Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
6️⃣5️⃣ years since Yuri Gagarin’s historic space feat!
🚀 On April 12, 1961, the Vostok launch vehicle lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This momentous event marked the culmination of the efforts of millions of Soviet citizens – design engineers, scientists, military pilots, doctors, specialists across a wide range of fields, and entire branches of industry. Inside the cramped cabin of the crewed spacecraft was Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin.
At 9:07 am, the four metal arms holding the 287-tonne rocket retracted, and Vostok began its lift-off. It was at that very moment that Gagarin’s famous “#POYEKHALI!” (*Let’s go!) rang out over the radio.
At 9:12 am, the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle and entered the Earth's orbit. Its speed reached 28,260 kilometres per hour – nearly 8 kilometres per second. Never before had a human travelled so fast.
🎙 Just as the spacecraft reached Earth's orbit, Yuri Levitan – the USSR’s iconic radio announcer – solemnly declared to the world:
While in orbit, Gagarin recorded his observations and transmitted them back to Earth. Before him lay the planet as no one had ever seen it before: the curve of the horizon, the luminous blue edge of the atmosphere, coastlines, mountain ranges, vast landmasses – all set against the bottomless black void of space.
Almost 90 minutes into the flight, the spacecraft began its descent. At that moment, a highly dangerous emergency arose: the descent module failed to separate immediately from the equipment module. However, as the spacecraft re-entered the dense layers of the atmosphere, the connecting cables between the two sections burned through due to friction, and the descent continued.
At 10:42 am, at an altitude of 7 km, the cosmonaut ejected.
At 10:53 am, Yuri Gagarin landed safely in a field near the city of Engels, around 4 km from the present-day bank of the Volga.
On April 14, 1961, by Decree No. 251/22 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Yuri Gagarin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, together with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Two days later, the people of Moscow welcomed the space traveller to the Soviet capital with flowers and celebratory banners. By the end of April, Earth’s first cosmonaut embarked on an international tour to share what he had witnessed with people around the world. In the two years following this historic event, Yuri Gagarin visited more than 30 countries, where he was honoured as a true hero. The tour became unofficially known as the “Mission of Peace”.
***
1️⃣0️⃣6️⃣ minutes of Yuri Gagarin's flight changed the course of world history.
Just 16 years after the most devastating and bloodiest war in human history, the Soviet people achieved what had only recently seemed impossible – opening the way to space for all humankind.
***
💬 As President Vladimir Putin noted in his message to the participants in the first Russian Space Forum on April 9, 2026:
🇺🇳 Since 2011, April 12 has been observed as the International Day of Human Space Flight, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly under resolution A/RES/65/271 in honour of Yuri Gagarin’s legendary mission.
#Gagarin65 #FirstInSpace
🚀 On April 12, 1961, the Vostok launch vehicle lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This momentous event marked the culmination of the efforts of millions of Soviet citizens – design engineers, scientists, military pilots, doctors, specialists across a wide range of fields, and entire branches of industry. Inside the cramped cabin of the crewed spacecraft was Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin.
At 9:07 am, the four metal arms holding the 287-tonne rocket retracted, and Vostok began its lift-off. It was at that very moment that Gagarin’s famous “#POYEKHALI!” (*Let’s go!) rang out over the radio.
At 9:12 am, the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle and entered the Earth's orbit. Its speed reached 28,260 kilometres per hour – nearly 8 kilometres per second. Never before had a human travelled so fast.
🎙 Just as the spacecraft reached Earth's orbit, Yuri Levitan – the USSR’s iconic radio announcer – solemnly declared to the world:
This is Moscow speaking! The time in Moscow is 10:02 am. We are broadcasting a TASS report on the first human flight into outer space.
On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union launched into orbit around the Earth the world’s first spacecraft-satellite, Vostok, with a man on board.
The pilot-cosmonaut is a citizen of the USSR, Air Force Major Yuri Gagarin (the extraordinary rank was conferred by Order No. 77 of the USSR Minister of Defence, dated April 12, 1961).
While in orbit, Gagarin recorded his observations and transmitted them back to Earth. Before him lay the planet as no one had ever seen it before: the curve of the horizon, the luminous blue edge of the atmosphere, coastlines, mountain ranges, vast landmasses – all set against the bottomless black void of space.
Almost 90 minutes into the flight, the spacecraft began its descent. At that moment, a highly dangerous emergency arose: the descent module failed to separate immediately from the equipment module. However, as the spacecraft re-entered the dense layers of the atmosphere, the connecting cables between the two sections burned through due to friction, and the descent continued.
At 10:42 am, at an altitude of 7 km, the cosmonaut ejected.
At 10:53 am, Yuri Gagarin landed safely in a field near the city of Engels, around 4 km from the present-day bank of the Volga.
On April 14, 1961, by Decree No. 251/22 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Yuri Gagarin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, together with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Two days later, the people of Moscow welcomed the space traveller to the Soviet capital with flowers and celebratory banners. By the end of April, Earth’s first cosmonaut embarked on an international tour to share what he had witnessed with people around the world. In the two years following this historic event, Yuri Gagarin visited more than 30 countries, where he was honoured as a true hero. The tour became unofficially known as the “Mission of Peace”.
***
1️⃣0️⃣6️⃣ minutes of Yuri Gagarin's flight changed the course of world history.
Just 16 years after the most devastating and bloodiest war in human history, the Soviet people achieved what had only recently seemed impossible – opening the way to space for all humankind.
***
💬 As President Vladimir Putin noted in his message to the participants in the first Russian Space Forum on April 9, 2026:
Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight became one of the great events of the 20th century and opened a new era in the history of human civilisation.
We are sincerely proud of several generations of talented scientists, designers, cosmonauts, military personnel and civilian specialists who stood at the origins of the national space programme and wrote bright, heroic pages in the chronicle of its victories and achievements.
🇺🇳 Since 2011, April 12 has been observed as the International Day of Human Space Flight, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly under resolution A/RES/65/271 in honour of Yuri Gagarin’s legendary mission.
#Gagarin65 #FirstInSpace
👍2
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
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🛰 On April 12, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kudy-Sverchkov, Sergey Mikaev and Andrey Fedyayev sent greetings from aboard the International Space Station in low Earth orbit on Cosmonautics Day and the International Day of Human Space Flight.
💬 65 years ago, on a spring day like this, Yuri Gagarin completed a single orbit of our planet – becoming the first person on Earth to see it from the space and to behold the beauty of our shared home.
Today, during long-duration missions, we complete hundreds and even thousands of such orbits. But we do not simply fly in space – we work, helping push science forward and deepen our understanding of human life in space, so that those who follow us can go even further in exploring the Universe.
☝️ None of this would have been possible without the historic first flight of our great predecessor.
This year, we are not simply celebrating Cosmonautics Day. In accordance with a decree by the President of Russia, Russia will observe Space Week annually starting in 2026. Across the country, numerous events are being held dedicated to cosmonautics – its history, its present and its future.
Our goal is to kindle in the hearts of millions of Russian boys and girls a love of space. Let us once again look to the skies and dream of the stars and distant planets.
Happy holiday, friends. Happy Cosmonautics Day!
#Gagarin65 #FirstInSpace
💬 65 years ago, on a spring day like this, Yuri Gagarin completed a single orbit of our planet – becoming the first person on Earth to see it from the space and to behold the beauty of our shared home.
Today, during long-duration missions, we complete hundreds and even thousands of such orbits. But we do not simply fly in space – we work, helping push science forward and deepen our understanding of human life in space, so that those who follow us can go even further in exploring the Universe.
☝️ None of this would have been possible without the historic first flight of our great predecessor.
This year, we are not simply celebrating Cosmonautics Day. In accordance with a decree by the President of Russia, Russia will observe Space Week annually starting in 2026. Across the country, numerous events are being held dedicated to cosmonautics – its history, its present and its future.
Our goal is to kindle in the hearts of millions of Russian boys and girls a love of space. Let us once again look to the skies and dream of the stars and distant planets.
Happy holiday, friends. Happy Cosmonautics Day!
#Gagarin65 #FirstInSpace
❤1
Forwarded from DIPLOMATIE RUSSE
🎙 Allocution et réponses aux questions des médias de Sergueï Lavrov, Chef de la diplomatie russe, à l'issue de sa visite en République populaire de Chine
📍 Pékin, 15 avril 2026
💬 Nous avons examiné la mise en œuvre des accords conclus par le Président de la Russie Vladimir Poutine et le Président de la Chine Xi Jinping concernant l'organisation de la coopération commerciale, économique et d'investissement, de manière à la prémunir contre l'influence néfaste de ceux qui s'appuient non pas sur leur capacité à concourir loyalement, mais sur les sanctions et autres méthodes illégales de coercition, de chantage et de diktat. Nous avons constaté que nous accomplissons avec succès ces objectifs qui ont été fixés au plus haut niveau.
📊 Pour la quatrième année consécutive, les échanges commerciaux dépassent 200 milliards de dollars. Cet objectif avait été fixé en son temps. Il a été atteint avant l'échéance prévue et se maintient durablement comme socle de notre coopération matérielle et pratique. [...]
Sur le plan international, nous souhaitons faire échouer les tentatives manifestes de l'Occident de préserver et même, à certains égards, de « renouveler » son hégémonie, en tablant sur le fait que les cinq siècles d'expérience de conquête du monde, de soumission de celui-ci à ses intérêts, de mise en place de mécanismes de gouvernance mondiale qui permettent de vivre aux dépens des autres, y compris la traite négrière, le colonialisme et bien d'autres choses encore, pourraient en quelque sorte être « modernisés » et permettre, par des méthodes contemporaines, de continuer à vivre aux dépens des autres et à les soumettre à sa volonté. Ni la Chine, ni la Russie, comme l'écrasante majorité des pays du monde, ne peuvent souscrire à une telle approche.
Nous avons examiné la situation dans différentes régions en accordant une attention particulière à l'Eurasie, où apparaissent toujours davantage de foyers de tensions. [...]
L'ensemble de notre continent eurasien constitue d'une manière ou d'une autre une arène de tendances graves et opposées entre elles, ainsi que d'actions concrètes de la part des principaux membres de la communauté mondiale. C'est le continent le plus vaste et le plus riche, dont les ressources sont pratiquement inépuisables. C'est pourquoi les composantes géopolitique et géoéconomique y revêtent une importance particulière.
Nos dirigeants, le Président de la Russie Vladimir Poutine et le Président de la Chine Xi Jinping, accordent traditionnellement une attention particulière à ces processus dans leurs contacts confidents lors de l'échange de visites.
***
Extraits des réponses aux questions des médias :
• Malheureusement, nos collègues occidentaux, même lorsqu'ils l'ont signée en 1945 (comme dans le cas de la signature de nombreux autres documents par la suite), n'avaient nullement l'intention de respecter la Charte des Nations unies ni un principe aussi essentiel de ce document juridique international fondamental que l'égalité souveraine des États.
• Nous, comme nos amis chinois, en restant attachés à tous ces nobles idéaux inscrits dans la Charte des Nations unies, ne les considérons pas comme de simples idéaux, mais comme un guide d'action. C'est pourquoi nos positions sont très solides.
• Avec la République populaire de Chine nous avons tout : tant les capacités déjà engagées que les capacités de réserve, et les possibilités envisagées pour ne pas dépendre de ce type d'aventures agressives [des États-Unis] qui sapent l'économie et l'énergie mondiales.
🔎 En savoir plus
📍 Pékin, 15 avril 2026
💬 Nous avons examiné la mise en œuvre des accords conclus par le Président de la Russie Vladimir Poutine et le Président de la Chine Xi Jinping concernant l'organisation de la coopération commerciale, économique et d'investissement, de manière à la prémunir contre l'influence néfaste de ceux qui s'appuient non pas sur leur capacité à concourir loyalement, mais sur les sanctions et autres méthodes illégales de coercition, de chantage et de diktat. Nous avons constaté que nous accomplissons avec succès ces objectifs qui ont été fixés au plus haut niveau.
📊 Pour la quatrième année consécutive, les échanges commerciaux dépassent 200 milliards de dollars. Cet objectif avait été fixé en son temps. Il a été atteint avant l'échéance prévue et se maintient durablement comme socle de notre coopération matérielle et pratique. [...]
Sur le plan international, nous souhaitons faire échouer les tentatives manifestes de l'Occident de préserver et même, à certains égards, de « renouveler » son hégémonie, en tablant sur le fait que les cinq siècles d'expérience de conquête du monde, de soumission de celui-ci à ses intérêts, de mise en place de mécanismes de gouvernance mondiale qui permettent de vivre aux dépens des autres, y compris la traite négrière, le colonialisme et bien d'autres choses encore, pourraient en quelque sorte être « modernisés » et permettre, par des méthodes contemporaines, de continuer à vivre aux dépens des autres et à les soumettre à sa volonté. Ni la Chine, ni la Russie, comme l'écrasante majorité des pays du monde, ne peuvent souscrire à une telle approche.
Nous avons examiné la situation dans différentes régions en accordant une attention particulière à l'Eurasie, où apparaissent toujours davantage de foyers de tensions. [...]
L'ensemble de notre continent eurasien constitue d'une manière ou d'une autre une arène de tendances graves et opposées entre elles, ainsi que d'actions concrètes de la part des principaux membres de la communauté mondiale. C'est le continent le plus vaste et le plus riche, dont les ressources sont pratiquement inépuisables. C'est pourquoi les composantes géopolitique et géoéconomique y revêtent une importance particulière.
Nos dirigeants, le Président de la Russie Vladimir Poutine et le Président de la Chine Xi Jinping, accordent traditionnellement une attention particulière à ces processus dans leurs contacts confidents lors de l'échange de visites.
***
Extraits des réponses aux questions des médias :
• Malheureusement, nos collègues occidentaux, même lorsqu'ils l'ont signée en 1945 (comme dans le cas de la signature de nombreux autres documents par la suite), n'avaient nullement l'intention de respecter la Charte des Nations unies ni un principe aussi essentiel de ce document juridique international fondamental que l'égalité souveraine des États.
• Nous, comme nos amis chinois, en restant attachés à tous ces nobles idéaux inscrits dans la Charte des Nations unies, ne les considérons pas comme de simples idéaux, mais comme un guide d'action. C'est pourquoi nos positions sont très solides.
• Avec la République populaire de Chine nous avons tout : tant les capacités déjà engagées que les capacités de réserve, et les possibilités envisagées pour ne pas dépendre de ce type d'aventures agressives [des États-Unis] qui sapent l'économie et l'énergie mondiales.
🔎 En savoir plus
👍2❤1
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
◼️ Today our country marks for the first time Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People, perpetrated by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
It was established b the Executive Order of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin of December 29, 2025, and the basic details of commemorating the genocide victims were determined by Federal Law No. 74-FZ. The date of 19 April was not chosen by chance. On this day in 1943, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued its Decree No. 39
#NoStatuteOfLimitations
The genocide of the Soviet people means the actions committed in 1941-45 with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, ethnic, racial and national groups that inhabited the USSR.
The top echelon of Nazi Germany regarded the territory of the Soviet Union up to the Urals as its Lebensraum, which historically was intended to be settled with representatives of the Aryan race and, therefore to be cleansed from those, whom the Hitlerite elite labeled as “subhumans”: Slavs, Jews, Gypsies and Asians.
With these purposes in view, even before invading the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany planned a system of extermination practices to radically reduce the Soviet population as early as during the war.
The orchestrated famine strategy was an important part of the Nazi genocide programme (https://t.me/MID_Russia/77695) that was to lead to the death of 30 million Soviet citizens as early as in the winter of 1941-42.
▪️ Although it has not been implemented in full, it still caused enormous victims, including: among those who died were over three million Soviet prisoners of war, about a million of residents in the besieged Leningrad, a great number of civilian population starving in the occupied areas, women and children forcefully imprisoned in the Nazi transfer camps.
▪️ Jews and Gypsies were subject to total extermination.
▪️ Soviet female labourers (Ostarbeiter) were subject to forced abortions.
▪️ Soviet children having signs of Aryan origin were kidnapped in the occupied territories for subsequent Germanisation, which also constitutes a conventional form of genocide.
From the very beginning of the war, the Nazis developed the so-called General Plan ‘Ost’ with the aim of colonising the occupied territories. Under the plan, millions of Germans were to be resettled in the conquered lands. New, German towns and villages were to be built for them.
***
A horrifying estimate of 13.7 million people fell victim to the Hitler’s policy of destroying “subnormal” as he thought Soviet people, with another five million citizens to a willfully implemented famine strategy.
The facts of genocide in the occupied lands of former USSR have been confirmed judicially in all the constituent entities of Russia, where Nazis and their collaborators committed crimes against civilian population during the Great Patriotic War.
❗️ Russia’s diplomatic service will seek to ensure that the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators against the citizens of the Soviet Union are recognised by the international community as genocide against the Soviet people. The relevant qualification has been recorded in some documents adopted in the CIS and the CSTO.
💬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the video address on Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People:
For further perusal:
👉 On the Nazi's genocide of millions of Soviet citizens
👉 Archival documents on heinous Nazi crimes in the concentration camps
👉 On the Khatyn' massacre
👉 How the West created and supported Ukrainian Nazi collaborators complicit in the genocide
👉 Section on the genocide of the Soviet people on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website (in Russian)
It was established b the Executive Order of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin of December 29, 2025, and the basic details of commemorating the genocide victims were determined by Federal Law No. 74-FZ. The date of 19 April was not chosen by chance. On this day in 1943, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued its Decree No. 39
#NoStatuteOfLimitations
The genocide of the Soviet people means the actions committed in 1941-45 with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, ethnic, racial and national groups that inhabited the USSR.
The top echelon of Nazi Germany regarded the territory of the Soviet Union up to the Urals as its Lebensraum, which historically was intended to be settled with representatives of the Aryan race and, therefore to be cleansed from those, whom the Hitlerite elite labeled as “subhumans”: Slavs, Jews, Gypsies and Asians.
With these purposes in view, even before invading the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany planned a system of extermination practices to radically reduce the Soviet population as early as during the war.
The orchestrated famine strategy was an important part of the Nazi genocide programme (https://t.me/MID_Russia/77695) that was to lead to the death of 30 million Soviet citizens as early as in the winter of 1941-42.
▪️ Although it has not been implemented in full, it still caused enormous victims, including: among those who died were over three million Soviet prisoners of war, about a million of residents in the besieged Leningrad, a great number of civilian population starving in the occupied areas, women and children forcefully imprisoned in the Nazi transfer camps.
▪️ Jews and Gypsies were subject to total extermination.
▪️ Soviet female labourers (Ostarbeiter) were subject to forced abortions.
▪️ Soviet children having signs of Aryan origin were kidnapped in the occupied territories for subsequent Germanisation, which also constitutes a conventional form of genocide.
From the very beginning of the war, the Nazis developed the so-called General Plan ‘Ost’ with the aim of colonising the occupied territories. Under the plan, millions of Germans were to be resettled in the conquered lands. New, German towns and villages were to be built for them.
***
A horrifying estimate of 13.7 million people fell victim to the Hitler’s policy of destroying “subnormal” as he thought Soviet people, with another five million citizens to a willfully implemented famine strategy.
The facts of genocide in the occupied lands of former USSR have been confirmed judicially in all the constituent entities of Russia, where Nazis and their collaborators committed crimes against civilian population during the Great Patriotic War.
❗️ Russia’s diplomatic service will seek to ensure that the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators against the citizens of the Soviet Union are recognised by the international community as genocide against the Soviet people. The relevant qualification has been recorded in some documents adopted in the CIS and the CSTO.
💬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the video address on Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People:
Preserving the memory of the millions of victims of the genocide of the Soviet people is our sacred duty. We will not allow those atrocities to be lost to oblivion, no matter how hard those who today seek once again to push Europe down the well-trodden path of racial superiority may try.
For further perusal:
👉 On the Nazi's genocide of millions of Soviet citizens
👉 Archival documents on heinous Nazi crimes in the concentration camps
👉 On the Khatyn' massacre
👉 How the West created and supported Ukrainian Nazi collaborators complicit in the genocide
👉 Section on the genocide of the Soviet people on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website (in Russian)
😁1
Forwarded from RT Arabic - غرفة الأخبار
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#غرفة_أخبار_RT #تقارير_RT #أخبار #RT_Arabic
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We are pleased to inform you that the VYZOV Foundation has started accepting applications for the VYZOV Prize for future technologies. This award recognizes significant breakthroughs in fundamental and applied science and engineering, with each prize totaling 12 million Russian rubles (approximately 130,000 US dollars).
The VYZOV Prize has five categories, four of which are dedicated to scientists based in Russia. We would particularly like to highlight the international category Discovery, which is open to scientists worldwide.
The five categories honor active researchers for achievements made primarily (but not exclusively) within the last decade:
• Breakthrough: for scientific research that has solved an important scientific or technological problem.
• Engineering solution: for a significant invention or the creation of a new technology.
• Future: for a scientific achievement that has influenced the dynamics of science and technology development (awarded to participants who have not reached the age of 35 at the time of application).
• Scientist of the year: for outstanding cumulative personal contributions and changing the landscape of science and technology.
• Discovery (international category): for a significant discovery that has influenced the development of science and technology.
Nominations can be submitted in three ways:
• Self-nomination.
• Nomination by a colleague who is a bona fide scientist.
• Nomination by any scientific organization (such as a university or research institute).
Applications are accepted until May 21, 2026 at vyzovprize.com
The term «Vyzov» translates to «challenge» in Russian. The VYZOV Foundation is a private, independent, non-governmental organization with a distinguished Scientific Committee that ensures a fair and equitable selection process for all candidates.
VYZOV Foundation encourages scientists from all over the world to apply to push the boundaries of science and technology for a brighter future together!
The VYZOV Prize has five categories, four of which are dedicated to scientists based in Russia. We would particularly like to highlight the international category Discovery, which is open to scientists worldwide.
The five categories honor active researchers for achievements made primarily (but not exclusively) within the last decade:
• Breakthrough: for scientific research that has solved an important scientific or technological problem.
• Engineering solution: for a significant invention or the creation of a new technology.
• Future: for a scientific achievement that has influenced the dynamics of science and technology development (awarded to participants who have not reached the age of 35 at the time of application).
• Scientist of the year: for outstanding cumulative personal contributions and changing the landscape of science and technology.
• Discovery (international category): for a significant discovery that has influenced the development of science and technology.
Nominations can be submitted in three ways:
• Self-nomination.
• Nomination by a colleague who is a bona fide scientist.
• Nomination by any scientific organization (such as a university or research institute).
Applications are accepted until May 21, 2026 at vyzovprize.com
The term «Vyzov» translates to «challenge» in Russian. The VYZOV Foundation is a private, independent, non-governmental organization with a distinguished Scientific Committee that ensures a fair and equitable selection process for all candidates.
VYZOV Foundation encourages scientists from all over the world to apply to push the boundaries of science and technology for a brighter future together!
❤1😁1
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🕯 April 19 marked, for the first time, the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People committed by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War.
The National Center for Historical Memory under the President of the Russian Federation has prepared an online exhibition, “No Statute of Limitations: The Genocide of the Soviet People.”
Before launching their war against the USSR, the Nazis devised sweeping plans to dismantle Soviet statehood, colonize its territories, seize its resources, and exterminate and enslave the population.
The occupiers developed the Generalplan Ost, which envisaged the deportation and destruction of 50 million people in the USSR; the enslavement of 14 million; and the forced Germanization of 1 million.
They also planned to starve the population through the so-called Hunger Plan (Backe Plan), aimed at extracting as much food as possible for Germany while drastically restricting rations for Soviet citizens.
📑 From the Directive on the Administration of the Economy in the Occupied “Eastern Territories” (June 1941):
Following Nazi Germany’s treacherous invasion of the USSR in June 1941 and the occupation of parts of its territory, German forces operated in coordination with units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France, and the Czech lands.
Through collaborationist and auxiliary police battalions (Estonian, Latvian, Ukrainian, and others), Nazi occupiers carried out punitive operations against the civilian population. Baltic units, in particular, committed hundreds of atrocities in northwestern Russia and Soviet Belarus, killing at least 3'000 people aged from 2-3 months to 60 years. In Karelia, Finnish occupiers placed those they deemed “non-native” into concentration camps (14 in total across the region).
👉 These facts may point to the international nature of the crimes committed during the genocide of the Soviet people by Nazi perpetrators and their European collaborators.
The systematic extermination of Soviet civilians and the large-scale destruction of entire settlements in the occupied USSR were carried out not only by Wehrmacht units, but also by SS formations, police units, and various collaborators.
Across the Soviet Union, the Nazi occupiers established a vast network of concentration camps and detention sites for civilians and Red Army prisoners of war (more than 528 camps in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic alone), where tens of thousands perished — including children, women, the elderly, and countless wounded and sick soldiers captured by the enemy.
▪️ The largest camps on Soviet territory included: Dulag-130 (Roslavl, Smolensk Region; 130,000 dead), Stalag-372 (later Dulag-376, Porkhov, Pskov Region; 75,000 dead), camps in Gatchina (Leningrad Region; 80,000 dead), Dulag-142 or the “Bryansk Buchenwald” (40,000 dead), the “Krasny” camp (Simferopol, Crimea; 15,000 dead), and Finnish camps in Karelia (Petrozavodsk; over 8,000 dead, including around 2,000 children).
During World War II, the Nazis widely practiced the deportation of people from occupied Soviet territories to Germany for forced labor. In East Prussia alone, more than 200'000 Soviet citizens were subjected to slave labor under inhumane conditions at major military-industrial enterprises of the Third Reich.
📖 More:
• More on the genocide of the Soviet people and its key aspects
• Video address by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
• A dedicated section on the genocide of the Soviet people at the Russian MFA's website
The National Center for Historical Memory under the President of the Russian Federation has prepared an online exhibition, “No Statute of Limitations: The Genocide of the Soviet People.”
Before launching their war against the USSR, the Nazis devised sweeping plans to dismantle Soviet statehood, colonize its territories, seize its resources, and exterminate and enslave the population.
The occupiers developed the Generalplan Ost, which envisaged the deportation and destruction of 50 million people in the USSR; the enslavement of 14 million; and the forced Germanization of 1 million.
They also planned to starve the population through the so-called Hunger Plan (Backe Plan), aimed at extracting as much food as possible for Germany while drastically restricting rations for Soviet citizens.
📑 From the Directive on the Administration of the Economy in the Occupied “Eastern Territories” (June 1941):
“It is necessary <…> to organize the exploitation of natural resources (oil, coal, ores, etc.) in the interests of the German war economy <…>”
Following Nazi Germany’s treacherous invasion of the USSR in June 1941 and the occupation of parts of its territory, German forces operated in coordination with units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France, and the Czech lands.
Through collaborationist and auxiliary police battalions (Estonian, Latvian, Ukrainian, and others), Nazi occupiers carried out punitive operations against the civilian population. Baltic units, in particular, committed hundreds of atrocities in northwestern Russia and Soviet Belarus, killing at least 3'000 people aged from 2-3 months to 60 years. In Karelia, Finnish occupiers placed those they deemed “non-native” into concentration camps (14 in total across the region).
👉 These facts may point to the international nature of the crimes committed during the genocide of the Soviet people by Nazi perpetrators and their European collaborators.
The systematic extermination of Soviet civilians and the large-scale destruction of entire settlements in the occupied USSR were carried out not only by Wehrmacht units, but also by SS formations, police units, and various collaborators.
Across the Soviet Union, the Nazi occupiers established a vast network of concentration camps and detention sites for civilians and Red Army prisoners of war (more than 528 camps in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic alone), where tens of thousands perished — including children, women, the elderly, and countless wounded and sick soldiers captured by the enemy.
▪️ The largest camps on Soviet territory included: Dulag-130 (Roslavl, Smolensk Region; 130,000 dead), Stalag-372 (later Dulag-376, Porkhov, Pskov Region; 75,000 dead), camps in Gatchina (Leningrad Region; 80,000 dead), Dulag-142 or the “Bryansk Buchenwald” (40,000 dead), the “Krasny” camp (Simferopol, Crimea; 15,000 dead), and Finnish camps in Karelia (Petrozavodsk; over 8,000 dead, including around 2,000 children).
During World War II, the Nazis widely practiced the deportation of people from occupied Soviet territories to Germany for forced labor. In East Prussia alone, more than 200'000 Soviet citizens were subjected to slave labor under inhumane conditions at major military-industrial enterprises of the Third Reich.
📖 More:
• More on the genocide of the Soviet people and its key aspects
• Video address by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
• A dedicated section on the genocide of the Soviet people at the Russian MFA's website