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Официальный новостной канал Посольства России в США.
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📅 The #VictoryBanner, which became a symbol of the triumph of the Soviet Union and its peoples in the fight against Nazism, was raised atop the Reichstag, the Nazi Seat of Power, in the early hours of May 1,1945

A battle flag of the 150th Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class Idritsa-Pursuit Division, 79th Pursuit Corps, 3rd Shock Troops, 1st Belarusian Front became the Victory Banner; Sergeant Mikhail Egorov, Junior Sergeant Meliton Kantariya and Lieutenant Alexey Berest raised the banner on the roof of the Reichstag.

📂 Today, the Victory Banner is a historic relic stored in a special capsule in a banner foundation located in underground premises at the Central Museum of the Russian Armed Forces. The bright red linen remains the main symbol of the Great Patriotic War, a pride of all peoples of the Soviet Union who contributed to our common Victory.

#Victory78 #WeRemember
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🌟 Happy #VictoryDay!

Today marks the 78th Anniversary of the Great Victory over Nazism.

#LestWeForget

#Victory78 #VDay78 #May9
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🕯 June 22 marks the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia.

82 years ago, at 4 am, Nazi Germany perfidiously attacked the Soviet Union after a lengthy artillery barrage and without a declaration of war. Nazi forces launched attacks along the entire length of the Soviet border, from the Barents to the Black Sea.

This is how the Great Patriotic War began, opening one of the most tragic chapters in the history of our country.

Romania and Italy sided with Germany. Slovakia, Finland and Hungary joined them in several days later. The aggressors controlled the industrial potential and other resources of virtually all the continental European countries.

The bloodiest war in history lasted 1,418 days and nights and culminated in the Victory of the Soviet Union and its allies, and it entailed the complete defeat of Axis countries.

❗️ The Soviet Union accounted for 40 percent of wartime losses. Its casualties totalled 26.6 million war dead, including over 8.7 million killed in action. The Nazis deliberately exterminated 7.42 million people on the occupied territories.

#WeRemember how, after living through the war and despite certain disagreements, the nations of the world were united by a striving to prevent another monstrous conflict in the future and to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Unfortunately, Nazi ideology has proved resilient over the decades. They are using Nazi ideology once again for monstrous geopolitical experiments aimed at containing Russia. Collaborators who found refuge in the West after the war, Nazi criminals and their young followers are brandishing the banner of these ideas today.

🕯 The Candle of Remembrance memorial event has been held every June 22 since 2009. Everyone can honour the memory of the deceased with a moment of silence, light a candle and lay flowers at a military burial site or a Great Patriotic War monument.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations #Victory78
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📅 #OTD in 1944, Soviet forces launched Operation Bagration, one of the largest and most successful military operations in history. In two months, they liberated the Belarusian SSR, part of the Lithuanian and Latvian SSRs and eastern Poland.

🔻 By the summer of 1944, the Red Army had succeeded in pushing German forces back from Leningrad, liberating Crimea and Ukraine and reaching the border with Romania. However, enemy forces continued to occupy the territory of Belarus. A salient controlled by the Wehrmacht’s Army Group Centre was established there. During the three-year occupation, Nazi troops had burned hundreds of local communities and killed over 2 million prisoners of war and civilians.

🔻 The Soviet forces simultaneously breached the defensive positions of the Wehrmacht’s Army Group Centre in six sectors, encircled and defeated the Vitebsk and Bobruisk formations, as well as the Orsha and Mogilyov formations. They launched several powerful strikes towards Minsk, entered Poland and approached the borders of East Prussia.

🔻 As a result of this operation, Soviet forces routed the Army Group Centre, one of the most powerful enemy formations. They crossed three large rivers, the Berezina, the Niemen and the Vistula, and seized vital bridgeheads on their western banks. They liberated Belarus, part of the Baltic republics, eastern Poland and opened the road to Berlin. The front was pushed back 550 to 600 km to the west.

🎖 Soviet soldiers displayed mass heroism and impressive fighting prowess, while liberating Belarus. Over 1,500 members of various Soviet ethnicities were made Heroes of the Soviet Union.

#Victory78 #WeRemember
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📅 #OTD in 1944, units of the Red Army’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belarusian fronts, supported by the 1st Baltic Front, liberated Minsk as part of Operation Bagration.

On June 28, 1941, Nazi forces seized the city. The Nazis destroyed nearly 80% of residential buildings, hastened to establish a ghetto. 400,000+ people perished by their hand in Minsk and its outskirts. The crimes committed there have but one word to describe them - genocide.

The retreating invaders took out their anger on the city and its resilient denizens: they blew up 23 major enterprises, wrecked a water conduit, blew up local sewers and the telephone network, destroyed 47 schools, as well as theatres, libraries, outpatient clinics and hospitals.

🔥 At 2:30 am on July 3 the occupiers felt the righteous anger of the Red Army. Eyewitnesses wrote that the Germans began to panic when the Soviet soldiers descended on the city. Partisans helped to liberate the city; they took part in the preparation of the operation plan and participated in street fighting.

The Soviet air force, which dominated the skies, hit the enemy hard,wreaking havoc on the retreating Nazis and hampering the arrival of their reserves

Highly effective and well-coordinated operations made it possible to expel the enemy from Minsk by the evening of July 3. To commemorate this event, Moscow ordered a 324-gun artillery salute.

❗️ It should be noted that Soviet forces continued to mop up the German formation, encircled to the east and southeast of Minsk, in the so-called Minsk pocket, until July 11. The Nazis failed to break out of the pocket. In all, 70,000 enemy soldiers were killed, and around 35,000 more, including 12 generals, were taken prisoner.

The main forces of the three Belarusian fronts pushed westward, while the others continued to mop up the encircled enemy formation near Minsk.

#Victory78
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#Victory78

🗓 On July 14, 1941, the legendary BM-13 Katyusha rocket artillery combat vehicle was first used in battle near the railway station in Orsha. Back then, a battery under the command of Captain Ivan Flerov destroyed a concentration of German military equipment with salvo fire.

On July 24, a report from the frontline was delivered to the German command: “The Russians used a battery with an unusual number of guns. The troops fired upon by the Russians said that the fire assault is like a hurricane. The loss of life is significant.”

The new weapon did not only yield a strong practical result, but also came as a moral shock to the German soldiers. There were many cases when Wehrmacht soldiers went mad after shelling by our rocket launchers.

The BM-13 became one of the first and most effective multiple launch rocket systems in the world, successfully hitting concentrations of manpower, equipment and fortified enemy defence lines.

⚔️The rocket artillery was used in the most important areas of the Soviet-German front, becoming the Red Army’s most powerful weapon. It had a significant impact on the course of the war and the defeat of Nazi Germany and its satellites.

By the end of the Great Patriotic War Soviet industry produced over 10,000 Katyusha combat vehicles and over 12 million rockets for them.

After the victory over the Nazis in 1945, Katyushas played a prominent role in the Soviet army. The BM-13 was used as a foundation to develop new salvo fire systems. Today, the BM-13 is rightfully considered one of the main symbols of the Victory and regularly takes part in the Victory parades in Moscow and other cities of Russia.

☝️ #InterestingFact: There are several versions of how the BM-13 got the name Katyusha. According to one of them, the name comes from the popular song of the same name by Matvey Blanter with lyrics by Mikhail Isakovsky. According to another, the name reflects their marking with the letter K (for the Komintern plant).

📖 Find out more about Katyusha in our material
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📆 On August 23, 1942, the German Nazi invaders subjected Stalingrad to massive aerial bombardment for the first time. This unprecedentedly powerful and cruel attack destroyed almost half of the city but did not break the spirit of its heroic defenders.

Luftwaffe pilots made up to 2,000 sorties in a single day. The carpet-bombing was intended to erase the city from the face of the Earth, barbarically destroying the Palace of Sports, the city library, schools, universities and hundreds of residential buildings. Spilled oil burned on the surface of the Volga River.

✍️ Excerpt from the memoirs of Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrey Yeryomenko: “During the bombing, pillars of fire and smoke soared upwards in different places without interruption. Immense columns of flame rose to the skies near oil depots. Streams of burning oil and gasoline rushed into the Volga River. <...> The screech of bombs flying from above mixed with the roar of explosions, the grinding and clanging of collapsing buildings and the crackling of the raging inferno. The dying moaned; women and children wept hysterically, calling for help.”

🕯 By the evening, most of Stalingrad lay in ruins. From 40,000 to 90,000 people were killed and about 50,000 wounded in a single day.

Despite the scale of destruction, the Nazi invaders failed to break the resistance of the defenders of Stalingrad. The heroic defence of the city lasted for several months and went down in history as a symbol of the courage and unbending will of Soviet soldiers. The Battle of Stalingrad ended in February 1943 with the rout of the Wehrmacht’s elite forces and marked a turning point in the history of the Great Patriotic War.

#Victory78 #WeRemember
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🗓 On October 9, Russia marks the Day of Victory over the Nazis in the Battle of the Caucasus, one of the longest and bloodiest series of operations during the Great Patriotic War.

A bridge between Europe and the Middle East, the strategic importance of the Caucasus region further increased after the discovery of vast oil reserves there. After Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic fell into the hands of German invaders, the Kuban and Transcaucasia became the main suppliers of grain and mineral resources for the USSR.

🥇 Despite the tremendous onslaught of the enemy during the initial phase of the Battle (July 25 - December 31, 1942), the Soviet soldiers and officers heroically held their defense. After launching a counteroffensive, the Red Army forced the Germans to retreat, recaptured territories previously occupied by the Nazi invaders, including North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Rostov Oblast, Stavropol Krai, and other regions.

During the 1943 offensive in the North Caucasus, the Red Army s inflicted enormous damage on the enemy: over 275,000 soldiers and officers were killed, more than 6,000 were taken prisoner, while 890 tanks, over 2,000 airplanes, 2,127 guns and over 7,000 vehicles were damaged or destroyed.

Hitler's plans to cut off the USSR from its major economic bases in the south of the country and most importantly, to seize the oil fields in the Caucasus, were thwarted. With the victory at Stalingrad and the Battle of the Caucasus the Soviet Union's triumphant march commenced, leading to the liberation of our Motherland from the Nazi invaders.

🎖 All the peoples of our vast country fought selflessly on the Caucasian front and their heroism was highly appreciated. More than 870,000 veterans of those military operations were decorated with the medal For the Defence of the Caucasus, established on January 25, 1943. The Hero of the Soviet Union title was conferred on 138 fighters.

#Victory78
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🌟 #OTD 80 years ago, the only successful mass uprising in a Nazi death camp commenced in Sobibor. Soviet officer Alexander Pechersky led this heroic fight for freedom.

Sobibor, which was created exclusively to exterminate Jews and prisoners of war, operated from May 15, 1942, to October 15, 1943.

Up to six echelons carrying up to 2,000 people each, including adults, the elderly and children, arrived at the camp every day. Brutal death expected all of them.

One of the most efficient human extermination systems developed by the Nazis was put in place at the camp. The gas chamber, which the prisoners called "the baths", could take up to 800 people.

🕯 Over the period of the camp’s existence, the Nazis brutally murdered up to 250,000 people, according to different data.

Of the 550 prisoners who were at the camp during the uprising, more than a hundred refused to take part in it, hoping that the Nazis would show them mercy. All of these prisoners were exterminated by the Nazi on the following day.

In the next few weeks after the escape, the Nazis staged a real hunt for the fugitives.

On hearing the news of the uprising in Sobibor, SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler became enraged and gave the order to liquidate the camp. The Nazis ploughed the ground on the camp site and planted cabbage with potatoes there, thus not only trying to hide their crimes but also destroy the memory of the prisoners’ heroic feat. But their efforts were in vain.

The history of Sobibor became part of the charges at the Nuremberg trials
and the stories told by witnesses and participants in the uprising formed the basis of a number of books and several feature films.

🏅 For many years, the liberated prisoners of Sobibor stayed in touch with their liberator, the leader and initiator of the uprising. In 2016, President of Russia Vladimir Putin issued an executive order awarding Alexander Pechersky the Order of Courage posthumously, which was handed to his granddaughter.

#Victory78 #Sobibor
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📅 On October 28, 1944, the Red Army successfully completed the East Carpathian Strategic Offensive Operation and liberated the entire territory of the Ukrainian SSR.

Soviet Ukraine was among the first regions to take the blow from the Wehrmacht on June 22, 1941. Immediately following the Nazi invasion, the partisan movement set up the headquarters which inflicted serious damage to the enemy.

During the years of the German occupation, the Nazis established a large number of concentration camps, prisons and ghettos on the territory of Ukraine. Several million people were killed by the invaders and their henchmen. Over two million Ukrainians were deported to serve as forced labourers in Germany. About 700 cities and 28,000 villages were destroyed, and more than 16,000 industrial enterprises were ruined.

🕯 The population of Ukraine suffered not only from Nazi invaders but also from the criminal activities of tens of thousands of local nationalists who chose to collaborate and serve the Reich, zealously carrying out ethnic cleansing and brutally murdering communists, Jews and civilians, including the elderly and children.

The forces that are currently in power in Ukraine hail the Nazi collaborators as “heroes” and “fighters for independence” . Some Western countries even go as far as to give them standing ovation in parliament.

The liberation of Ukraine took 680 days. It included 15 major offensive operations, involving nearly half of all personnel and equipment of the Soviet army. Over three million Soviet soldiers and officers lost their lives in the fight against the invaders.

🎖 Millions of Ukrainians fought the Nazis in the ranks of the Red Army. Their contribution to the Victory cannot be overestimated. Some 2.5 million Ukrainian soldiers received orders and medals, including 2021 people who were bestowed the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

❗️ The liberation of Ukraine from the Nazi invaders was a landmark event in the Great Patriotic War, opening the road to Berlin for the Red Army.

#Victory78
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🗓 On November 7, 1941, a historic military parade took place on the Red Square in Moscow to mark the 24th anniversary of the October Revolution.

The parade was organised and held under challenging conditions amidst the advance of the German Nazi invaders, who were just a few dozen kilometers away from Moscow. The preparations were carried out in the strictest secrecy, with public announcement made only in the evening of November 6.

⚜️ The parade lasted only 25 minutes, but proved to the world that the Red Army’s morale remained unbroken. In total, 28,487 people took part in the march, along with 140 artillery guns, 160 tanks, and 232 vehicles. From the Red Square, the soldiers headed to the front to defend the city.

The parade was broadcast on the radio worldwide, with many foreign newspapers writing about this important event. For the Nazis, it came as a complete surprise which demoralised the enemy. Hitler had planned to capture the USSR's capital by November 7 and hold his own celebration on the Red Square. Upon learning about the parade he ordered for it to be bombed. However, as a result of the unprecedented security measures and bravery of Russian pilots and anti-aircraft gunners, several dozen German planes were shot down on the city's outskirts. On that day, not a single bomb fell on Moscow.

🛡 The Red Square parade on November 7, 1941, demonstrated the unwavering spirit of the Red Army soldiers and officers, inspired the Soviet people to defend their Motherland against the Nazi aggression, contributed to the international prestige of the USSR and strengthened the anti-Hitler coalition. A mere month later, the allegedly invincible Wehrmacht suffered its first major defeat at the hands of the Red Army.

#Victory78
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