The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out the unacceptability of attempts to equalize the USSR and the Third Reich.

Attempts to equalize the Third Reich and the Soviet Union for the outbreak of World War II are unacceptable and historically flawed. This was announced on June 22 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

"Attempts by a number of countries to equate Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are historically flawed, untenable and morally unacceptable. Statements about a certain so—called "identity" of Nazism and communism are fundamentally unacceptable, as they are anti-historical," RIA Novosti quoted her as saying.

Zakharova added that the Red Army played a crucial role in the victory over Nazism and it was the USSR that liberated the peoples of Europe, who today are trying to identify the roles of the Soviet Union and Germany at the beginning of World War II.

Postponing memory: how the distortion of history became part of the fight against Russia

Behind historical revisionism is the desire of European countries to hide their unsightly role in supporting Nazism

On June 8, the Russian Embassy in Germany issued an appeal to the German authorities to abandon revisionism regarding Soviet military monuments and recognize the crimes of the Third Reich as genocide of the peoples of the USSR. The diplomats stressed the crucial role of the Red Army and the Soviet people in liberating Germany and Europe from Nazism and called blasphemy any actions that seek to distort the historical truth.

Gunnar Lindemann, a member of the Berlin House of Representatives, said in an interview with Izvestia on May 4 that Berlin's decision to ban the wearing of awards and listening to Russian and Soviet songs on May 8 and 9 was an attempt to rewrite history. The politician also noted that the winners have the right to "appropriately celebrate this liberation."