Mr Medvedev and Shimon Peres adopted a joint statement in connection with the forthcoming 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War.
The statement by the two presidents expresses their outrage at attempts to deny the enormous contribution of the Soviet Union in the victory over Nazi Germany and question the crime of the Holocaust. The leaders of Russia and Israel call for a strong ‘No’ in response to those who distort the tragic events and main outcome of the Second World War.
The statement notes that Jews fought together with Russians and other peoples of the Soviet Union in the Red Army, an army which played a key role in determining the outcome of the war, and that Russian and Jewish peoples fought together against Hitlerism and racism.
In his statement to journalists, Mr Medvedev emphasized that the distortion of history that favours given political scenarios or the heroization of Nazi collaborators is unacceptable.
According to Shimon Peres, Israel has a special relationship with Russia and will never forget Russia's contribution to the victory over Nazism. If it were not for Russia's participation in the war, the President of Israel said, the world was unlikely to have been able to defeat that threat.