MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Berlin has not yet responded to Moscow’s note demanding Germany recognize the Nazi crimes committed in the Soviet Union during WWII as an act of genocide, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"The German authorities have not yet responded to the note that the Russian Embassy sent to the German Foreign Ministry in March, demanding Berlin recognize the crimes the Third Reich committed in the Soviet Union during World War II as acts of genocide," she noted.

Zakharova stressed that Berlin would not be able "to take refuge in silence and avoid providing a response," while Russia would continue working consistently to preserve the historical truth about the crimes of German Nazism and make it widely known. In addition, Moscow will keep demanding that the German government pay reparations to the Leningrad siege survivors of non-Jewish background.

Earlier, Russia demanded that Germany officially recognize the siege of Leningrad and other crimes committed by the Third Reich as acts of genocide against the peoples of the Soviet Union. The Russian note points out that there can be no legal connection between the post-war reparations and getting justice for all Leningrad siege survivors regardless of their ethnic background. While recognizing its crimes of the colonial era as an act of genocide, Germany has so far failed do the same with regard to the siege of Leningrad and other crimes against the peoples of the Soviet Union committed during World War II, the document adds.