🌐 The Soviet diplomacy of the Cold War era cannot be imagined without Andrey Gromyko, a distinguished diplomat who served as Foreign Minister for 28 years, from 1957 until 1985, and made a tremendous contribution to the detente between the Soviet Union and Western countries.

Two of Andrey Gromyko’s brothers were killed in action during the Great Patriotic War, and the third one died from wounds. This had an immense influence on the diplomat’s views.

💬 Andrey Gromyko: We will not revise the outcome of the war. If we yield to them, we will be cursed by all those who were tortured and slain. When I negotiate with the Germans, I often hear my brothers’ whispers behind me: “Don’t give in, Andrey, don’t give in. This isn’t yours, this is ours.”

🙅‍♂️ Because of his uncompromising stance, Gromyko was dubbed Mr No by his Western counterparts.

☝️ A true patriot and professional, Andrey Gromyko established a legacy in diplomacy that continues to shape the highly-regarded Russian diplomatic service to this day.

🌐 Отечественную дипломатию эпохи холодной войны невозможно представить без Андрея Андреевича Громыко. На протяжении 28 лет, с 1957 по 1985 годы, этот выдающийся дипломат возглавлял советское внешнеполитическое ведомство, за это время внёс неоценимый вклад в разрядку отношений между СССР и странами Запада.

Двое братьев Андрея Громыко погибли на фронте, третий скончался впоследствии от ран. Это оказало большое влияние на выдающегося дипломата и во многом определило его подходы.

💬 А.А.Громыко: Не будем менять итоги войны. Если мы им уступим, то прокляты будем всеми замученными и убитыми. Когда я веду переговоры с немцами, то, случается, слышу за спиной шёпот братьев: «Не уступи им, Андрей, не уступи, это не твоё, а наше!»

🙅‍♂️ «Мистер Нет» – так называли Андрея Андреевича западные коллеги за его неуступчивость.

☝️ Андрей Андреевич был настоящим патриотом и профессионалом своего дела. Основанная им школа дипломатии по сей день определяет высокий авторитет отечественной дипломатической службы.

🗓 On February 13-14, 1945 the Royal Air Force and the US Air Force carried out barbarian bombing of Dresden.

❗️This seemed to be the most devastating European airstrike in all of World War II. The area of Dresden, completely destroyed by the raid, exceeded that of Nagasaki four times over, after the August 9, 1945 US atomic bomb strike. Over 75-80 percent of Dresden’s buildings were destroyed.

💬 Maria Zakharova: While analysing this historical fact, one finds it hard to show any emotions linked with the need for vengeance. The USSR had every reason to exact vengeance on Nazi German forces, however, the Soviet struggle against Nazism did not call for destroying cities together with their population. This is the “privilege” of the Anglo-Saxon world, in the worst sense of the word (from briefing of February 10, 2023).

In January 2024 NATO has decided that the time has come to erase the memory of the victims of that crime. That it was Germans themselves who did it (from post of January 16, 2024).