So spoke Maria Zakharova and Sayyed Ali Khamenei
Today, Monday 27th January 2025, is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by the Red Army. However, as usual since the start of the Russian Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine, Russia has not been invited to the commemoration held in Auschwitz (Poland). To rectify this opprobrium and NATO propaganda spun by western mainstream media (MSM), here is what Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), wrote in a post on her Telegram channel on Thursday 23rd January 2025 (all formatting original - video in Russian), following the weekly MFA press briefing:
💬 On 27th January [2025], we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by the Red Army and their rescue of surviving prisoners. Soviet soldiers died in the battles for this camp and the Polish city of Auschwitz.
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The tragic symbolism lies in the fact that in recent years the organizers and main participants of the mourning events on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz have been representatives of states that voted against or abstained when voting on the UN General Assembly resolution “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”.
We are talking, first of all, about Poland and other countries of the “collective West” that support the neo-Nazi Kiev regime.
I would like to ask a question that is by no means rhetorical: what will they celebrate then?
In Poland, the term “liberation” has been replaced with the “entry” of the Red Army into the camp territory when applied to this event. This is a falsification of history. Until recently, they claimed that it was not the Red Army soldiers who liberated it, but the Ukrainians, since the units belonged to the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front. Of course, there were Ukrainians there. But the majority were Russians. Only then they did not divide themselves by nationality, they called themselves first and foremost Red Army soldiers, Soviet people. There were Russians and 37 other nationalities of the Soviet Union. And our country always says that there is one Victory for all.
But the organizers won't thank everyone and list them all. They need to erase everything heroic, everything real about the Red Army. They need to denigrate it as much as possible.
It is noteworthy that the German Jew Otto Frank , the father of the famous Anne Frank, wrote in his first letter to his mother that he was liberated and rescued by the Russians. At that time, Soviet soldiers were Russians for everyone <…> I wonder if Frank's letter will be rewritten after our briefing today? Or maybe they will? I would not be surprised if another US ambassador “makes a mistake” again and writes on social networks about the liberation of Auschwitz by the Americans. This has already happened.
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So, on January 27, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum will not invite Russian representatives once again. There will be no one to mention and thank the Soviet soldiers-liberators at the memorial event. In this regard, it is worth telling the organizers and all the Europeans who will be there:
Your lives, work, leisure, the existence of your peoples, your children were paid for by Soviet soldiers – their lives, their blood. You are in their debt forever.
You insult the memory not only of the fallen Red Army soldiers, whose memorials you destroy, but also of the victims of the Holocaust. This is not only about Russophobia. This is also a continuation of anti-Semitism, collaborationism. You only pretend to honor Jewish prisoners. At the same time, you destroy memorials to the Red Army soldiers, among whom were hundreds of thousands of Jews.
In the aforementioned 60th Army alone (you forced us to count) – 1073.
It is hard to imagine a more blasphemous outrage against history. The spiritual heirs of the vanquished, the allies of the neo-Banderites, are taking revenge on the departed generations of victors .
🕯 On 27th January [2025], Russian diplomats from the Consulate General in Krakow will honor the memory of their fallen compatriots of all nationalities of the former Soviet Union. Flowers and wreaths will be laid at the cemetery in Auschwitz, where the soldiers who died during the liberation of the city and its environs are buried, as well as at the monument to Soviet prisoners on the territory of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. There were 15,200 Soviet prisoners of war there. Only 2,000 people survived. It was on them that Zyklon-B gas was first tested as a method of execution in the fall of 1941.
We remember them. We will always remember them. Including in their memory, 2025 has been declared the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland in Russia.
Today Russia also celebrates the 82nd anniversary of the Day of the Complete Liberation of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) from the Fascist Siege. This is what Maria Zakharova wrote in another post on her Telegram channel this morning (all formatting original - video in Russian):
💬 During the counteroffensive operations of the Soviet troops in 1941-1942, attempts were made repeatedly to break through the blockade ring around Leningrad. <...>
⚔️ On 12th January 1943, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts began a large-scale offensive operation codenamed “Iskra”. On the sixth day of the offensive, 18th January 1943, the encirclement was broken. During fierce battles, Shlisselburg and Lipki were liberated from the Nazis. As a result, a narrow “corridor” 11 km wide was created on the southern coast of Lake Ladoga for supplying and evacuating the population.
The complete liberation of the city became possible a year later as a result of the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation. It was successfully carried out by the forces of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic Fronts in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet and long-range aviation. 27th January 1944 in the history of the Great Patriotic War was marked by the final lifting of the blockade and the complete liberation of Leningrad.
The battle for the city became one of the most difficult, longest, fiercest and bloodiest battles of the Great Patriotic War. <...>
🗄 Analysis of German military documents indicates that the Nazis and their accomplices planned to wipe Leningrad off the face of the earth and completely exterminate its population, including by cutting off supply routes, destroying food supplies, and creating conditions for famine.
The order from the Hitlerite command was extremely clear: keep the city under siege, block it strictly, do not accept surrender, shoot anyone crossing the front line and lead the process to the total destruction of the inhabitants.
To carry out their inhuman plans, the enemy spared neither forces nor weapons: more than 150 thousand shells were fired at the city on the Neva and over 107 thousand incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped. Residential areas, hospitals, maternity homes, schools and children's institutions, museums, palaces, and institutes were subjected to barbaric bombardments and regular artillery shelling.
Unprecedented in its duration and dire consequences, deliberately aimed at the destruction of people, the Leningrad blockade lasted 872 days – from 8th September 1941 to 27th January 1944. During this time, according to various sources, over one million people died from hunger, disease and shelling. <...> Every day, up to 4 thousand residents of the city on the Neva died in monstrous suffering from exhaustion. Tens of thousands of blockade survivors died during the evacuation.
⚖️ In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, the St. Petersburg City Court recognized the actions of the occupation authorities and German troops, together with their accomplices - armed units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from among the Austrians, Latvians, Poles, French and Czechs - as “a war crime, a crime against humanity and genocide of national and ethnic groups that represented the population of the Soviet Union, the peoples of the Soviet Union”.
Since 1995, the memorable date of 27th January 1944 has been celebrated as the Day of the Lifting of the Siege of Leningrad. In 2014, the corrected name was legislatively approved - Day of the Complete Liberation of Leningrad from the Fascist Siege, because this name fully reflects the role and contribution of the civilian population in the defense of the city.
In January 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his speech dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad, noted that this day is significant not only for the residents of the city, but for all of Russia.
💬 “Historical memory must be preserved. Precisely so that such tragedies as those experienced by our people during the Great Patriotic War never happen again. There is also a practical meaning - so that we can respond in a timely manner to threats arising in relation to our country”, the Russian President said.
#NoExpiryDate
On this day it is also worth remembering all the Palestinian martyrs who have died in the new holocaust and genocide perpetrated by the Zionists in Israel and facilitated by the Anglo-Zionists in US and UK, as well as other NATO and EU countries. For this reason I now bring you some excerpts from the speech that Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, gave on Wednesday 22nd January 2025, commenting the ceasefire agreement between Little Satan (a.k.a. Israel) and Hamas (from Khamenei.ir - all emphasis mine):
A massive military force like the United States, indifferent to humanitarian values, supplies bunker-busting bombs to the oppressive and bloodthirsty Zionist, which then ruthlessly and mercilessly bombs 15,000 children in their homes and hospitals, yet fails to achieve its goals.
For over a year, the Zionist regime committed every crime it could. It bombed homes, hospitals, mosques, and churches in a small piece of land like Gaza. However, ultimately, it not only failed to achieve its goal set by its wretched, disgraced leader – that is, the destruction of Hamas and the governance of Gaza without the Resistance – but it was also compelled to sit at the negotiation table with Hamas and accept its terms for a ceasefire.
Wherever resistance is exhibited by the good servants of God, victory is certain.
Just as Saddam Hussein, under the illusion of Iran's weakness, launched an invasion against the country, and Reagan, with the same delusional belief, provided him with significant support, they and countless other deluded individuals all met their demise, while the Islamic Republic has grown stronger day by day. By God's grace, this experience will be repeated.
The BRICS financial system, which enables financial exchanges using the currencies of member states, is a significant capacity.
This effort [de-dollarization], which the honorable president [Masoud Pezeshkian] is also pursuing, is a significant and important job and a very decisive and critical move in the economic battle. The Central Bank must pave the way for the use of other currencies. Of course, this action will cause certain reactions, but it will strengthen the country’s hand.
It [the “Pioneers of Progress” exhibition, which showcased the achievements and capabilities of the private sector] reveals that the private sector, despite pressures, sanctions, and threats, has reached an acceptable level of progress and the country’s movement is forward. We must appreciate this great divine blessing.
Unfortunately, due to shortcomings in the media sphere, young people, university students, and other segments of society are unaware of such good news and the achievements made. The relevant authorities must plan and execute a significant media initiative in this regard.
In 2019, at the height of sanctions and intensified threats, I called producers and entrepreneurs the commanders on the front line of the economic war and called for production growth.
This year, too, it became evident that active economic figures, with their field experience, are seeking to expand production and increase investment.
Last year, after visiting the exhibition, Martyr Raisi became very pleased and hopeful.
I will conclude this article with a few images from Khamenei.ir with quotations from Khamenei’s speech:
Ms. Zakharova is a powerful writer! Thank you for presenting her biting comments.
A great lady ❤