Russian authorities, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are using the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the defeat of fascism by the World War II Allies to warn the world of an increasingly dangerous rise of Nazism once again in the West—including in Germany and Japan, the very nations in which fascism was unleashed during the mid-20th century.
At a May 8 wreath-laying ceremony at memorial plaques in the Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, Lavrov stated that the postwar effort leading to the creation of the United Nations “was carried out concurrently with the efforts to destroy Nazism and made it possible, well in advance, for the great powers leading the Allied coalition to come to terms. We have remained consistently faithful to the terms of those agreements. It is not in our historical, political, or cultural tradition to sign a document and then do the exact opposite. That is what our Western colleagues are known for. They do not hold sacred the outcomes of our wartime brotherhood, which seemed to have laid the foundations for humanity’s long period of peace.”
He added: “Now, as we commemorate the sacred feat of Victory over Nazism, Nazism is once again rearing its ugly head. Not just ideologically through multiplying attempts to rewrite history and the outcomes of World War II, but also through the efforts to reshape the world so that, as in colonial times, the West can continue exploiting everyone else and living off the wealth of other countries.”
Lavrov then addressed the European situation directly. “This course of action is clearly seen in what today’s Western leaders and elites are doing. In addition to the ideological aspect, combatting Nazism today has taken on a particularly practical dimension, given that many people in Europe are openly calling for repeating what Hitler and his accomplices did and getting ready for another attack on our country with the openly stated goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on us. What Germany is doing is astonishing, for lack of a better word.”
He reminded those present of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s rearmament drive. “I don’t think I need to clarify the implication when he said that Germany’s army ‘must once again become the strongest in Europe.’” Lavrov also denounced the “bureaucrats entrenched in Brussels and actively encouraging such revanchist sentiment in Germany and elsewhere across the Euro-Atlantic space.… This undoubtedly concerns a number of capitals, including our Baltic neighbours, the Poles and, of course, the United Kingdom.”
Lavrov then warned against Kiev’s plans to disrupt the May 9 Victory Day parade. “I want to put it straight up and seriously: if what the resurgent Nazis in the West are now attempting to accomplish through Ukraine comes to pass, there will be no mercy for them.… Nazism, in whatever form it may re-emerge, will be defeated. It is no coincidence that denazification of Ukraine, which fell under a Nazi racist regime after the Western-backed coup of 2014, is one of the stated goals of the special military operation.”
