Moscow wants to ensure that the crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany are never forgotten, Russian President Vladimir Putin said ahead of the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Putin pointed out that the majority of Jews murdered by the Nazis were Soviet citizens, and that Russia strives to make certain that such a tragedy is never repeated.
“We are adamantly opposed to condemning such crimes to oblivion,” he said.
The Russian president also said that he is aware of Israel’s stance on the role of the Soviet Red Army in the victory over the Nazis, and that Russia greatly appreciates it.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is observed annually to commemorate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust – a mass murder of Jews and other minorities by the Nazis prior to and during World War II.
The observance is held on January 27, the anniversary of the 1945 Soviet liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis murdered over a million people, including Jews, gypsies and Soviet prisoners of war.