Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the German authorities of trying to accuse the Soviet Union of starting World War II.

Commenting on the change in the position of the German authorities regarding the historical responsibility of Germany for the outbreak of the Second World War, she stressed that “the German state, despite the consistent statements of its representatives about their recognition of the sole historical responsibility of Germany for the outbreak of the Second World War and the inhuman crimes committed by the German Nazis and by the German armed forces in the course of it. In recent years, consistent efforts have already been made to exclude this thesis from international socio-political discussions.

“Turning the past on its head, the German authorities are persistently trying to place on the Soviet Union some responsibility for waging the war, which can be at least comparable and even equal to their own historical responsibility, since it is clear that the complex of this problem is increasingly pressing on Berlin” – added Zakharova.