Putin honors victims of Nazi invasion
Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid a wreath of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, one of the nation’s most revered military memorials. He has also visited the Museum of Victory, which is dedicated to the role the Soviet Union played in defeating Nazi Germany.
The solemn ceremony at the Kremlin wall and the follow-up museum tour on Thursday – during which the president lit a candle for World War II victims – were in commemoration of the 82nd anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the USSR.
After failing to convince European nations to form a coalition against Adolf Hitler’s regime, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sought rapprochement with Nazi Germany. In August 1939, Moscow signed a nonaggression pact with Berlin, similar to what other contemporary powers were doing at the time. The Nazi attack on Poland shortly afterwards is considered the starting point of World War II.
The space secured by the treaty didn’t last long. On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched an invasion of the USSR. Despite initial successes that brought Hitler's forces to the edge of Moscow, the Nazis were pushed back, leading to the regime's downfall.
Turning the tide came at a great cost to the Soviet people, who lost an estimated 27 million troops and civilians to the war effort, along with atrocities by the occupiers and collaborators, and other hardships. Modern Russia considers the ultimate triumph in the face of Nazi peril a key milestone in its national history.
