“Offensive from the point of view of memory”: Russia responded to Zelensky’s words about those responsible for unleashing the Second World War

Statements by Vladimir Zelensky about the reasons for the outbreak of World War II are offensive to tens of millions of Russians and residents of the CIS countries, whose relatives died, freeing Europe from fascism. This was stated by spokesman for the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.

“We strongly disagree with this statement. In this statement, the President of Ukraine identifies himself with an extremely erroneous, in our opinion, point of view of the Polish leadership and identifies himself with a point of view that is offensive to tens of millions of Russians and citizens of the CIS countries whose parents, grandfathers, relatives gave their lives for the liberation of Europe, in including Poland from fascism, ”he said.

Earlier Zelensky, while on a visit to Warsaw, said that Poland was the first to encounter a "conspiracy of totalitarian regimes", which subsequently led to the Second World War. At the same time, the Polish leadership believes that Warsaw became a “victim” not only of Nazi Germany, but also of the alleged “aggression” of the Soviet Union.

“Poland and the Polish people were the first to feel the collusion of totalitarian regimes. This led to the outbreak of World War II and allowed the Nazis to launch the deadly flywheel of the Holocaust, ”he said.

The Kremlin emphasized that this statement is erroneous. “We do not accept this statement, we consider it erroneous and offensive from the point of view of the memory of our grandfathers,” said Peskov.

A presidential spokesman doubts that Zelensky’s statement “is combined with the faith and conviction of millions of Ukrainians who also fought with the Nazis in arms.”

"Elementary villainy"

Zelensky’s statement speaks of a biased approach of the Ukrainian leader to the history of World War II, said Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s committee on international affairs.

"The position (Zelensky. - RT ), which causes a categorical hostility in any normal person, testifying not so much to prime illiteracy as to an absolutely biased approach," he told RT.

“It is very sad that Zelensky, who is the president of Ukraine, who herself was seriously affected by the Nazi invasion, is trying to promote things that have nothing to do with real history, with real facts,” the parliamentarian added.

“This is just an elementary human meanness in relation to the past and in relation to those generations that perished, protecting our then common homeland, and breaking the ridge of the fascist beast, without which the prospects of the whole world would look extremely sad,” the deputy emphasized.

With the help of such statements, Zelensky expresses his support to those forces in the West that seek to rewrite the history of World War II, said Oleg Morozov, member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs.

"Zelensky plays along with the West ... Zelensky is the epigon of Western anti-Russian, Russophobic propaganda," the senator believes. “Poland and Ukraine are two countries that, according to the results of World War II, received the greatest advantages ... Therefore, it’s profitable for him today to put Russia on a par with Hitler and say that we started the war.”

“Large-scale disinformation campaign”

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany launched an attack on Poland, thereby unleashing the Second World War. More than two weeks later, on the 17th, the Soviet army crossed the Polish border and occupied the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, which retreated to Warsaw following the results of the Soviet-Polish war in 1921.

The objective of this approach was to prevent the penetration of Nazi Germany in Ukraine and Belarus. However, in Poland it is called an “act of aggression” and even come forward with demands for “compensation”.

At the same time, during the Great Patriotic War, Poland was completely liberated by the Red Army from Nazi occupation, and ultimately the country was restored thanks to the help of the Soviet Union.

January 17 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Warsaw by the Red Army. However, in the Polish capital there were no official events on this occasion.

The Polish leadership has repeatedly made statements that the period of socialism in the country was “Soviet occupation” and even “millions of victims”, which allegedly lay with the USSR.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, several days earlier noted that according to the information available to the department, Warsaw decided to conduct a disinformation campaign against Russia, using historical themes.

"According to our data ... recently, at the appropriate level in Poland, it was decided to launch a large-scale disinformation campaign against our country on directly historical topics related to the Second World War and in our case the Great Patriotic War," she said during a briefing.