People in Russia are still affected by the huge sacrifices made during the Second World War against the Nazi Germany 70 years ago. Since every family has lost lives, goods and paid a massive price for just living through the war, feelings are still there and the conflict is still hunting most of the Russian people. However, what is more interesting is the fact that following the end of the war, the Soviet leaders have tried to reinforce their legitimacy, by not letting the memories of the Second World War fade away in history.
Things do not seem to have changed too much up to this day when the Russian government chooses to go in the same direction. Many critics accuse Putin of warning against other leaders abroad as a way of placing himself above them at hard times, the kind of attitude that makes us think about Nazi Germany before the start of the Second World War.
The head of parliament’s international affairs committee, Mr Alexei Pushkov posted a short notice on Twitter, saying that very soon the Western leaders would take all the credit for the destruction of the Nazi party, unless Russia does something about it now, while there is time, The Washington Post reports.
The debates started with an embarrassing list of the 10 ugliest monuments in the world, delivered by CNN and which included the name of the monuments dedicated to those who fought to protect the Brest fortress against the Nazi attack in 1941. Although the monument was unveiled in 1971 in Belarus, the CNN broadcaster was forced to offer an apology to the Russian ambassador in Washington.
According to the foreign ministry’s human rights ombudsman, Konstantin Dolgov, Russia will “decisively cut short attempts to falsify history and belittle the role of the Soviet Union in achieving victory in World War II.”
An independent TV channel, Dozhd TV, lost all access to cable providers after asking an inappropriate question on television in January. The question implied that Leningrad might have been better off surrendering, rather than trying to survive through the 900-day siege during the Second World War. The question generated huge outrage, to the point where the future of Dozhd is in danger.
While delivering a speech to parliament, Pushkov insisted over the fact that Russia need a legislation “that would protect our history and our viewpoint on historical events, because there are quite a lot of those wishing to distort them both abroad and, unfortunately, inside Russia.”
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