Russian ambassador points to the failure of Western attempts to rewrite the history of World War II

Western attempts to rewrite the history of the Second World War are doomed to failure. Russian Ambassador to Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky wrote about this in his article published in the Junge Welt newspaper on February 1.

The material was published on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the escape of Soviet soldiers from the Mauthausen concentration camp near the German town of the same name. Then, on February 2, 1945, about 500 military of the USSR were able to escape.

According to Lyubinsky, it is now more important than ever to honor the memory of the victims of the humanitarian catastrophe and to recall the feat of the Soviet people.

"Attempts by Western elites to distort history, to rewrite it, are doomed to failure. The memory of the genocide of the Soviet people by Nazi Germany is sewn into our DNA, nothing will let it fade. No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten," the Russian ambassador emphasized in his article.

In addition, he recalled that in the USSR more than 13.6 million civilians died at the hands of the Nazis, 632,253 people became victims of the siege of Leningrad.

"German authorities cynically avoid any steps to immortalize the memory of millions of Soviet citizens, <...> and, among other things, refuse to pay compensation to non-Jewish citizens who survived the siege of Leningrad," Lyubinsky's piece reads.

Shame and fear: the West does not want to see its politicians celebrating the victory over Nazism

Recognizing Russia as the winner hurts

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called incorrect the emphasis made by UN Secretary General António Guterres during speeches at events dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. Thus, speaking about the victims of Nazi crimes, he did not say a word about the multimillion losses of the USSR. In addition, the UN Secretary General ignored the fact that the commemorative date was established in recognition of the feat of the Red Army soldiers.

Before that, on January 27, Russia sent a letter to Guterres with the facts of glorification of Nazism over the past few years.

On December 25, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the victory over Nazism in 1945 should be promoted as a common value for all mankind. He noted that all CIS countries remember and honor the feat of all peoples of the USSR.

In 2025, May 9 marks 80 years since the victory in the Great Patriotic War. In January 1945, the USSR army launched an offensive against Berlin. As a result of the fighting at 00:43 Moscow time on May 9, the commanders-in-chief signed an act of unconditional surrender of Germany, which served as the end of the Great Patriotic War.