Ambassador to US Says Russia Will Not Allow Resurgence of Nazism

NEW YORK (Sputnik) - Russia will not allow Nazism to resurface and will push back against attempts to ridicule the legacy of the soldiers that defeated it, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Sunday.

"Our holy duty is to preserve the truth about the victory [over Nazi Germany]. We will not allow to cross out the great pages of the past, [and] will not allow a resurgence of Nazism," Antonov said during the Immortal Regiment online conference.

"Attempts to ridicule the heroic legacy of our ancestors will definitely meet a staunch resistance," Antonov stressed.

This comes after US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield made disparaging remarks about Victory Day celebrations in Russia on Sunday, claiming that Russians “have nothing to celebrate” on May 9.

This is not the first time senior US officials verbally attack Victory Day, one of the most important national holidays in Russia commemorating the defeat of Nazism and end of World War 2. On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is allegedly trying to “manipulate historical memory” to make a case for Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

In February, the Russian ambassador warned that there is a self-evident desire to erase the memory of the deed of the Soviet soldiers as politicians in many Western countries are trying to put on an equal footing with Nazi-Fascist executioners. Antonov expressed particular concern that some Eastern European countries host regular marches to honor SS divisions in an attempt to erase from the collective memory their crimes against humanity. The ambassador also found disturbing that similar trends affect the US as well.

On May 8, 1945, the commanders of Nazi Germany's armed forces signed the instrument of surrender, admitting defeat in World War 2. This day is celebrated in many countries and referred to as Victory Day. Almost 27 million Soviet citizens lost their lives on the fronts, in German prisons, starved to death and were bombed, died in ghettos and furnaces of the Nazi death camps. President Putni stressed last year that the Soviet Union accounted for about 75 percent of all military efforts undertaken by the anti-Hitler coalition.