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Putin has no plans to attend events to mark Auschwitz liberation anniversary — Kremlin

The spokesperson recalled that the Russian president had visited Auschwitz in 2005

ST. PETERSBURG, November 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to visit Poland in January 2020 to take part in the events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"No such an event in Putin’s work schedule now," he said.

Peskov recalled that Putin had visited Auschwitz in 2005. "We always remember this date, including the Red Army’s role," he added.

In Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazis killed over 1 million Jews, along with thousands of Poles, Gypsies and Soviet prisoners of war in gas chambers and incinerated them in crematoria. According to various sources, from 1.5 to 2 mln people of different nationalities perished in that death camp.

On January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated the notorious concentration camp, which at that moment held slightly over 7,000 surviving prisoners. More than 200 Soviet soldiers and officers lost their lives in the battle to liberate Auschwitz.