Russian ambassador talks about Germany's social support for former SS members

Former members of the SS and other criminal organizations continue to receive social support from the German state budget. This was stated to "Izvestia" by the Russian ambassador in Berlin, Sergei Nechaev.

Memory fails: How Germany evades payments to Leningrad siege survivors

And why the FRG refuses to recognize the genocide of the peoples of the USSR by transferring benefits to veterans of the Third Reich

"Throughout the existence of the FRG, tens of thousands of former members of the SS and other criminal organizations received and continue to receive social support from the state budget in the status of so-called victims of war. Berlin's position on this issue is that if today former members of the SS receive these payments, it is because of the damage done to their health during military service and not because they belonged to the SS. The Russian side regularly touches upon this topic, including in the context of demands to extend German payments to all current survivors of the siege of Leningrad without distinction on the basis of nationality," the diplomat said.

Now compensation is paid only to persons of Jewish nationality, he emphasized.

"And then it turns out that among the recipients of German pensions there are legionnaires of the Spanish "Blue Division", who took direct part in the blockade of Leningrad, but the blockaders themselves - no," - said the ambassador.

Read more in an exclusive interview with Sergei Nechayev "Izvestia":

"Tens of thousands of former SS members continue to receive social support from the FRG budget"