MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. The Russian side is calling on the Ukrainian authorities to abandon falsification of history urging western countries’ representative against supporting events attempting to rehabilitate Nazism, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"As we approach the anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre when Nazis executed tens of thousands of Kiev Jews in September 1941, we would like to address the issue of rehabilitation of Nazi collaborators and falsification of history. Unfortunately, we are witnessing regular attempts to misconstrue historical events in Ukraine," the diplomatic agency underlined. "The director of the so-called Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance used to work especially actively in this area and produced fabricated historical fakes en masse, particularly vindicating members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary formation - TASS) painting them as freedom fighters. Vladimir Vyatrovich has left, but his cause is still going."

The ministry drew attention to the fact that an exhibition marking Ukraine’s Independence Day was held in early September in Kiev’s Osher Schwartzman Jewish Library, which particularly demonstrated exhibits and books dedicated to Nazi collaborators and Jewish pogrom masterminds like Stepan Bandera and Andrey Melnik, "who the modern Ukraine is trying to equate with Nazi victims." "An utterly outrageous incident took place on August 22 in the town of Sambor in the Lvov Region where a monument to members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists who participated in massacres of Jews was erected at a Jewish cemetery with local authorities present, as well as Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Svyatoslav, "head" of the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine Epiphanius and Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich. In other words, a monument for the butchers on the tombs of victims," the ministry pointed out. The agency also added that it is not just about "disregard for historical facts, but also disparaging memory of the innocent people who were killed."

"The most scandalous part of this story is that the Canadian ambassador to Ukraine took part in the ceremony as well as Canadian military instructors who travelled to Ukraine to train Ukrainian Armed Forces’ officers," the Russian Foreign Ministry continued. "However, truth be told, this incident was not overlooked in Canada itself where sensible public represented by a number of esteemed authors condemned the ambassador’s participation in this dubious and cynical act."

The Russian ministry underlined that these cases "are a clear example of deliberate misconstruction of events and rehabilitation of Nazi collaborators." "Attempts to equate Nazi victims and their killers have nothing to do with tolerance and reconciliation. This is an abomination and disparagement of memory of those who lost their lives, which deserves resolute and universal condemnation," the diplomatic agency stressed. "We are calling on Kiev to abandon such an untenable practice of whitewashing Nazi collaborators and mockery of history, while also urging their overseas friends to listen to the sound of reason and stand against such disgraceful events.".