Victory Day doesn’t belong to Russians only – says envoy to Tanzania

What you need to know:

The Soviet Red Army’s counter-offensive against Nazi Germany—which verged on catastrophic in the war’s early days—ended with a triumphant match into Berlin in 1945. This was 74th Victory Day, which is marked on every May 9

Dar es Salaam. Russian Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Yuri Popov on Tuesday May 7 said 74 years after the end of the war, ‘Victory Day’ is the dearest, the most emotional and inclusive commemoration in the history of their country.

The ambassador was speaking at an event held at his residence in Dar es Salaam to commemorate the day when Russia regained her sovereignty from invading forces of Hitler.

“For the people of the former Soviet Union, it will forever remain a day of the people's great heroic deed and for the countries of Europe and the entire planet - the day on which the world was saved,” said Mr Popov.

He added that given the lessons of the past, there is no alternative to friendship and Russia is committed towards working for a better world that is accommodative to all.

“With our closest neighbours and all countries of the world, Russia is prepared to build a kind of relationship which is not only based on lessons of the past but is also directed into a shared future,” said the ambassador.

The ambassador echoed the Russian President Vladimir Putin who recently said, that the Nuremburg tribunal is losing power in some countries.

“Therefore it is our common duty is to combat glorification of Nazism, to prevent attempts of revising the results of the Second World War, and to be firm and consistent in fighting any manifestations of racism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism and chauvinism,” he said

The ambassador further said there is more reason for a unified world today than ever before

“In the face of today's real terrorist threats, we must remain faithful to the memory of our fathers. We must defend the world order based on security and justice, a new culture of relations which does not allow for a repetition of cold or hot wars.”

The Second World War claimed lives of about 27 million Soviet citizens and it is believed that Soviet human loss accounted for half of the total loss of the World War II, this is despite the initial distortions that put the figure at Seven million.

May 9 has, therefore, become the day to commemorate that staggering loss of life and one of Russia’s most popular holidays.

History

Having signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in 1939, Hitler’s invasion of June 1941 caught the USSR by surprise.

By the end of the year, the Germans had seized most of the Soviet Union’s western territory and surrounded Leningrad.

Leningrad’s horrific siege was one of the most lethal in world history. It lasted for 900 days, from September 1941 to January 1944.

However, against all odds the city’s civilian population of almost three million refused to surrender, even though they were completely surrounded.

By the first winter of the siege there was no heating, no water supply, almost no electricity and very little food. Despite non-stop air and artillery bombardment, the city’s greatest enemies were hunger and the bitter cold. Exhausted people collapsed and died.

The streets were littered with dead bodies. The only life-line to the mainland was the ice of Lake Ladoga – known as the “Road of Life”.

Somehow, the city survived, its heroic resistance summed up in the motto: “Troy fell, Rome fell, Leningrad did not fall”.