Dutch, Slovakian, Israeli ambassadors summoned to Russian Foreign Ministry due Russia's exclusion from Sobibor museum project
MOSCOW. Aug 17 (Interfax) - Ambassadors of the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Israel were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry due to a decision of the international committee on the exclusion of Russia from the project of the construction of the renewed museum on the site of the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland.
"It is puzzling how easy it was for our would-be partners in the project, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Israel, I emphasize, - Israel, to change their stance on Russia's participation," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.
"Following it, we were forced to invite the heads of the aforementioned countries' diplomatic missions in Moscow to the Russian Foreign Ministry in order to obtain explanations and have a serious conversation," she said.
"We consider the decision of international managing committee responsible for the construction of the renewed museum on the site of the former Sobibor Nazi death camp to exclude Russia from participation in the project as an outrageous fact of historical amnesia," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
"[They] did not allow Russia [to participate in the project], having distanced themselves shyly from the previously extended invitation, even if we repeatedly confirmed determination to make our contribution, including a significant financial one, to the construction of the memorial to perpetuate the memory of prisoners of Hitler's death factory, which had ceased existing owing to the Red Army soldier's heroic deed," she said.
"We call on Jewish and international organizations to publicly evaluate the emerging situation," she said.
Sobibor was an extermination camp organized by Nazis in Poland, where about 250,000 Jewish people were killed. It operated from May 15, 1942, to October 15, 1943.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Russia had been invited to join the renovation project of the memorial museum in Sobibor in 2013.
"The project, initiated by Poland, Israel, the Netherlands and Slovakia, involves building a new memorial, equipping the museum, and creating the relevant infrastructure. Russia's reaction to this invitation was positive," the Russian Foreign Ministry's information and press department said in a commentary earlier.
In July 2017, Warsaw had notified Moscow on decision to continue cooperation in the current format, i.e. without Russia's involvement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
