MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. Statements by Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevgeny Perebeinos in connection with the celebration of the Victory Day in Moscow are an insult to the memory of those who perished in the war against Nazism, Russian Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov told TASS on Wednesday.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Perebeinos, answering a question on Ukraine’s attitude towards the participation of representatives of foreign nations in the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany in Moscow on May 9, said that "this could be hardly called otherwise than blasphemy." He added that "under the conditions of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine such participation would be considered by Kiev a manifestation of solidarity with the aggressor country."
"Unfortunately, these are not the first such remarks by a Ukrainian official. They blatantly falsify history, tarnish the history of the war, casting a shadow over the Great Victory of the Soviet people, which made a decisive contribution to the fight against Nazism," the diplomat said. "This statement is openly blasphemous, cynical and impudent. It’s unworthy of even a person who has poor knowledge of history, the more so a government official."
Dolgov noted that these remarks had been made by an official in Ukraine, where over the past few months neo-Nazi battalions had been "systematically killing civilians in their own country." "The number of their victims is measured in thousands," Dolgov said. "None of these neo-Nazis, followers of Bandera and other ultranationalists has been punished and called to account." On the contrary, "all this neo-Nazi mayhem has been taking place under the connivance and even support of the Ukrainian authorities and tacit non-resistance, at the very least, and even encouragement from certain political circles in the West."
"There is no limit to cynicism and blasphemy, mockery by some Ukrainian politicians and public officials of the memory of millions of people, including Ukrainians, who died at the hand of the Nazis and their local henchmen and the memory of those who fought the Nazis in the Red Army ranks," the Russian diplomat said. "This insult to the memory is absolutely impermissible and unworthy."
"Mr.Perebeinos will not succeed in distorting the truth about the Great Victory. As Russian President Vladimir Putin said, we won’t allow to do that," Dolgov said.