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Putin praises Israel, Jewish people for 'never forgetting' history’s lessons

The Russian president lauded the celebration of VE-Day on May 9 in Israel as "a manifestation of wisdom of the Jewish people and a mark of their historical memory"

MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin once again stressed the importance of understanding the past.

In an interview with the writer, publicist and TV host Vladimir Solovyov, which was part of a documentary entitled ‘World Order 2018’, Putin lauded Israel for marking the celebration of Victory Day on May 9 as "a manifestation of the Jewish people’s wisdom and a display of their historical memory".

"We treat this with great respect," he noted. "The Jewish people have not forgotten how they were exterminated during World War II, and they’re right in remembering it."

Putin recalled that "[…] other nations went through similar tragedies."

"I haven’t even mentioned small ethnic groups, like the Roma who were exterminated en masse, here I mean the Slavs," he said.

Putin recalled the abundance of documents in the archives that specify in clear terms what fate the Third Reich had in store for the Russians.

"Some [Russians] were to be exterminated while others were to be used as slave labor at forced labor camps, and those whom the Germans couldn’t use as slaves were to be resettled to the Urals or the extreme North," Putin said. "This was the same Holocaust with regard to the Russian nation."

"We shouldn’t forget this, not in order to blame [those guilty] but rather because this should never happen again," he noted.