Moscow is angry at Washington’s attempts to distort the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazism and wants to hold a serious dialogue on the topic

Russia confirmed on Sunday that it was “very angry” at Washington’s attempts to “distort” the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in 1945, and said it wanted to have a “serious dialogue” on the issue with US officials.

“We are very angry at attempts to distort the results… of the decisive contribution of our country,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to a statement published by the White House on Facebook in which he mentioned the United States and Britain as the victors of the Nazis.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that “American officials have neither the courage nor the will to honor the undeniable role and the huge toll that has befallen the Red Army and the Soviet people in the name of all of humanity”.

Moscow called the US statement “very insignificant” and urged Washington not to make the 1945 anniversary “a new problem for bilateral relations that are already going through a difficult time”.

The history of World War II is very sensitive in post-Soviet Russia, which seeks to restore its prestige and authority under President Vladimir Putin.

The Soviet Union suffered about 27 million people during the war.

Moscow also accuses Western Europe, Poland and Ukraine of diminishing its role in the conflict.

And Saturday, Russia celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the end of the war in Europe in a more modest way than usual, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which led to the cancellation of the usual large military parade that attracts thousands of people.