SIMFEROPOL, May 23. /TASS/. Vladimir Konstantinov, the speaker of the Crimean State Council, on Monday said the Nazis at the Azovstal plant weren’t Spartans or heroes, but showed their worst face and the truth about what happened will come out.
"Our will, the will of the victorious people, broke the Nazi will," he told reporters. "That was proved in Mariupol. That is why they in every possible way overwrite the issue of surrender and come up with some mythical narrative of an evacuation operation."
"The truth about the outcome of the siege of Azovstal will transpire both at the frontline and the rear," he said. "And if this epic is followed by similar ones - in Lisichansk and Severodonetsk, in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, throughout the Donbass - then a turnaround in the military confrontation will come - and very soon."
He said the main result of the siege of Azovstal is that it broke the spirit of the Ukrainian fighters and the troops that were blocked there. "Glorifying the Nazis, turning them into posthumous idols of courage and role models would have had far-reaching negative consequences," he said. "But it's good that they showed the whole world their worst face. There are no Spartans there. They are ordinary criminals, drug addicts, completely immoral people with fascist tattoos from head to toe."
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Friday that Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had reported to President Vladimir Putin about the completion of the operation and the liberation of the Azovstal works and the entire city from Ukrainian militants. Since May 16, a total of 2,439 Azov nationalists and Ukrainian troops, who had been blocked on the plant’s territory since April 21, have surrendered.