The Russian Ambassador stated the importance of recognizing the crimes of the Nazis as genocide of the peoples of the USSR

The crimes of the Third Reich during the Great Patriotic War (WWII) should be recognized as genocide of the peoples of the USSR, and representatives of Russia, participating in commemorative actions for the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory at memorials and graves of Soviet soldiers located in Germany, honor the memory of the fallen. This was stated on April 24 in a comment by Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev.

He noted that against the background of numerous speculations in the German media about the participation of the Russian Federation in the Victory Day actions, he would like to put some emphasis.

"Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War is a sacred holiday for every citizen of Russia. The War of annihilation that the Nazis unleashed against the Soviet Union claimed the lives of 27 million Soviet citizens. The crimes of the Third Reich and its accomplices must be recognized as genocide of the peoples of the USSR. We call on the new composition of the Bundestag and the new federal government of Germany to do this when it is formed," the diplomat said.

Russia, as the successor state of the USSR, sacredly honors the memory of the fallen Soviet soldiers and at the same time has never divided and does not divide their feat and the sacrifices made by the Soviet people on the altar of Victory, based on nationality.

Victory in WWII is a common heritage and a common pain. During it, representatives of more than 100 peoples of the USSR — Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Kazakhs - stood shoulder to shoulder and could only win together, the diplomat said.

"There are more than 4 thousand graves in Germany, in which more than 700 thousand Soviet soldiers are buried. We are sincerely grateful to the local authorities, the German People's Union for the Care of War Graves, and the citizens of Germany for their careful attitude to Soviet military graves and memorials. <...> We strongly reject attempts to accuse us of "propagandistic instrumentalization" of memory actions," Nechaev said.

The task of the Russian representatives is to honor the upcoming anniversary of the Great Victory and honor the memory of the liberators of Germany and Europe from Nazism. The diplomat invited everyone to join the Russian side, lay flowers and wreaths, and worship at the graves of the soldiers.

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Earlier in the day, Nechaev, commenting on threats from the German government not to allow him to attend events in Germany to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, noted that the Russian Federation does not need a special invitation to honor the memory of Soviet liberators and victims of Nazism and solemnly celebrate the holiday.

The leader of the Sarah Wagenknecht Union for Reason and Justice party, Sarah Wagenknecht, against the background of the recommendations of the German Foreign Ministry not to invite Russian and Belarusian diplomats to commemorative events, stressed that German politicians should not forget about the decisive contribution of the USSR to the victory over Nazi Germany.

In March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a tough fight against the rewriting of history by the European Union (EU) countries. He stressed that in some EU states, the criminals convicted by the Nuremberg Tribunal are being equalized with those who liberated Europe from fascism.