On April 25, 1945, American soldiers and the Red Army gave themselves a squeeze from the hands of the Elba. The photo went around the world as a symbol of the closure of the western and eastern fronts of World War II. TO … The wait only from the battle of Berlin, the allies began to celebrate in Torgau (Saxony) the beginning of the end of the contest.
On this 80th anniversary of “Elba Day”, unlike the previous ones and on the recommendation of the German Foreign Ministry, local authorities had not invited the commemorative acts to the Russian ambassador, Sergéi Nechayevwhich has yet been presented on your own. Vented in the guest tribune and without the possibility of participating in the speeches, as he had been doing in previous celebrations, he has summoned journalists, to whom he has made statements flanked by attentors of the Russian embassy. “Today we have to remember the fallen soldiers,” he justified his assistance despite the boycott, “that’s why this day is very important for us and that’s why I am here.”
The Ukrainian ambassador, Oleksii Makieevhe had previously demanded that his announced participation in the acts be prevented by force. “The Russians are not worried about the memory of the dead, in Eastern Germany to Russians, they are concerned about imperialist ghost pain,” he had reproached Russian diplomacy. “Russia Bombardea Ukrainian cities, torture civilians in the occupied territories, deportes Ukrainian children, kill Ukrainian survivors of the Holocaust and calls for this” Liberation of the Nazis, “he added,” it is the most perfidious and worse relativization to justify the new war crimes. ” “The official representatives of the criminal regime responsible for this can only be received in a way in the Elba, otherwise, the wars of aggression will be rewarded and the peace oath will be ridiculed as a farce,” he had requested from the German government.
“We reject any propaganda instrumentalization of World War II by Russia to justify the war of aggression against Ukraine, which is contrary to international law,” he had clarified Julian Stüberof the Foreign Ministry. «World War II, which began in Germany and was completed by the allies, has shown the horror and brutality of war as never before. Preventing the escalation of violence and war by all means is the most important lesson for me, even 80 years later, ”Saxony regional president had said for his part, Saxony, Michael Kretschmer«And with the war of aggression against Ukrainethat violates international law, Russia has abandoned this common base. There is no justification for this war. Russia must end the war ».
The Ambassador of Russia, however, has been oblivious to all these arguments. When journalists asked him about the fact that he was not welcome on the spot, Nechayev denied the greatest. “I don’t feel like that. I feel good here, taking part of the celebration ». “We have the right and the opportunity to publicize our position,” he said about his resolution to speak in public with or without an invitation of “the Germans.” In his flap he carried the so-called San Jorge tape, which is traditionally considered a sign of memory of the German-Soviet war but has been relaunched as a symbol of Russian propaganda since the war of Russian aggression against Ukraine, a detail that has especially disgusted the representatives of Ukraine in Germany.
Among the attendees, applause arose to their Russian military words and songs whose spontaneity is difficult to specify, since Nechayev is usually accompanied in public of numerous personnel of his embassy who does not identify as such. The truth is that the Russian ambassador has not attended previous acts held in western Germany, but this provocation is allowed in the east, in one of the Bundesläner in which the extreme right proruse of Alternative for Germany (AFD) It was the second most voted in recent elections, with 30.63% of the votes and only 1.28% distance from the winner, The Cristianodemocrata Union (CDU) of Friedrich Merz.
The city of Torgau, as an organizer, has indicated that he does not want to prevent the presence of the ambassador, even though he was not invited. The regional president Kretschmer, of the CDU and who has pronounced the main discourse of the act, has limited himself to “taking note” of the participation of the ambassador and has indicated that it was an event of the city of Torgau, not organized by his office. In view of the fact that Nechayev was willing to impose his insistence, the United States embassy in Germany, which had been attended by an official invitation, has chosen not to participate.
