of like-minded countries submitted a draft resolution on the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War IIto the ongoing 79th UN General Assembly, which was adopted on March 4. <...> Our partners’ unified stance on this matter constitutes a substantive contribution to countering the rewriting of history.
• It is a matter of principle for us that the international community recognise the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis in the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War as the genocide of the Soviet people.
• The actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Nazi-affiliated armed groups reveal signs of genocidal intent. They wanted to eliminate Russians and Russian speakers in #Donbass <...>, adepts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and people in this region in general as an ethnic, religious and national entity.
• Ukraine initiated proceedings in the UN International Court of Justice in February 2022, right after the start of the special military operation, as per the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. However, it turned to the Kiev regime’s disadvantage.
• The International Court of Justice issued its preliminary objections under this case on February 2, 2024. In this document, it rejected all the claims made by Ukraine alleging that Russia violated the Convention. The court went on to rule that further proceedings will focus on whether Ukraine itself committed acts of genocide in Donbass. Therefore, the Kiev regime filed the lawsuit only to become a defendant in this case.
• On November 18, 2024, Russia submitted its main pleading document, the Counter Memorandum, as part of these proceedings. In fact, this is the first time since the Nuremberg Trials that Russia de facto assumed the role of the prosecution in an international tribunal. But there are even more parallels with the Nuremberg Trials — just as during these trials, we are dealing with a Nazi regime which was targeting civilians with mass atrocities on racial, ethnic and national grounds.
Read the interview in full
🕯December 3marks the Day of the Unknown Soldier in Russia, honouring the feat of all soldiers who perished for the Motherland, yet whose names remain unknown.
#OnThisDay in 1966, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Red Army's victory over Nazi forces in theBattle of Moscow, a ceremony of the burial of the unknown soldiers' remains was held in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. These remains were originally located in a mass grave on the 41st kilometre of the Leningrad Highway and were discovered during construction activities on the road. Back in 1941, during the Battle of Moscow, this very place saw fierce and bloody battles between the Soviet forces and Nazi invaders.
▪️ On May 8, 1967, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden was unveiled. "Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal", — the worldwide famous words were inscribed upon the granite slab on the Tomb. Soviet newspapers noted back then: "...he [the Unknown Soldier] was slain for his Motherland, for his home — Moscow. This is all we know about him."
💬 Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky remarked:
"The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the ancient walls of the Moscow Kremlin shall serve as a monument of eternal glory to the heroes who died on the battlefield for their Motherland.
Henceforth, the ashes of the one who shielded Moscow with his chest rest here".
The Eternal Flame was set at the Tomb. In December of 1997, the Honor Guard was instituted near the Eternal Flame.
In total, approximately two million Soviet and Russian citizens were reported missing in action during the wars and conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Russian Ministry of Defence carries out on a regular basis search operations to perpetuate the memory of heroes who perished for the Motherland.
Russian diplomats abroad are engaged in extensive efforts aimed at preserving historical memory, countering attempts to distort the history of #WWII and to question the Great Victory of the Soviet people.
The Embassies of Russia all across the world ensure the maintenance, repair and restoration of Soviet monuments and war graves.
❗️ Regrettably, as part of a disgraceful campaign to distort history of #WWII, a policy ofstate vandalism is being pursued in certain countries of Eastern Europe, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in particular, with the one aim — to eradicate Russia's memorial heritage — the monuments to Soviet heroes and liberators.
By order of the official authorities, criminal acts are being perpetrated in these countries to desecrate mass graves, when the remains of fallen soldiers are barbarically exhumed for the purpose of their subsequent "reburial in accordance with European practice" in specially designated locations.
🎗 It is prohibited for Russian compatriots in Europe, under the threat (!) of criminal prosecution, to pay tribute to heroes who fought against Nazism. The Russian MFA highlights these outrageous incidents.
The memory of all who sacrificed their lives for our future is and will remain immortal.
#WeRemember
🗓 On July 15, Russia's Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov took part in the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tianjin.
In the first half of the day, President of China Xi Jinping met with the Heads of Foreign Ministries participating in the Council meeting. The Chinese Leader shared his assessments of the #SCO’s current state and development prospects. Sergey Lavrov, on behalf of all his colleagues, delivered a reply speech.
During the meeting in Tianjin, the Ministers discussed the Organisation’s activities in preparation for the upcoming meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) and the SCO Plus summit, scheduled for August 31-September 1 in Tianjin.
They also reviewed a package of documents and decisions to be adopted at the Heads of State Council meeting. Guidelines for the SCO’s further development will be outlined in the SCO Development Strategy until 2035. 👉 The Tianjin Declaration will set forth agreed approaches to strengthening the SCO, while also addressing pressing global and regional issues.
It is also expected that a number of thematic statements will be adopted, including those dedicated to the 80th Anniversary of the end of #WWIIand the founding of the United Nations.
An in-depth exchange was held on key regional and international matters, as well as the situation within the SCO space. The Ministers underscored the importance of enhancing coordination among SCO member states in shaping a #MultipolarWorld order with the United Nations at its core. The meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment to deepening cooperation within the SCO as a vital pillar of an emerging architecture of equal and indivisible security across Eurasia.
Sergey Lavrov also held several bilateral meetings.
#Victory80
🌟 80 years ago, on May 9, 1945, at 0:43 am Moscow time, the Instrument of UnconditionalSurrender of the Nazi Germanywas signed.
This historic document marked the Soviet Union’s Victory in the Great Patriotic War, brought an end to #WWII in Europe, signalled the final collapse of Nazism.
***
Earlier, on May 2, 1945, following the fall of the Reichstag — the main Nazi stronghold — and the surrender of the Berlin garrison, the Red Army completed its successful operation to capture Berlin. The Soviet forces crushed Nazi resistance, taking full control of the Nazi government headquarters, including Hitler's Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery) and bunker.
Germany’s final & unconditional surrender to the Allies was preceded by several local capitulations of the Nazi troops along various fronts. Moreover, in April 1945, certain Nazi military leaders, who were aware that the Third Reich’s collapse was imminent, fearing justice for their crimes, sought secret talks with Anglo-American forces, trying to divide the Allied anti-Hitler coalition.
On April 29, just before the surrender of the Berlin garrison, the Nazi troops surrendered in Italy. Days later, on May 4, the Wehrmacht capitulated in the Netherlands, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, and Northwest Germany. On May 5, German troops also laid down their arms in Western Austria.
👉 Desperate to surrender to the British-American forces, on May 5, the Nazi delegation arrived in the French city of Reims, where the headquarters of the Allies' command was located. There, on May 7, the Act of Military Surrender was signed. Article 4 of the document did not rule out the signing of another, definitive act: “This act of military surrender… will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender… applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole.”
Due to that, the Soviet leadership deemed the Reims document only as a preliminary instrument, believing that the official surrender of the Nazis had to be ensured in Berlin, the city where the Nazi aggression originated from.
At the Soviet government’s request, a second and final ceremony of surrender took place.
✍️ In the early hours of May 9, 1945, at 0:43 Moscow time (22:43 CET), the final and definitive Instrument of UnconditionalSurrender of the Nazi Germany was signedat the ceremony in #Karlshorst, Berlin. The surrender was accepted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov on behalf of the Soviet Union and Deputy Commander of the Allied forces Marshal Arthur Tedder on behalf of the Western Allies. From the German side, the Instrument was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Colonel General Hans-Jurgen Stumpff, & Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg.
With the Instrument being signed, the Nazi government was officially dissolved, the defeated German military laid down arms.
🖋 From the memoirs by military correspondent Konstantin Simonov:
💬 “Zhukov stands up and says: “The German delegation may leave the hall.” The Germans stand up. Keitel… turns on his heel and leaves.
And instantaneously, all tension in the room relaxes, and everybody exhales in unison. The act of surrender has been signed, and the war is over.”
On May 9, 1945, at 2:10 am Moscow time, announcer Yury Levitan read out the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany & the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declaring May 9 Victory Day. From that moment forward, the Soviet Union and later Russia, as well as the most former Soviet republics have celebrated Victory Day on May 9.
🎙 An excerpt from a briefing of Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, May 6, 2025:
💬 "The peoples of the Soviet Union not only defeated the Wehrmacht, but also brought life, liberation and salvation to the peoples of Eastern and Central Europe.
The Red Army, the Soviet soldiers literally stopped the Nazi extermination machine in its tracks and put out the crematoria of the Holocaust. Those who deny this are clearly supporting the resurgence of Nazism and the rise of neo-Nazism".
📖Learn for more in our in-depth historical delve.
#Victory80
🌟 80 years ago, on May 9, 1945, at 0:43 am Moscow time, the Instrument of UnconditionalSurrender of the Nazi Germanywas signed.
This historic document marked the Soviet Union’s Victory in the Great Patriotic War, brought an end to #WWII in Europe, signalled the final collapse of Nazism.
***
Earlier, on May 2, 1945, following the fall of the Reichstag — the main Nazi stronghold — and the surrender of the Berlin garrison, the Red Army completed its successful operation to capture Berlin. The Soviet forces crushed Nazi resistance, taking full control of the Nazi government headquarters, including Hitler's Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery) and bunker.
Germany’s final & unconditional surrender to the Allies was preceded by several local capitulations of the Nazi troops along various fronts. Moreover, in April 1945, certain Nazi military leaders, who were aware that the Third Reich’s collapse was imminent, fearing justice for their crimes, sought secret talks with Anglo-American forces, trying to divide the Allied anti-Hitler coalition.
On April 29, just before the surrender of the Berlin garrison, the Nazi troops surrendered in Italy. Days later, on May 4, the Wehrmacht capitulated in the Netherlands, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, and Northwest Germany. On May 5, German troops also laid down their arms in Western Austria.
👉 Desperate to surrender to the British-American forces, on May 5, the Nazi delegation arrived in the French city of Reims, where the headquarters of the Allies' command was located. There, on May 7, the Act of Military Surrender was signed. Article 4 of the document did not rule out the signing of another, definitive act: “This act of military surrender… will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender… applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole.”
Due to that, the Soviet leadership deemed the Reims document only as a preliminary instrument, believing that the official surrender of the Nazis had to be ensured in Berlin, the city where the Nazi aggression originated from.
At the Soviet government’s request, a second and final ceremony of surrender took place.
✍️ In the early hours of May 9, 1945, at 0:43 Moscow time (22:43 CET), the final and definitive Instrument of UnconditionalSurrender of the Nazi Germany was signedat the ceremony in #Karlshorst, Berlin. The surrender was accepted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov on behalf of the Soviet Union and Deputy Commander of the Allied forces Marshal Arthur Tedder on behalf of the Western Allies. From the German side, the Instrument was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Colonel General Hans-Jurgen Stumpff, & Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg.
With the Instrument being signed, the Nazi government was officially dissolved, the defeated German military laid down arms.
🖋 From the memoirs by military correspondent Konstantin Simonov:
💬 “Zhukov stands up and says: “The German delegation may leave the hall.” The Germans stand up. Keitel… turns on his heel and leaves.
And instantaneously, all tension in the room relaxes, and everybody exhales in unison. The act of surrender has been signed, and the war is over.”
On May 9, 1945, at 2:10 am Moscow time, announcer Yury Levitan read out the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany & the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declaring May 9 Victory Day. From that moment forward, the Soviet Union and later Russia, as well as the most former Soviet republics have celebrated Victory Day on May 9.
🎙 An excerpt from a briefing of Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, May 6, 2025:
💬 "The peoples of the Soviet Union not only defeated the Wehrmacht, but also brought life, liberation and salvation to the peoples of Eastern and Central Europe.
The Red Army, the Soviet soldiers literally stopped the Nazi extermination machine in its tracks and put out the crematoria of the Holocaust. Those who deny this are clearly supporting the resurgence of Nazism and the rise of neo-Nazism".
📖Learn for more in our in-depth historical delve.
◼️ June 22 is the #DayOfMemoryAndSorrow in Russia, the the most tragic date in the modern history of our country.
On this day 8️⃣4️⃣ years ago — on June 22, 1941 — the Soviet Union was attacked, unprovoked and without a declaration of war, by the Nazi Germany and its European cronies, which unleashed the full might of its vicious war machine. For our people on that day the Great Patriotic War began — the bloodiest and most brutal, devastating and terrible war, which lasted 1418 days and claimed lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens.
Obsessed with the ideas of racial superiority, the Hitlerites and their henchmen in Europe planned to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth, and the survivors left — to turn into slaves of the Third Reich. The Germans invaded our country with one goal — to physically annihilate the Soviet people, to destroy our nation's centuries-old cultural and spiritual heritage — the Nazis and their allies carried out a genocide.
2️⃣2️⃣.0️⃣6️⃣.1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣1️⃣
At dawn at 4 am, the enemy aviation launched massive strikes on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases, deployments of the Red Army forces and cities along the entire western state border of the USSR to a depth of up to 250-300 km. Together with Nazi Germany,Romania, Italy, Finland and other states allied to the Third Reich took part in the aggression. The industries of almost the entire continental Europe served the aggressors.
The people of the USSR were informed on the radio about the attack by the Nazis and, thus, the beginning of the war. At noon on June 22, 1941, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership addressed the nation:
🎙 "Today, at 4 a.m. in the morning, the German troops have invaded our country, without making any demands on the Soviet Union and without a declaration of war. They have attacked our borders in many places and have subjected our towns to aerial bombardments.
This unheard-of attack on our nation, despite the non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany, is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations."<...>
Our cause is right. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours!"
It was the Soviet Union that bore the main burden of the Nazi aggression in Europe. It was the Soviet Victorious People who showed unparalleled heroism, courage and fortitude, fighting to the last drop of blood for the freedom of our Motherland, crushed Nazism and saved Europe from the Nazi 'plague'. It was on the Eastern Front of the European theater of #WWII that the Nazis and their henchmen lost more than 75% of their forces fighting the Red Army.
🌟 The Great Victory was achieved at a high price. The Soviet Union's losses amounted to 40% of all human casualties during WWII — almost 27 million people. Of these, more than 8.7 million perished on the battlefield, 7.42 million people were deliberately and cold-bloodedly killed by the Nazis. Over 5 million Soviet citizens were taken into slavery and moved to Germany and Reich-occupied European countries.
To this day June 22 still echoes in the hearts of all Russians with grief, sorrow and pain for the lives lost and fates of entire generations broken. There is no family in our country and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union that was not affected by that terrible war. There is #NoStatuteOfLimitations for the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators on our land. On this day, we bow our heads in memory of our ancestors who perished during the Great Patriotic War.
🎙 Excerpt from the comment by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the occasion of the Day of Memory and Sorrow(June 21, 2025):
💬 "Unlike the "collective West", we do not divide the victims of the Nazis into categories — they all deserve justice and for their executioners to be punished.
We, regardless of race, nationality and religion, mourn the 2.6 million Jewish citizens of the USSR, millions of Slavs and representatives of other ethnic groups of the multinational Soviet people who became victims of genocide".
◼️ June 22 is the #DayOfMemoryAndSorrow in Russia, the the most tragic date in the modern history of our country.
On this day 8️⃣4️⃣ years ago — on June 22, 1941 — the Soviet Union was attacked, unprovoked and without a declaration of war, by the Nazi Germany and its European cronies, which unleashed the full might of its vicious war machine. For our people on that day the Great Patriotic War began — the bloodiest and most brutal, devastating and terrible war, which lasted 1418 days and claimed lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens.
Obsessed with the ideas of racial superiority, the Hitlerites and their henchmen in Europe planned to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth, and the survivors left — to turn into slaves of the Third Reich. The Germans invaded our country with one goal — to physically annihilate the Soviet people, to destroy our nation's centuries-old cultural and spiritual heritage — the Nazis and their allies carried out a genocide.
2️⃣2️⃣.0️⃣6️⃣.1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣1️⃣
At dawn at 4 am, the enemy aviation launched massive strikes on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases, deployments of the Red Army forces and cities along the entire western state border of the USSR to a depth of up to 250-300 km. Together with Nazi Germany,Romania, Italy, Finland and other states allied to the Third Reich took part in the aggression. The industries of almost the entire continental Europe served the aggressors.
The people of the USSR were informed on the radio about the attack by the Nazis and, thus, the beginning of the war. At noon on June 22, 1941, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership addressed the nation:
🎙 "Today, at 4 a.m. in the morning, the German troops have invaded our country, without making any demands on the Soviet Union and without a declaration of war. They have attacked our borders in many places and have subjected our towns to aerial bombardments.
This unheard-of attack on our nation, despite the non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany, is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations."<...>
Our cause is right. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours!"
It was the Soviet Union that bore the main burden of the Nazi aggression in Europe. It was the Soviet Victorious People who showed unparalleled heroism, courage and fortitude, fighting to the last drop of blood for the freedom of our Motherland, crushed Nazism and saved Europe from the Nazi 'plague'. It was on the Eastern Front of the European theater of #WWII that the Nazis and their henchmen lost more than 75% of their forces fighting the Red Army.
🌟 The Great Victory was achieved at a high price. The Soviet Union's losses amounted to 40% of all human casualties during WWII — almost 27 million people. Of these, more than 8.7 million perished on the battlefield, 7.42 million people were deliberately and cold-bloodedly killed by the Nazis. Over 5 million Soviet citizens were taken into slavery and moved to Germany and Reich-occupied European countries.
To this day June 22 still echoes in the hearts of all Russians with grief, sorrow and pain for the lives lost and fates of entire generations broken. There is no family in our country and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union that was not affected by that terrible war. There is #NoStatuteOfLimitations for the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators on our land. On this day, we bow our heads in memory of our ancestors who perished during the Great Patriotic War.
🎙 Excerpt from the comment by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the occasion of the Day of Memory and Sorrow(June 21, 2025):
💬 "Unlike the "collective West", we do not divide the victims of the Nazis into categories — they all deserve justice and for their executioners to be punished.
We, regardless of race, nationality and religion, mourn the 2.6 million Jewish citizens of the USSR, millions of Slavs and representatives of other ethnic groups of the multinational Soviet people who became victims of genocide".
◼️ June 22 is the #DayOfMemoryAndSorrow in Russia, the the most tragic date in the modern history of our country.
On this day 8️⃣4️⃣ years ago — on June 22, 1941 — the Soviet Union was attacked, unprovoked and without a declaration of war, by the Nazi Germany and its European cronies, which unleashed the full might of its vicious war machine. For our people on that day the Great Patriotic War began — the bloodiest and most brutal, devastating and terrible war, which lasted 1418 days and claimed lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens.
Obsessed with the ideas of racial superiority, the Hitlerites and their henchmen in Europe planned to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth, and the survivors left — to turn into slaves of the Third Reich. The Germans invaded our country with one goal — to physically annihilate the Soviet people, to destroy our nation's centuries-old cultural and spiritual heritage — the Nazis and their allies carried out a genocide.
2️⃣2️⃣.0️⃣6️⃣.1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣1️⃣
At dawn at 4 am, the enemy aviation launched massive strikes on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases, deployments of the Red Army forces and cities along the entire western state border of the USSR to a depth of up to 250-300 km. Together with Nazi Germany,Romania, Italy, Finland and other states allied to the Third Reich took part in the aggression. The industries of almost the entire continental Europe served the aggressors.
The people of the USSR were informed on the radio about the attack by the Nazis and, thus, the beginning of the war. At noon on June 22, 1941, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership addressed the nation:
🎙 "Today, at 4 a.m. in the morning, the German troops have invaded our country, without making any demands on the Soviet Union and without a declaration of war. They have attacked our borders in many places and have subjected our towns to aerial bombardments.
This unheard-of attack on our nation, despite the non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany, is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations."<...>
Our cause is right. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours!"
It was the Soviet Union that bore the main burden of the Nazi aggression in Europe. It was the Soviet Victorious People who showed unparalleled heroism, courage and fortitude, fighting to the last drop of blood for the freedom of our Motherland, crushed Nazism and saved Europe from the Nazi 'plague'. It was on the Eastern Front of the European theater of #WWII that the Nazis and their henchmen lost more than 75% of their forces fighting the Red Army.
🌟 The Great Victory was achieved at a high price. The Soviet Union's losses amounted to 40% of all human casualties during WWII — almost 27 million people. Of these, more than 8.7 million perished on the battlefield, 7.42 million people were deliberately and cold-bloodedly killed by the Nazis. Over 5 million Soviet citizens were taken into slavery and moved to Germany and Reich-occupied European countries.
To this day June 22 still echoes in the hearts of all Russians with grief, sorrow and pain for the lives lost and fates of entire generations broken. There is no family in our country and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union that was not affected by that terrible war. There is #NoStatuteOfLimitations for the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators on our land. On this day, we bow our heads in memory of our ancestors who perished during the Great Patriotic War.
🎙 Excerpt from the comment by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the occasion of the Day of Memory and Sorrow(June 21, 2025):
💬 "Unlike the "collective West", we do not divide the victims of the Nazis into categories — they all deserve justice and for their executioners to be punished.
We, regardless of race, nationality and religion, mourn the 2.6 million Jewish citizens of the USSR, millions of Slavs and representatives of other ethnic groups of the multinational Soviet people who became victims of genocide".
◼️ June 22 is the #DayOfMemoryAndSorrow in Russia, the the most tragic date in the modern history of our country.
On this day 8️⃣4️⃣ years ago — on June 22, 1941 — the Soviet Union was attacked, unprovoked and without a declaration of war, by the Nazi Germany and its European cronies, which unleashed the full might of its vicious war machine. For our people on that day the Great Patriotic War began — the bloodiest and most brutal, devastating and terrible war, which lasted 1418 days and claimed lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens.
Obsessed with the ideas of racial superiority, the Hitlerites and their henchmen in Europe planned to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth, and the survivors left — to turn into slaves of the Third Reich. The Germans invaded our country with one goal — to physically annihilate the Soviet people, to destroy our nation's centuries-old cultural and spiritual heritage — the Nazis and their allies carried out a genocide.
2️⃣2️⃣.0️⃣6️⃣.1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣1️⃣
At dawn at 4 am, the enemy aviation launched massive strikes on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases, deployments of the Red Army forces and cities along the entire western state border of the USSR to a depth of up to 250-300 km. Together with Nazi Germany,Romania, Italy, Finland and other states allied to the Third Reich took part in the aggression. The industries of almost the entire continental Europe served the aggressors.
The people of the USSR were informed on the radio about the attack by the Nazis and, thus, the beginning of the war. At noon on June 22, 1941, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership addressed the nation:
🎙 "Today, at 4 a.m. in the morning, the German troops have invaded our country, without making any demands on the Soviet Union and without a declaration of war. They have attacked our borders in many places and have subjected our towns to aerial bombardments.
This unheard-of attack on our nation, despite the non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany, is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations."<...>
Our cause is right. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours!"
It was the Soviet Union that bore the main burden of the Nazi aggression in Europe. It was the Soviet Victorious People who showed unparalleled heroism, courage and fortitude, fighting to the last drop of blood for the freedom of our Motherland, crushed Nazism and saved Europe from the Nazi 'plague'. It was on the Eastern Front of the European theater of #WWII that the Nazis and their henchmen lost more than 75% of their forces fighting the Red Army.
🌟 The Great Victory was achieved at a high price. The Soviet Union's losses amounted to 40% of all human casualties during WWII — almost 27 million people. Of these, more than 8.7 million perished on the battlefield, 7.42 million people were deliberately and cold-bloodedly killed by the Nazis. Over 5 million Soviet citizens were taken into slavery and moved to Germany and Reich-occupied European countries.
To this day June 22 still echoes in the hearts of all Russians with grief, sorrow and pain for the lives lost and fates of entire generations broken. There is no family in our country and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union that was not affected by that terrible war. There is #NoStatuteOfLimitations for the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators on our land. On this day, we bow our heads in memory of our ancestors who perished during the Great Patriotic War.
🎙 Excerpt from the comment by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the occasion of the Day of Memory and Sorrow(June 21, 2025):
💬 "Unlike the "collective West", we do not divide the victims of the Nazis into categories — they all deserve justice and for their executioners to be punished.
We, regardless of race, nationality and religion, mourn the 2.6 million Jewish citizens of the USSR, millions of Slavs and representatives of other ethnic groups of the multinational Soviet people who became victims of genocide".
◼️ June 22 is the #DayOfMemoryAndSorrow in Russia, the the most tragic date in the modern history of our country.
On this day 8️⃣4️⃣ years ago — on June 22, 1941 — the Soviet Union was attacked, unprovoked and without a declaration of war, by the Nazi Germany and its European cronies, which unleashed the full might of its vicious war machine. For our people on that day the Great Patriotic War began — the bloodiest and most brutal, devastating and terrible war, which lasted 1418 days and claimed lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens.
Obsessed with the ideas of racial superiority, the Hitlerites and their henchmen in Europe planned to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth, and the survivors left — to turn into slaves of the Third Reich. The Germans invaded our country with one goal — to physically annihilate the Soviet people, to destroy our nation's centuries-old cultural and spiritual heritage — the Nazis and their allies carried out a genocide.
2️⃣2️⃣.0️⃣6️⃣.1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣1️⃣
At dawn at 4 am, the enemy aviation launched massive strikes on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases, deployments of the Red Army forces and cities along the entire western state border of the USSR to a depth of up to 250-300 km. Together with Nazi Germany,Romania, Italy, Finland and other states allied to the Third Reich took part in the aggression. The industries of almost the entire continental Europe served the aggressors.
The people of the USSR were informed on the radio about the attack by the Nazis and, thus, the beginning of the war. At noon on June 22, 1941, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, on behalf of the Soviet leadership addressed the nation:
🎙 "Today, at 4 a.m. in the morning, the German troops have invaded our country, without making any demands on the Soviet Union and without a declaration of war. They have attacked our borders in many places and have subjected our towns to aerial bombardments.
This unheard-of attack on our nation, despite the non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany, is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations."<...>
Our cause is right. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours!"
It was the Soviet Union that bore the main burden of the Nazi aggression in Europe. It was the Soviet Victorious People who showed unparalleled heroism, courage and fortitude, fighting to the last drop of blood for the freedom of our Motherland, crushed Nazism and saved Europe from the Nazi 'plague'. It was on the Eastern Front of the European theater of #WWII that the Nazis and their henchmen lost more than 75% of their forces fighting the Red Army.
🌟 The Great Victory was achieved at a high price. The Soviet Union's losses amounted to 40% of all human casualties during WWII — almost 27 million people. Of these, more than 8.7 million perished on the battlefield, 7.42 million people were deliberately and cold-bloodedly killed by the Nazis. Over 5 million Soviet citizens were taken into slavery and moved to Germany and Reich-occupied European countries.
To this day June 22 still echoes in the hearts of all Russians with grief, sorrow and pain for the lives lost and fates of entire generations broken. There is no family in our country and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union that was not affected by that terrible war. There is #NoStatuteOfLimitations for the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators on our land. On this day, we bow our heads in memory of our ancestors who perished during the Great Patriotic War.
🎙 Excerpt from the comment by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the occasion of the Day of Memory and Sorrow(June 21, 2025):
💬 "Unlike the "collective West", we do not divide the victims of the Nazis into categories — they all deserve justice and for their executioners to be punished.
We, regardless of race, nationality and religion, mourn the 2.6 million Jewish citizens of the USSR, millions of Slavs and representatives of other ethnic groups of the multinational Soviet people who became victims of genocide".
#Victory80
🌟 On September 14, 1944, the Red Army launched the Baltic strategic offensive operation. Its primary goal was to liberate the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics from the Nazi scourge by defeating the enemies' Army group 'North' and expelling the German troops.
The goal was achieved, although the task was arduous! Following the operation, the Nazi troops were encircled in the so-called Courland Pocket (where the enemy resisted until the vary May of 1945), and thereafter ultimately eliminated by the Red Army.
#NoStatuteOfLimitations
Having invaded the Baltic region in the summer of 1941, instead of providing the “independence” promised to the Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, the Nazis established the occupation regime in the Soviet Baltics, which was characterized by terror and genocide. The Nazis' plan was to make the region a part of the German Reichskommissariat Ostland.
▪️ When the Nazis occupied Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, the local radical nationalists and pro-fascist organisations raised their heads there and swore allegiance to Hitler. Doing the dirty job for their Nazi masters, the Baltic collaborators carried out atrocities with extreme cruelty, executing civilians, burning villages, and organising massacres. With their involvement, more than 100'000 people were annihilated in concentration camps, such as Salaspils and Klooga.
👉Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian collaborators also took part in the mass executions in the neighbouring regions of the Soviet Union (including in Belarus). They were also involved in the Nazis' campaign to exterminate Jews. The blood of hundreds of thousands of civilians and POWs is on the hands of those criminals.
Today, unfortunately, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania glorify those Nazi criminals on the governmental level, with monuments unveiled in the honour of the Nazi Baltic henchmen and gatherings held in the Baltics to commemorate Waffen-SS legionnaires, other Nazi collaborators, and their adherents.
***
During #WWII, the Baltic region was of crucial strategic importance to the Reich on the Eastern front. The control over the region allowed the Nazis to rule over the Gulf of Finland from the south and the eastern Baltic, and to ensure uninterrupted deliveries of Swedish and Norwegian raw materials critical for the Nazi war machine, such as iron ore, coal, and others.
The Nazis extracted agricultural resources from Latvia and Lithuania, while Estonia alone provided Nazi Germany with nearly half a million tonnes of oil products annually.
❗️ Furthermore, the Baltic region shielded the way to East Prussia — the stronghold of German militarism. So, the Nazis were seeking to retain the Baltic bridgehead at any cost.
The Nazis installed in the Baltics powerful fortifications, designed for long-term defence, including the so-called Tannenberg Line — a complex of heavy fortified lines and trenches stretching for more than 50 km long and 25-30 km deep, located about 20-25 km west of Narva — on the isthmus between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus (Chudskoye).
⚔️ On September 14, 1944, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts of the Red Army launched the strategic offensive towards Riga. Within just three days, the Soviet forces advanced up to 50 km. On September 22, Tallinn was liberated, followed by Riga on October 13.
The final stage of the operation was the liberation of the Moonsund archipelago in northwestern Estonia: by November 24, the Nazi troops were expelled from the islands of Ösel (today’s Saaremaa) and Dago (Hiiumaa).
As a result of the Baltic strategic offensive operation, the Red Army inflicted a crushing defeat to the enemy. The Nazi army group 'North' was mostly destroyed, with its remnants trapped on the Courland Peninsula, unable to engage further in Germany’s eastern defences in 1945.
🎖 112 Red Army soldiers were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. More than 332,000 received orders and medals.
#WeRemember