🎙 Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial plaques at the Foreign Ministry (Moscow, May 8, 2024)

💬 Today, according to tradition, we celebrate Great Victory Day, May 9, a day that will never be gone from our memory, a day when we commemorate those who protected Russia, Europe and the world from Nazism and pay tribute to their heroism.

We are proud that diplomats were among the heroes who resisted the enemy, weapon in hand, or worked to support their Motherland on the home front, addressing economic tasks. After the war, they spared no effort to create a just international system, in which the USSR – our state, our nation – would take its rightful place, which was due to us according to historical justice. This is how the United Nations was created.

🏅 I would like to repeat that employees of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and our colleagues from the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Trade contributed to that victory on all fronts. Many of them became victims of political repression. We will always remember this. <...>

☝️ The descendants of Napoleon and Hitler have joined the Anglo-Saxons, again seeking to inflict a “strategic defeat” on our country, destroy it and subordinate it to their narrow selfish hegemonic interests. <...> Our soldiers on the front line, the people who provide them with weapons and equipment, as well as others, who are fostering the correct perception of our just struggle in the international arena, are definitely continuing the cause of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers.

🌐 The countries of the global majority know that Russia is fighting for everyone who wants to make their own choices and follow their own traditions, who do not want to see any manifestations of Nazism, racial or religious discrimination. The West is constantly pushing its satellites and puppets to this.

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🏅 Happy #VictoryDay!

Today marks the 79th Anniversary of the Great Victory over Nazism.

#LestWeForget

#Victory79 #May9

🏅 On May 9, 1945, at 12:43 am, the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany was signed, putting an end to the Great Patriotic War and #WWII in Europe.

Following a successful assault on Berlin by the Red Army, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. The title of Reich President and command of the armed forces of the Third Reich passed to Admiral Karl Dönitz.

Desperate to surrender to the British-American troops, on May 5, German delegation arrived in the French city of Reims, where the headquarters of the Western Allies command was located.

In the Article 4 of the Reims Instrument of Surrender of Nazi Germany stated that this document did not rule out the signing of another, definitive act at the request of one of the coalition members.

Thus, the document was recognised by the Soviet Union only as a preliminary instrument, and a new signing ceremony was proposed to be held in the capital of Nazi Germany, liberated by the Red Army - Berlin.

🌟 On may 9, at 12:43 am in district of Karlshorst the signing ceremony of the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany took place.

On May 9, 1945, at 2:10 am Moscow time, announcer Yury Levitan read out the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany and the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declaring May 9 Victory Day. From that moment on, the Soviet Union and later Russia, as well as the most former Soviet republics have celebrated Victory Day on May 9.

💬 Sergey Lavrov: This year’s Victory Day has a special significance because we are celebrating this great holiday in a situation where Nazism is rearing its head again. The descendants of Napoleon and Hitler have joined the Anglo-Saxons, again seeking to inflict a “strategic defeat” on our country, destroy it and subordinate it to their narrow selfish hegemonic interests. Just like our fathers and grandfathers volunteered to the front, today, once again, we see an extraordinary upsurge in society, as Russians are rallying to another sacred battle.

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🔴 #LIVE from the #RedSquare: Military parade marking the 79th Anniversary of the #Victory in the #GreatPatrioticWar.

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#Victory79 #Parade

8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, the Red Army launched its Crimean offensive, liberating German-occupied Sevastopol, the symbol of Russian naval glory and the main base of the Black Sea Fleet.

In 1941–1942, the city sustained a 250-day long siege, pinning down a considerable German and Romanian force. Prior to taking Sevastopol by assault, the enemy concentrated the largest artillery group of all used in that war. Had Sevastopol failed to resist for so long, the enemy could have reached the Volga and the Caucasus much earlier, something that would have changed the course of the war.

Red Army troops fought heroically on Mount Sapun, Armoured Turret Battery-30, at the foot of the MacKenzie Heights… Occasionally, they had to attack the enemy with their bare hands, for artillery ammunition was in short supply, the supply lines were disrupted, and ships were sunk by the Germans.

▪️ In June 1942, the last defenders of Sevastopol had to leave the city. During the German occupation, nearly 27,000 local civilians were killed and another 45,000 rounded up and sent for slave labour in Germany.

🌟 The mission to liberate the Crimea and Sevastopol was entrusted to the 4th Ukrainian Front commanded by Army General Fyodor Tolbukhin and the Separate Coastal Army commanded by Army General Andrey Yeryomenko. Launching attacks from the north and the east, they drove the enemy from the key cities in the peninsula within days. On May 9, 1944, Sevastopol was liberated following a four-day assault, with the German and Romanian troops chucked into the sea.

The enemy spent 250 days trying to seize the city, whereas the Red Army did the job within just one week in May 1944.

🎖 Sevastopol was among the first to be awarded the title of Hero City. This happened on May 8, 1965. In December 1942, the medal For the Defence of Sevastopol was instituted, with over 52,000 people decorated with it by the mid-1990s.

#Victory79