The Russian Embassy in Germany reported Berlin's evasion of compensation for non-Jewish blockade runners

Germany limits the recipients of payments from among the Leningrad siege survivors to representatives of Jewish nationality. This was told to Izvestia in the Russian embassy in Germany, noting that negotiations on the expansion of the program of payments for all blockade survivors are currently difficult.

"The issue of Germany's implementation of individual compensation payments to the current siege survivors of Leningrad of non-Jewish nationality remains open. We do not record any progress on this track," the diplomatic mission told Izvestia.

The embassy added that the German side has not yet shown any willingness to reconsider its approach to payments to Leningrad siege survivors of non-Jewish nationality.

"Instead of monetary compensations to the blockaders of non-Jewish nationality, a so-called "humanitarian gesture" is proposed - a modest financial contribution of the FRG to the modernization of the War Veterans Hospital in St. Petersburg and the establishment of a meeting center to educate the younger generation about the horrors of the blockade. We do not see any signs of departure from this position", the Russian Enbassy press service said.

It was noted that substantive dialog with Berlin on this range of issues is difficult today.

The FRG government also evades the recognition of the blockade of Leningrad as genocide of the peoples of the USSR, the Russian representation stressed.

"Our inquiries are informed that the legal assessment of the blockade of Leningrad as a war crime is unchanged and remains relevant," the embassy said.

Read more in the Izvestia exclusive piece:

Memory failed: how Germany evades payments to Leningrad blockade survivors