Russian Diplomat Calls Vote of Former Axis States Against UN Nazism Resolution Blasphemy

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The vote of the former Axis countries against the Russian resolution in the UN General Assembly on Combating Glorification of Nazism is blasphemy, Russian Ambassador in Ottawa Oleg Stepanov told Sputnik on Monday.

On December 15, the UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution proposed by Russia on combating the glorification of Nazism. A total of 120 countries voted in favor, some 10 countries abstained, while 50 voted against, including Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States. The countries that have voted against this resolution believe that Russia is using the document to justify its actions in Ukraine.

"For the first time, Germany and Japan spoke out against it. Descendants of the main Axis states that lost World War II. For decades, they wanted to get rid of their dark past. They wanted to make the whole world forget their war crimes and crimes against humanity. And now they have shown their true identity," Stepanov said, adding that this blasphemous action insults the memory of the victims of German Nazism and Japanese militarism, as well as goes against the UN Charter.

The diplomat added that in the present circumstances it is unclear whether the former Axis countries have any remorse for their actions committed during World War II.

"The question is the following: how sincere was the remorse of the West Germans that they were responsible for the world war? Not to mention the Japanese, who have not yet admitted responsibility for aggression and the atrocities and not only do not want to fully agree with the results of the Second World War, but also officially commemorate war criminals at the government level almost every year at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo," Stepanov said.

Such actions are only possible with the complicity of the United States, which still exerts influence on Berlin and Tokyo, the Russian ambassador stressed.

"In Washington (as well as today's generation of politicians in Ottawa), they 'forgot' about their participation in the anti-Hitler coalition for the sake of new geopolitical goals and are desperately trying to distort and falsify history," the diplomat concluded.