MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Russia is ready to respond to any aggressor who will dare to repeat Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, President Vladimir Putin told TASS in an interview for the project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin".
When commenting on a popular Russian car slogan reading "We can repeat it," Putin recalled another famous phrase: "Whosoever comes against us by the sword shall perish by the sword."
"The Soviet Union was subjected to a dreadful, horrible, unforgivable attack by Nazi Germany. We lost 27 million people. No other country in the world sustained such an enormous loss. So, if anyone ever dares to try anything like that again, ‘we can repeat it’," Putin said.
He pointed out that Russia "never wanted it and never will." "Accordingly, the Russian leadership, too, has never looked at this issue from that angle," the president added. As a follow-up to the discussion about car slogans related to the Victory Day, the head of state brought up another popular one, "Thank you Grandpa for the Victory."
Reichstag graffiti
The phrase "We can repeat it" became famous after a Soviet soldier had made an inscription on one of the front columns of the Reichstag building in May 1945. The inscription was photographed and filmed numerous times. It is believed to have been written in chalk and did not survive. The author of the inscription remains unknown.
The full inscription reads as follows: "For air raids on Moscow, for the shelling of Leningrad, for Tikhvin and Stalingrad. Remember and never forget. Otherwise, we can repeat it."
Episode 10 of the video interview is available at https://putin.tass.ru/en.