Putin announces support for ban on comparing USSR & Hitler’s Germany after book claims ‘Soviets were worse than Nazis’

The Russian President says he agrees with the suggestion that comparing the actions of the USSR and Nazi Germany should be banned, after the publication of books examining the historical leadership of both nations.

The suggestion was put to the President, on Tuesday, by MP Elena Yampolskaya, head of the Russian Parliament's committee on culture and a member of the governing United Russia party. According to Yampolskaya, two foreign books recently released in Russia draw parallels between the USSR and Nazi Germany, with one saying that "the Soviets were worse than the Nazis." She did not name the books concerned.

“Unfortunately, we translate and publish such impudent, unsubstantiated, offensive dogs**t in our own country,” Yampolskaya explained. “The first book had 45,000 copies published, and the second 80,000. Both are popular with young people.”

In Yampolskaya's opinion, such moral assessments are “absolutely unacceptable” and should be made illegal. The suggestion was received positively by Putin, who explained that other countries have passed similar laws, such as criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide.

“I agree with your suggestions. We need to be careful, but of course, do it.” the President replied. “God himself probably told us to have appropriate mechanisms for protecting the truth about the very recent past.”

In recent years, President Putin has repeatedly stated his will to protect the legacy of the Soviet Union’s contribution to WWII, expressing his desire to fight attempts to “distort history.” On February 23 - a Russian holiday commemorating those who served in the country’s armed forces - the President noted that the Red Army helped liberate not only the USSR, but much of Europe.

“We will not allow this heroic page in history to be crossed out,” Putin said. “We will be exposing any attempts to distort history and to let the spirit of alliance and of combat brotherhood be consigned to oblivion.”

Earlier this year, the official Twitter account for the White House in Washington DC caused controversy after claiming that the US and Britain won World War 2, completely omitting the contribution of the Soviet Union.

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