MAGADAN, August 22. /TASS/. The Anglo-Saxons and their allies, in an attempt to cause unrest in Russia, are attempting to denigrate the heroic feat of the Soviet people in its World War II victory over fascism, while deliberately sidestepping not only the atrocities committed by the Nazis but also by their close allies, the Japanese militarists, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said.

"Aiming to weaken Russia and divide our society, the Anglo-Saxons and their allies are using various methods and means of exerting their destructive influence. Attempts are being made to destabilize the social and political situation in our country and provoke interethnic conflicts. Particular attention is being given to falsifying Russian history and world history, including downplaying the role of our country and the feat of the Soviet people in its victory over fascism," Patrushev noted at a meeting in Magadan on security issues in the Russian Far East.

He pointed out that in the process, "not only are the atrocities committed by the German Nazis being deliberately ignored but also the misdeeds of Japanese war criminals, the close allies of fascist Germany." "One should reiterate that in 1937, Japan attacked China. There are practically no peoples or ethnic groups in the Asia-Pacific region who did not suffer from militarist Japan," the top security official added.

According to Patrushev, "the number of victims of aggression by the Japanese war criminals is comparable to the number of those killed by the Nazis during the Second World War." "According to estimates by some experts, the number of civilians in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region killed by the Japanese may amount to 50 mln people," the Security Council secretary reiterated.

"The Kwantung army’s special units conducted experiments by intentionally infecting people with plague, anthrax, cholera and typhus. The activity of biological warfare unit No. 731 was monstrous; its victims, including Russians, were subjected to inhuman experiments. After the war, the leadership of this unit was transported by the Americans to the US to engage in work on developing biological weapons," Patrushev noted.