Putin promises to create open WWII archives center to counter historical distortion
ST. PETERSBURG. Jan 18 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to open a center for archival documents regarding the Second World War.
"We will shut the filthy mouth that some abroad are opening to attain their momentary political goals, we will shut it with the truthful fundamental information," Putin said at a meeting with veterans and representatives from patriotic organizations in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
Israel, for instance, does not let anyone forget about the Holocaust, the genocide of Jews, for a second, he said, adding that he will travel to the country in the next few days to inaugurate a monument to victims of the siege of Leningrad.
"I am very grateful for this initiative to the leadership of Israel and to all those who initiated this event. It is a good event. It reminds both about WWII victims and about those who made decisive contribution in defeating the Nazi," Putin said.
"Jewish organizations and the leadership of Israel are very right not to allow the world to forget about victims of the Holocaust. Among these, by the way, was a considerable number, very many Soviet Jews. Neither should we allow people to forget about victims of other USSR ethnicities, the Russian people," Putin said, noting that the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (today's Russia) accounted for nearly 70% of all Soviet WWII casualties.
"We will create a center of archival documents. And we will shut the mouth to those who are trying to twist history, misrepresent and belittle the role of our fathers and grandfathers, our heroes who died defending their motherland and practically the whole world from the brown plague," Putin said.
Both this site and this center "will be open to our citizens and the whole world alike. And we will not allow even attempts to present history in a totally ugly light. We will shut this filthy mouth, shut it once and for all, with these documents, to put a stop to this," Putin reiterated.