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Mr President, Mr Prime Minister, colleagues, friends,

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ladies and gentlemen,

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Today we are brought together at the international forum to honour 

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the victims of the Holocaust by a shared responsibility,

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our duty to the past and the future.

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We mourn all the victims of the Nazis,

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including the six million Jews tortured in ghettos and death camps 

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and killed cruelly during raids.

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Forty percent of them were citizens of the Soviet Union,

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so the Holocaust has always been a deep wound for us,

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a tragedy we will always remember.

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Before visiting Jerusalem, I looked through original documents,

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reports by Red Army officers after the liberation of Auschwitz.

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I must tell you, colleagues, it is very difficult,

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unbearable to read these military reports,

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documents describing in detail how the camp was set up,

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how the cold-blooded killing machine worked.

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Many of them were hand-written by soldiers and officers of the Red Army 

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on the second or third day after the liberation of the prisoners 

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and convey the shock that the Red Army soldiers and officers 

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experienced from what they saw there,

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from testimonies that caused pain, indignation and compassion.

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Red Army Field Marshal Konev, who then led the military operation 

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to capture the densely populated Silesian industrial region of Germany,

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used tactics to spare as many civilians as possible and,

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having received a report about the atrocities committed at Auschwitz,

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forbade himself from even seeing this camp.

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Later he wrote in his memoirs that he had no right to lose his moral 

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strength, so that a fair sense of revenge would not have blinded him 

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during military operations and would not have caused additional 

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suffering and casualties among the civilian population of Germany.

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January 27 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

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In this hell, where people from different countries were brought 

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for torture, monstrous experiments and mass killing,

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hundreds of thousands of people of different ethnicities 

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died. More than half of them were Jews.

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The crimes committed by the Nazis, their deliberate, planned,

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and as they said, ”final solution to the Jewish issue,

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“ is one of the darkest and most shameful pages of modern world history.

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But we should not forget that this crime also had accomplices.

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They were often crueler than their masters.

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Death factories and concentration camps were served not only 

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by the Nazis, but also by their accomplices in many European countries.

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In the occupied territories of the Soviet Union,

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where these criminals were operating,

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the largest number of Jews were killed. Thus,

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about 1.4 million Jews were killed in Ukraine, and 220,

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000 people were killed in Lithuania.

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I draw your attention, friends,

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to the fact that this is 95 percent of the pre-war Jewish 

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population of this country.

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In Latvia, 77,000 Jewish people were killed.

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Only a few hundred Latvian Jews survived the Holocaust.

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The Holocaust was deliberate annihilation of people.

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But we must remember that the Nazis intended the same fate 

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for many other peoples.

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Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians,

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Poles and many other peoples were declared Untermensch.

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Their land was meant to serve as living space for the Nazis,

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providing for their prosperous existence,

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while the Slavs and other peoples were meant either to be exterminated 

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or to become slaves without rights, culture,

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historical memory and language.

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Back in 1945, it was first of all the Soviet people who put an end 

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to these barbaric plans.

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As it has just been said, they protected their Fatherland and liberated 

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Europe from Nazism. We paid a price no nation could even imagine 

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in their worst dreams: a toll of 27 million deaths.

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We will never forget this.

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The memory of the Holocaust will serve as a lesson and a warning only 

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if it remains fully intact, without any omissions.

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Unfortunately, today the memory of war and its lessons and legacy often 

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fall subject to the immediate political situation.

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This is completely unacceptable.

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It is the duty of current and future politicians,

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state and public figures to protect the good name of the living 

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and fallen heroes, civilians and victims of the Nazis and their allies.

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We must use everything we have –

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our informational, political and cultural capabilities as well 

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as the reputation and influence our countries have 

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in the world – to this end.

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I am sure that everyone present here today, in this audience,

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shares these concerns and is ready to protect truth 

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and justice together with us.

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We are all responsible for making sure that the terrible tragedies 

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of this war will not happen again,

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that the generations to come will remember the horrors 

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of the Holocaust, the death camps and the siege of Leningrad –

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Prime Minister Netanyahu has just said that today a monument 

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to the victims of the siege was unveiled here in Jerusalem –

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Babi Yar, and the burned-down village of Khatyn,

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remember that we must remain alert and must not overlook when the first 

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seeds of hate, chauvinism and antisemitism take root,

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or when people start to indulge in xenophobia or other 

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similar manifestations.

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Destruction of the past and lack of unity in the face of threats can 

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lead to terrible consequences.

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We must have the courage to be straight about this and do 

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everything to defend peace.

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I think an example could and should be set by the founding countries 

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of the United Nations, the five powers that bear special responsibility 

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for the preservation of civilisation.

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We have discussed this with several of our colleagues and,

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as far as I know, have received a generally positive response 

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to holding a meeting of the heads of state of the five permanent 

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members of the UN Security Council: Russia, China,

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the United States, France and Britain.

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We can hold it in any country, in any place that our 

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colleagues would find convenient.

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Russia is ready for such a serious discussion.

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We intend to send this proposal to the leaders of the Five 

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without delay.

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We are faced with many challenges.

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We discussed one of them recently at the initiative 

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of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is about Libya.

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But we will have to return to this issue at the Security 

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Council and adopt a relevant resolution.

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There are many other problems as well.

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I consider it important and symbolic to hold the proposed 

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meeting this year. After all, we are celebrating 75 years since the end 

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of World War II and the foundation of the United Nations.

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A summit of the states that made the main contribution to the routing 

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of the aggressor and the formation of the postwar world order can play 

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a big role in searching for collective ways of responding to current 

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challenges and threats and would demonstrate our common commitment 

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to the spirit of allied relations,

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historical memory and the lofty ideals and values for which our 

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predecessors, our grandfathers and fathers fought shoulder to shoulder.

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In conclusion, I would like to thank our Israeli colleagues for a warm,

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very hospitable reception here in Jerusalem, and to wish peace,

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prosperity and all the best to everyone at the conference, and,

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of course, to the citizens of Israel.

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Thank you.