Germany slams Russian ‘lies’ on Ukraine in WWII commemoration
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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised the Soviet Red Army for their role in the Nazis’ defeat.
PHOTO: AFP
BERLIN - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on May 8 criticised Russia’s “historical lies” over the Ukraine war, as he marked the Nazi defeat that ended World War II in Europe 80 years ago.
In a speech to Parliament in Berlin, Mr Steinmeier expressed gratitude to the Allied soldiers and resistance movements that defeated Nazi Germany “with all their strength and at great sacrifice”.
He also praised the Soviet Red Army – in which Russian and Ukrainian troops fought side-by-side – for their role in the Nazis’ defeat, noting it had liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
“We do not forget this,” Mr Steinmeier told the Bundestag, during a sombre commemoration on the May 8 anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allies.
“But precisely because of this, we firmly oppose the Kremlin’s historical lies today.”
Russia has cast its three-year offensive against Ukraine as a fight against “neo-Nazis” and has channelled its own wartime legacy to justify the war.
But Mr Steinmeier went on: “The war against Ukraine is not a continuation of the fight against fascism.
“(President Vladimir) Putin’s war of aggression, his campaign against a free, democratic country, has nothing in common with the fight against Nazi tyranny in World War II.”
Others in the West and Kyiv, including independent experts, have also rejected Moscow’s narratives.
Germany has been a key backer of Kyiv in its fight against Moscow. Russia’s ambassador to Berlin was not invited to May 8’s commemoration, which was being marked with a public holiday in the capital. AFP
