Forwarded from МИД России 🇷🇺
🇷🇺 22 августа в России отмечается День Государственного флага, установленный Указом Президента от 1994 года.
В этот день мы отдаём дань уважения официальному государственному символу России, который наряду с гербом и гимном знаменует её суверенитет и независимость, утверждает преемственность поколений многонационального народа страны.
Сегодня российский флаг — это также зримый знак защиты и будущего. В зоне специальной военной операции бойцы поднимают триколор над освобождёнными населёнными пунктами.
***
История российского триколора насчитывает свыше трёх столетий. В 1693 году молодой Пётр I водрузил его как личный штандарт в Архангельске, а в 1705 году он повелел поднимать бело-сине-красное знамя на морских торговых судах. До XIX века русские моряки воздвигали на берегу присоединённой земли памятный крест.
В 1806 году появилась новая традиция. Русская экспедиция обследовала побережье Южного Сахалина и подняла на берегу два флага. Андреевский флаг отмечал заслугу военного флота, бело-сине-красный флаг — новое владение России. Государственным флагом триколор стал в 1896 году, в канун коронации Николая II.
⚪️🔵🔴 25 декабря 2000 года был принят Федеральный конституционный закон «О Государственном флаге Российской Федерации», в соответствии с которым государственный флаг России представляет собой прямоугольное полотнище из трёх равных горизонтальных полос: верхней — белого, средней — синего, нижней — красного цвета.
💬 Президент России В.В.Путин:
#ДеньГосударственногоФлага
В этот день мы отдаём дань уважения официальному государственному символу России, который наряду с гербом и гимном знаменует её суверенитет и независимость, утверждает преемственность поколений многонационального народа страны.
Сегодня российский флаг — это также зримый знак защиты и будущего. В зоне специальной военной операции бойцы поднимают триколор над освобождёнными населёнными пунктами.
***
История российского триколора насчитывает свыше трёх столетий. В 1693 году молодой Пётр I водрузил его как личный штандарт в Архангельске, а в 1705 году он повелел поднимать бело-сине-красное знамя на морских торговых судах. До XIX века русские моряки воздвигали на берегу присоединённой земли памятный крест.
В 1806 году появилась новая традиция. Русская экспедиция обследовала побережье Южного Сахалина и подняла на берегу два флага. Андреевский флаг отмечал заслугу военного флота, бело-сине-красный флаг — новое владение России. Государственным флагом триколор стал в 1896 году, в канун коронации Николая II.
⚪️🔵🔴 25 декабря 2000 года был принят Федеральный конституционный закон «О Государственном флаге Российской Федерации», в соответствии с которым государственный флаг России представляет собой прямоугольное полотнище из трёх равных горизонтальных полос: верхней — белого, средней — синего, нижней — красного цвета.
💬 Президент России В.В.Путин:
Россия — тысячелетняя страна и цивилизация, наш государственный флаг — это символ нашего единства.
Уверен, что государственный флаг всегда будет вдохновлять нас идти только вперед — до победы, утверждать славу России.
#ДеньГосударственногоФлага
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#Victory81
On August 23, 1943, the #BattleOfKursk — one of the largest battles in human history — ended with a decisive victory of the Soviet forces, marking a turning point not only in the Great Patriotic War but in the entire #WWII.
As a result of the battle, the strategic initiative was seized by the Red Army that managed to launch the offensive operations to expel the Nazi invaders from our Motherland.
The Battle of Kursk, lasting approximately 50 days, encompassed a defensive phase (July 5–23) and a series of offensive operations (July 12–August 23) by the Soviet forces in the Kursk Bulge. It appeared in the spring of 1943 at the centre of the Soviet-German front, reaching Nazi defensive lines south of Soviet city of Oryol and north of Belgorod to a depth exceeding 150 kilometres. Following the Wehrmacht’s devastating defeat at Stalingrad, the enemy sought revenge at any cost — to deliver a crushing blow on the Red Army positions along the Kursk Bulge, seize the strategic initiative, and launch a counteroffensive deep into the Soviet territory. Had they succeeded, the Nazi aggressor could reopen the path to Moscow.
After the intelligence was secured from abroad, the Red Army General Staff and the Supreme High Command knew beforehand of the enemy’s plans. Our military leadership decided first to destroy Hitler’s armor and aircraft, and to exhaust Nazi manpower in defensive combat before launching a full-scale offensive.
***
⚔️ The Battle of Kursk commenced on July 5 with a counter-artillery barrage — at dawn, thousands of Soviet guns unleashed a devastating firestorm on Wehrmacht positions, delaying their advance for several hours. The enemy committed its tank armada to battle: 16 divisions comprising 2'500 tanks — 70% of all German armor formations deployed on the Eastern Front.
❗️ Within days, Nazi forces suffered 50'000 casualties. The enemy offensive failed.
On July 12, the legendary tank battle at Prokhorovka unfolded — most brutal armor combat in history, with up to 1'200 tanks and self-propelled guns deployed. The fascists suffered a devastating defeat: losing over 300 tanks (the backbone of their strike force in the Battle of Kursk) and exhausting reserves, their offensive capabilities were diminished, forcing them to retreat to initial positions.
Following Prokhorovka, the Red Army seized full initiative and launched a decisive counteroffensive. By mid-July, under pressure from the Western, Bryansk, and Central fronts, German troops began retreating across the entire Kursk Bulge. On August 5, the Soviet forces liberated the City of #Oryol and #Belgorod; on August 23 — #Kharkov, concluding the Battle of Kursk.
Hitler’s forces (approximately 900'000 soldiers and officers) faced total collapse near Kursk. Thirty elite wehrmacht and SS divisions, including seven panzer divisions, were completely destroyed.
👉 This crucial historic Victory enabled the Red Army to drive the Nazis westward and launch operations to liberate Soviet Ukraine and Belarus.
In the Battle of Kursk, Soviet warriors showed unparalleled courage, resilience, and mass heroism: 231 were awarded the title of #HeroOfTheSovietUnion. Kursk, Orel, and Belgorod were accorded the status of Cities of Military Glory. The Kursk Bulge memorial complex stands as a testament to this heroic triumph.
Today, August 23, is celebrated in Russia as a Day of Military Glory, commemorating the defeat of Nazi invaders in the Battle of Kursk.
#OurVictory
On August 23, 1943, the #BattleOfKursk — one of the largest battles in human history — ended with a decisive victory of the Soviet forces, marking a turning point not only in the Great Patriotic War but in the entire #WWII.
As a result of the battle, the strategic initiative was seized by the Red Army that managed to launch the offensive operations to expel the Nazi invaders from our Motherland.
The Battle of Kursk, lasting approximately 50 days, encompassed a defensive phase (July 5–23) and a series of offensive operations (July 12–August 23) by the Soviet forces in the Kursk Bulge. It appeared in the spring of 1943 at the centre of the Soviet-German front, reaching Nazi defensive lines south of Soviet city of Oryol and north of Belgorod to a depth exceeding 150 kilometres. Following the Wehrmacht’s devastating defeat at Stalingrad, the enemy sought revenge at any cost — to deliver a crushing blow on the Red Army positions along the Kursk Bulge, seize the strategic initiative, and launch a counteroffensive deep into the Soviet territory. Had they succeeded, the Nazi aggressor could reopen the path to Moscow.
After the intelligence was secured from abroad, the Red Army General Staff and the Supreme High Command knew beforehand of the enemy’s plans. Our military leadership decided first to destroy Hitler’s armor and aircraft, and to exhaust Nazi manpower in defensive combat before launching a full-scale offensive.
***
⚔️ The Battle of Kursk commenced on July 5 with a counter-artillery barrage — at dawn, thousands of Soviet guns unleashed a devastating firestorm on Wehrmacht positions, delaying their advance for several hours. The enemy committed its tank armada to battle: 16 divisions comprising 2'500 tanks — 70% of all German armor formations deployed on the Eastern Front.
❗️ Within days, Nazi forces suffered 50'000 casualties. The enemy offensive failed.
On July 12, the legendary tank battle at Prokhorovka unfolded — most brutal armor combat in history, with up to 1'200 tanks and self-propelled guns deployed. The fascists suffered a devastating defeat: losing over 300 tanks (the backbone of their strike force in the Battle of Kursk) and exhausting reserves, their offensive capabilities were diminished, forcing them to retreat to initial positions.
Following Prokhorovka, the Red Army seized full initiative and launched a decisive counteroffensive. By mid-July, under pressure from the Western, Bryansk, and Central fronts, German troops began retreating across the entire Kursk Bulge. On August 5, the Soviet forces liberated the City of #Oryol and #Belgorod; on August 23 — #Kharkov, concluding the Battle of Kursk.
Hitler’s forces (approximately 900'000 soldiers and officers) faced total collapse near Kursk. Thirty elite wehrmacht and SS divisions, including seven panzer divisions, were completely destroyed.
👉 This crucial historic Victory enabled the Red Army to drive the Nazis westward and launch operations to liberate Soviet Ukraine and Belarus.
In the Battle of Kursk, Soviet warriors showed unparalleled courage, resilience, and mass heroism: 231 were awarded the title of #HeroOfTheSovietUnion. Kursk, Orel, and Belgorod were accorded the status of Cities of Military Glory. The Kursk Bulge memorial complex stands as a testament to this heroic triumph.
Today, August 23, is celebrated in Russia as a Day of Military Glory, commemorating the defeat of Nazi invaders in the Battle of Kursk.
#OurVictory
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
⚡️ Report by the Russian Foreign Ministry – “On the Kiev Regime’s Unlawful Actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Its Clergy and Parishioners” (as of June 2026)
📄 FULL REPORT (PDF)
❗️ The Kiev nationalists, who seized power in 2014 through an unconstitutional armed coup, have since systematically built a multi-layered system of severe restrictions on religious freedom, turning the religious sphere into a testing ground for assaults on human dignity.
The religious dimension has become one of the state’s key instruments for influencing social processes and is actively used to falsify history, legitimise and glorify Nazism, and suppress dissent, as well as secular and religious opposition.
Mass violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms have become a defining feature of the Kiev regime’s years in power.
***
👉 Zelensky and his entourage are fragmenting the country’s religious landscape, shaping relations with religious organisations and believers according to the degree of their tolerance for the misanthropic ideology imposed by the authorities.
Within this framework, sweeping administrative and legal measures are being implemented to weaken the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (#UOC) to the greatest possible extent in public life, up to and including the dismantling of its governing structures.
The report provides numerous documented examples of discrimination, along with public statements by Ukrainian officials at various levels openly spelling out the ultimate objectives of this campaign – to eliminate the country’s largest religious organisation, force its parishioners and clergy to join the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, which is controlled by the authorities and interested business circles, and expropriate UOC property, religious objects and holy sites.
The report’s sections cover:
***
The controlled chaos created by the Kiev regime within Ukrainian Orthodoxy has for years enabled the authorities, the OCU and radical groups to carry out forcible seizures of monasteries and churches, illegally re-register religious communities, cultivate hate rhetoric, and perpetrate unprovoked aggression and violence against the clergy and believers of the canonical Church.
Members of radical nationalist groups are enlisted to carry out such reprisals, with assurances that they will escape legal responsibility when breaking the law. Ukraine has developed and tacitly legitimised an entire system of backroom arrangements that encourages violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of believers and clergy.
❌ Religious persecution has now not merely intensified – it has become fully systematic, a fact acknowledged even by many Western politicians.
One of the reasons behind the current catastrophic situation facing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine is Western support for the Kiev regime’s religious policy, first and foremost from the US. This issue is also examined in the report.
Despite the vast number of documented cases of persecution against the canonical Church and clear violations of Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of human rights, these violations have still not received due attention from universal multilateral organisations, including the UN and its leadership, which refrain from issuing detailed reports on the matter or responding firmly, limiting themselves to routine references to the problem.
#KievRegimeCrimes
📄 FULL REPORT (PDF)
❗️ The Kiev nationalists, who seized power in 2014 through an unconstitutional armed coup, have since systematically built a multi-layered system of severe restrictions on religious freedom, turning the religious sphere into a testing ground for assaults on human dignity.
The religious dimension has become one of the state’s key instruments for influencing social processes and is actively used to falsify history, legitimise and glorify Nazism, and suppress dissent, as well as secular and religious opposition.
Mass violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms have become a defining feature of the Kiev regime’s years in power.
***
👉 Zelensky and his entourage are fragmenting the country’s religious landscape, shaping relations with religious organisations and believers according to the degree of their tolerance for the misanthropic ideology imposed by the authorities.
Within this framework, sweeping administrative and legal measures are being implemented to weaken the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (#UOC) to the greatest possible extent in public life, up to and including the dismantling of its governing structures.
The report provides numerous documented examples of discrimination, along with public statements by Ukrainian officials at various levels openly spelling out the ultimate objectives of this campaign – to eliminate the country’s largest religious organisation, force its parishioners and clergy to join the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, which is controlled by the authorities and interested business circles, and expropriate UOC property, religious objects and holy sites.
The report’s sections cover:
• Ukraine’s discriminatory laws targeting the UOC
• Unlawful actions by Ukrainian special services and law enforcement agencies against the UOC
• Illegal mobilisation of UOC clergy
• Actions by Ukrainian local authorities and self-government bodies against the UOK
• Seizures of UOC churches and illegal re-registration of communities
• Pressure exerted by national and regional authorities on major UOC monasteries
• Hate speech, unprovoked aggression and violence against UOC clergy and believers
• US influence on the evolution of the church crisis in Ukraine
• Response of the international community
***
The controlled chaos created by the Kiev regime within Ukrainian Orthodoxy has for years enabled the authorities, the OCU and radical groups to carry out forcible seizures of monasteries and churches, illegally re-register religious communities, cultivate hate rhetoric, and perpetrate unprovoked aggression and violence against the clergy and believers of the canonical Church.
Members of radical nationalist groups are enlisted to carry out such reprisals, with assurances that they will escape legal responsibility when breaking the law. Ukraine has developed and tacitly legitimised an entire system of backroom arrangements that encourages violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of believers and clergy.
❌ Religious persecution has now not merely intensified – it has become fully systematic, a fact acknowledged even by many Western politicians.
One of the reasons behind the current catastrophic situation facing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine is Western support for the Kiev regime’s religious policy, first and foremost from the US. This issue is also examined in the report.
Despite the vast number of documented cases of persecution against the canonical Church and clear violations of Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of human rights, these violations have still not received due attention from universal multilateral organisations, including the UN and its leadership, which refrain from issuing detailed reports on the matter or responding firmly, limiting themselves to routine references to the problem.
#KievRegimeCrimes
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
💬 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:
On the night of August 23-24, Ukrainian militants launched a massive drone attack on civilian sites in Russia’s Krasnodar Region, Republic of Adygea and Dagestan.
According to a statement by Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, falling UAV debris struck a five-story apartment building and a private 24-hour children’s centre in Krasnodar’s Prikubansky District, killing children.
▪️ Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova reported that three children – aged 13, 15 and 16 – were killed. Another six were hospitalised with various injuries, including shrapnel wounds, burns and concussions.
A total of 10 people have been hospitalised and are receiving all necessary medical care. No casualties were reported in Adygea or Dagestan.
This is how the Zelensky regime – and Zelensky himself – treat children.
There is no other way to put it. All their claims about how deeply they care for precious children are shattered by the facts – the Kiev regime has been killing children of all ages, from infants to students.
❗️ SHAME on the international organisations, SHAME on foreign human rights institutions, SHAME on the world’s media that refuse to see the blood of children on the hands of the Kiev regime!
On the night of August 23-24, Ukrainian militants launched a massive drone attack on civilian sites in Russia’s Krasnodar Region, Republic of Adygea and Dagestan.
According to a statement by Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, falling UAV debris struck a five-story apartment building and a private 24-hour children’s centre in Krasnodar’s Prikubansky District, killing children.
▪️ Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova reported that three children – aged 13, 15 and 16 – were killed. Another six were hospitalised with various injuries, including shrapnel wounds, burns and concussions.
A total of 10 people have been hospitalised and are receiving all necessary medical care. No casualties were reported in Adygea or Dagestan.
This is how the Zelensky regime – and Zelensky himself – treat children.
There is no other way to put it. All their claims about how deeply they care for precious children are shattered by the facts – the Kiev regime has been killing children of all ages, from infants to students.
❗️ SHAME on the international organisations, SHAME on foreign human rights institutions, SHAME on the world’s media that refuse to see the blood of children on the hands of the Kiev regime!
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
⚡️ Report by the Russian Foreign Ministry – “On the Kiev Regime’s Unlawful Actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Its Clergy and Parishioners” (as of June 2026)
📄 FULL REPORT (PDF)
❗️ The Kiev nationalists, who seized power in 2014 through an unconstitutional armed coup, have since systematically built a multi-layered system of severe restrictions on religious freedom, turning the religious sphere into a testing ground for assaults on human dignity.
The religious dimension has become one of the state’s key instruments for influencing social processes and is actively used to falsify history, legitimise and glorify Nazism, and suppress dissent, as well as secular and religious opposition.
Mass violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms have become a defining feature of the Kiev regime’s years in power.
***
👉 Zelensky and his entourage are fragmenting the country’s religious landscape, shaping relations with religious organisations and believers according to the degree of their tolerance for the misanthropic ideology imposed by the authorities.
Within this framework, sweeping administrative and legal measures are being implemented to weaken the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (#UOC) to the greatest possible extent in public life, up to and including the dismantling of its governing structures.
The report provides numerous documented examples of discrimination, along with public statements by Ukrainian officials at various levels openly spelling out the ultimate objectives of this campaign – to eliminate the country’s largest religious organisation, force its parishioners and clergy to join the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, which is controlled by the authorities and interested business circles, and expropriate UOC property, religious objects and holy sites.
The report’s sections cover:
***
The controlled chaos created by the Kiev regime within Ukrainian Orthodoxy has for years enabled the authorities, the OCU and radical groups to carry out forcible seizures of monasteries and churches, illegally re-register religious communities, cultivate hate rhetoric, and perpetrate unprovoked aggression and violence against the clergy and believers of the canonical Church.
Members of radical nationalist groups are enlisted to carry out such reprisals, with assurances that they will escape legal responsibility when breaking the law. Ukraine has developed and tacitly legitimised an entire system of backroom arrangements that encourages violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of believers and clergy.
❌ Religious persecution has now not merely intensified – it has become fully systematic, a fact acknowledged even by many Western politicians.
One of the reasons behind the current catastrophic situation facing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine is Western support for the Kiev regime’s religious policy, first and foremost from the US. This issue is also examined in the report.
Despite the vast number of documented cases of persecution against the canonical Church and clear violations of Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of human rights, these violations have still not received due attention from universal multilateral organisations, including the UN and its leadership, which refrain from issuing detailed reports on the matter or responding firmly, limiting themselves to routine references to the problem.
#KievRegimeCrimes
📄 FULL REPORT (PDF)
❗️ The Kiev nationalists, who seized power in 2014 through an unconstitutional armed coup, have since systematically built a multi-layered system of severe restrictions on religious freedom, turning the religious sphere into a testing ground for assaults on human dignity.
The religious dimension has become one of the state’s key instruments for influencing social processes and is actively used to falsify history, legitimise and glorify Nazism, and suppress dissent, as well as secular and religious opposition.
Mass violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms have become a defining feature of the Kiev regime’s years in power.
***
👉 Zelensky and his entourage are fragmenting the country’s religious landscape, shaping relations with religious organisations and believers according to the degree of their tolerance for the misanthropic ideology imposed by the authorities.
Within this framework, sweeping administrative and legal measures are being implemented to weaken the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (#UOC) to the greatest possible extent in public life, up to and including the dismantling of its governing structures.
The report provides numerous documented examples of discrimination, along with public statements by Ukrainian officials at various levels openly spelling out the ultimate objectives of this campaign – to eliminate the country’s largest religious organisation, force its parishioners and clergy to join the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, which is controlled by the authorities and interested business circles, and expropriate UOC property, religious objects and holy sites.
The report’s sections cover:
• Ukraine’s discriminatory laws targeting the UOC
• Unlawful actions by Ukrainian special services and law enforcement agencies against the UOC
• Illegal mobilisation of UOC clergy
• Actions by Ukrainian local authorities and self-government bodies against the UOK
• Seizures of UOC churches and illegal re-registration of communities
• Pressure exerted by national and regional authorities on major UOC monasteries
• Hate speech, unprovoked aggression and violence against UOC clergy and believers
• US influence on the evolution of the church crisis in Ukraine
• Response of the international community
***
The controlled chaos created by the Kiev regime within Ukrainian Orthodoxy has for years enabled the authorities, the OCU and radical groups to carry out forcible seizures of monasteries and churches, illegally re-register religious communities, cultivate hate rhetoric, and perpetrate unprovoked aggression and violence against the clergy and believers of the canonical Church.
Members of radical nationalist groups are enlisted to carry out such reprisals, with assurances that they will escape legal responsibility when breaking the law. Ukraine has developed and tacitly legitimised an entire system of backroom arrangements that encourages violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of believers and clergy.
❌ Religious persecution has now not merely intensified – it has become fully systematic, a fact acknowledged even by many Western politicians.
One of the reasons behind the current catastrophic situation facing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine is Western support for the Kiev regime’s religious policy, first and foremost from the US. This issue is also examined in the report.
Despite the vast number of documented cases of persecution against the canonical Church and clear violations of Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of human rights, these violations have still not received due attention from universal multilateral organisations, including the UN and its leadership, which refrain from issuing detailed reports on the matter or responding firmly, limiting themselves to routine references to the problem.
#KievRegimeCrimes
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
⚡️ Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation:
Where does the trail of the foiled “sabotage plot” in Leipzig lead?
The Press Bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (#SVR) reports that, according to information received by the SVR, Kiev is highly satisfied with the media and political fallout surrounding the explosives-equipped drone discovered on August 5 at a parking area for Ukrainian transport aircraft at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Without even waiting for preliminary findings from the investigation, German politicians of all stripes, followed by European media, delivered a categorical verdict – that “Moscow’s hand” had reached a major German aviation hub also used for military purposes.
🤷♂️ Could anyone have expected otherwise? The script behind such insinuations has been used time and again. One telling example is the 2022 Nord Stream explosions. Germany’s and Europe’s Russophobic mainstream immediately reached a “highly likely”-style conclusion that Russian intelligence services were behind them, allegedly seeking to undermine the energy security of Germany and the EU as a whole.
Kiev is celebrating: the operation worked. Europeans were supplied with fresh “evidence of Russia’s aggressive and hostile policy” and pushed to empty their military stockpiles to keep the Kiev regime afloat.
Another possible objective may be to undermine public support for German opposition parties advocating a pragmatic policy towards Russia.
According to available information, German law enforcement agencies investigating the drone incident are, as professionals should, examining various possible scenarios.
❗️ A “Ukrainian trail” is reportedly being seriously considered behind closed doors. But will the German authorities have the political will to draw impartial conclusions – and make them public?
Where does the trail of the foiled “sabotage plot” in Leipzig lead?
The Press Bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (#SVR) reports that, according to information received by the SVR, Kiev is highly satisfied with the media and political fallout surrounding the explosives-equipped drone discovered on August 5 at a parking area for Ukrainian transport aircraft at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Without even waiting for preliminary findings from the investigation, German politicians of all stripes, followed by European media, delivered a categorical verdict – that “Moscow’s hand” had reached a major German aviation hub also used for military purposes.
🤷♂️ Could anyone have expected otherwise? The script behind such insinuations has been used time and again. One telling example is the 2022 Nord Stream explosions. Germany’s and Europe’s Russophobic mainstream immediately reached a “highly likely”-style conclusion that Russian intelligence services were behind them, allegedly seeking to undermine the energy security of Germany and the EU as a whole.
Kiev is celebrating: the operation worked. Europeans were supplied with fresh “evidence of Russia’s aggressive and hostile policy” and pushed to empty their military stockpiles to keep the Kiev regime afloat.
Another possible objective may be to undermine public support for German opposition parties advocating a pragmatic policy towards Russia.
According to available information, German law enforcement agencies investigating the drone incident are, as professionals should, examining various possible scenarios.
❗️ A “Ukrainian trail” is reportedly being seriously considered behind closed doors. But will the German authorities have the political will to draw impartial conclusions – and make them public?
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#KievRegimeCrimes
⚡️ Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik:
💬 Over the past week, more than 400 civilians across Russian regions, including 21 children, suffered as a result of Kiev’s use of attack drones. The vast majority of these UAVs were supplied to the Kiev militants by Western sponsors – either fully assembled or as kits for local assembly.
Kiev’s forces launched more than 500-600 attack drones of various types against civilian targets every day.
The highest numbers of civilian casualties from Kiev’s attacks were recorded in the Belgorod Region, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions.
❗️ On August 17-23, 410 civilians suffered as a result of shelling by Ukrainian neo-Nazis: 364 people, including 16 minors, were injured, while 46 people, including 5 children, were killed.
Over the seven-day period, Ukrainian militants fired at least 7,462 munitions at civilian targets on Russian territory.
⚡️ Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik:
💬 Over the past week, more than 400 civilians across Russian regions, including 21 children, suffered as a result of Kiev’s use of attack drones. The vast majority of these UAVs were supplied to the Kiev militants by Western sponsors – either fully assembled or as kits for local assembly.
Kiev’s forces launched more than 500-600 attack drones of various types against civilian targets every day.
The highest numbers of civilian casualties from Kiev’s attacks were recorded in the Belgorod Region, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions.
❗️ On August 17-23, 410 civilians suffered as a result of shelling by Ukrainian neo-Nazis: 364 people, including 16 minors, were injured, while 46 people, including 5 children, were killed.
Over the seven-day period, Ukrainian militants fired at least 7,462 munitions at civilian targets on Russian territory.
Forwarded from НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ЦЕНТР ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЙ ПАМЯТИ ПРИ ПРЕЗИДЕНТЕ РОССИИ
🖋 Памятная дата 3 сентября закреплена Федеральным законом как День воинской славы и имеет для нашего общества особое значение. Понимание истинной цены Дальневосточной победы — это фундамент нашего современного мировоззрения и четкое осознание национальной безопасности.
Самым страшным воплощением этих намерений стали бесчеловечные опыты «отряда 731» над живыми людьми, в том числе советскими гражданами. Эти чудовищные факты навсегда и бесповоротно лишают оснований любые попытки поставить под сомнение значимость Победы на Дальнем Востоке. Ведь за ними скрывалась не просто военная опасность, но и, как выяснилось на Хабаровском судебном процессе 1949 года, — реальная угроза планомерного уничтожения целых народов.
🔍 Мощный и молниеносный удар Красной Армии в августе-сентябре 1945 года не только предотвратил применение этого оружия, но и спас миллионы людей от геноцида. Маньчжурская, Южно-Сахалинская и Курильская операции наших фронтов и флотов сломили волю противника. 2 сентября на линкоре «Миссури» был подписан Акт о капитуляции. Вторая мировая война была завершена.
Память о подвиге наших дедов и прадедов на Дальнем Востоке становится не просто данью прошлому. Это ключевой ориентир в понимании мира, безопасности и нашей ответственности перед будущим. Именно поэтому так важно сохранить и передать эту память следующим поколениям.
➢ Маршруты по местам памяти: мемориально-патронатные акции, церемонии возложения цветов, исторические квесты от «Волонтёров Победы»
➢ Выставочные проекты: экспозиция «Победа на Дальнем Востоке», раскрывающая правду об «отряде 731» и японских планах биологической войны
➢ Акция «Дальневосточная Победа»: волонтеры раздадут муаровые ленты, символизирующие победу над милитаристской Японией
➢ Просвещение и кино: планы просветительских уроков и лекториев, а также подборка документальных фильмов Медиаплатформы Центра
➢ и многое другое
🇷🇺 Подпишитесь и будьте в Центре
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Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
#KievRegimeCrimes
💬 Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik:
On August 26, nine people were killed in a Ukrainian strike on a civilian bus in the Lugansk People's Republic.
Five people were injured. The bus was travelling on the Lisichansk-Stakhanov route.
***
💬 Head of the Lugansk People's Republic Leonid Pasechnik:
Eight people were killed at the scene. A 20-year-old woman was rushed to intensive care, but doctors were unable to save her. Her mother was injured.
An 18-year-old woman was also wounded and hospitalized. Three other passengers and the driver received medical treatment and were released for outpatient care.
❗️ This is yet another act of terrorism by the Kiev regime – cynical, inhuman and without justification.
It is a war crime, and those responsible will inevitably face the punishment they deserve.
Investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee are documenting the consequences of the attack.
💬 Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik:
On August 26, nine people were killed in a Ukrainian strike on a civilian bus in the Lugansk People's Republic.
Five people were injured. The bus was travelling on the Lisichansk-Stakhanov route.
***
💬 Head of the Lugansk People's Republic Leonid Pasechnik:
Eight people were killed at the scene. A 20-year-old woman was rushed to intensive care, but doctors were unable to save her. Her mother was injured.
An 18-year-old woman was also wounded and hospitalized. Three other passengers and the driver received medical treatment and were released for outpatient care.
❗️ This is yet another act of terrorism by the Kiev regime – cynical, inhuman and without justification.
It is a war crime, and those responsible will inevitably face the punishment they deserve.
Investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee are documenting the consequences of the attack.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
☢️ Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant (#ZNPP):
On August 26, the Zaporozhskaya NPP, operated by Rosatom, came under a Ukrainian drone attack targeting its dry spent nuclear fuel storage facility.
No significant damage was recorded and no personnel were injured.
No environmental impact was detected, while radiation levels at the plant and in the surrounding area remain within normal limits.
❗️ An attack on a spent nuclear fuel storage facility is an extremely dangerous and unacceptable act.
Damage to the infrastructure ensuring the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel could have serious consequences and poses a potential threat to nuclear and radiation safety.
ZNPP personnel are taking all necessary measures to ensure the plant’s safe operation.
On August 26, the Zaporozhskaya NPP, operated by Rosatom, came under a Ukrainian drone attack targeting its dry spent nuclear fuel storage facility.
No significant damage was recorded and no personnel were injured.
No environmental impact was detected, while radiation levels at the plant and in the surrounding area remain within normal limits.
❗️ An attack on a spent nuclear fuel storage facility is an extremely dangerous and unacceptable act.
Damage to the infrastructure ensuring the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel could have serious consequences and poses a potential threat to nuclear and radiation safety.
ZNPP personnel are taking all necessary measures to ensure the plant’s safe operation.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
⚡️ Report by the Russian Foreign Ministry – “On the Kiev Regime’s Unlawful Actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Its Clergy and Parishioners” (as of June 2026)
📄 FULL REPORT (PDF)
❗️ The Kiev nationalists, who seized power in 2014 through an unconstitutional armed coup, have since systematically built a multi-layered system of severe restrictions on religious freedom, turning the religious sphere into a testing ground for assaults on human dignity.
The religious dimension has become one of the state’s key instruments for influencing social processes and is actively used to falsify history, legitimise and glorify Nazism, and suppress dissent, as well as secular and religious opposition.
Mass violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms have become a defining feature of the Kiev regime’s years in power.
***
👉 Zelensky and his entourage are fragmenting the country’s religious landscape, shaping relations with religious organisations and believers according to the degree of their tolerance for the misanthropic ideology imposed by the authorities.
Within this framework, sweeping administrative and legal measures are being implemented to weaken the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (#UOC) to the greatest possible extent in public life, up to and including the dismantling of its governing structures.
The report provides numerous documented examples of discrimination, along with public statements by Ukrainian officials at various levels openly spelling out the ultimate objectives of this campaign – to eliminate the country’s largest religious organisation, force its parishioners and clergy to join the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, which is controlled by the authorities and interested business circles, and expropriate UOC property, religious objects and holy sites.
The report’s sections cover:
***
The controlled chaos created by the Kiev regime within Ukrainian Orthodoxy has for years enabled the authorities, the OCU and radical groups to carry out forcible seizures of monasteries and churches, illegally re-register religious communities, cultivate hate rhetoric, and perpetrate unprovoked aggression and violence against the clergy and believers of the canonical Church.
Members of radical nationalist groups are enlisted to carry out such reprisals, with assurances that they will escape legal responsibility when breaking the law. Ukraine has developed and tacitly legitimised an entire system of backroom arrangements that encourages violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of believers and clergy.
❌ Religious persecution has now not merely intensified – it has become fully systematic, a fact acknowledged even by many Western politicians.
One of the reasons behind the current catastrophic situation facing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine is Western support for the Kiev regime’s religious policy, first and foremost from the US. This issue is also examined in the report.
Despite the vast number of documented cases of persecution against the canonical Church and clear violations of Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of human rights, these violations have still not received due attention from universal multilateral organisations, including the UN and its leadership, which refrain from issuing detailed reports on the matter or responding firmly, limiting themselves to routine references to the problem.
#KievRegimeCrimes
📄 FULL REPORT (PDF)
❗️ The Kiev nationalists, who seized power in 2014 through an unconstitutional armed coup, have since systematically built a multi-layered system of severe restrictions on religious freedom, turning the religious sphere into a testing ground for assaults on human dignity.
The religious dimension has become one of the state’s key instruments for influencing social processes and is actively used to falsify history, legitimise and glorify Nazism, and suppress dissent, as well as secular and religious opposition.
Mass violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms have become a defining feature of the Kiev regime’s years in power.
***
👉 Zelensky and his entourage are fragmenting the country’s religious landscape, shaping relations with religious organisations and believers according to the degree of their tolerance for the misanthropic ideology imposed by the authorities.
Within this framework, sweeping administrative and legal measures are being implemented to weaken the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (#UOC) to the greatest possible extent in public life, up to and including the dismantling of its governing structures.
The report provides numerous documented examples of discrimination, along with public statements by Ukrainian officials at various levels openly spelling out the ultimate objectives of this campaign – to eliminate the country’s largest religious organisation, force its parishioners and clergy to join the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, which is controlled by the authorities and interested business circles, and expropriate UOC property, religious objects and holy sites.
The report’s sections cover:
• Ukraine’s discriminatory laws targeting the UOC
• Unlawful actions by Ukrainian special services and law enforcement agencies against the UOC
• Illegal mobilisation of UOC clergy
• Actions by Ukrainian local authorities and self-government bodies against the UOK
• Seizures of UOC churches and illegal re-registration of communities
• Pressure exerted by national and regional authorities on major UOC monasteries
• Hate speech, unprovoked aggression and violence against UOC clergy and believers
• US influence on the evolution of the church crisis in Ukraine
• Response of the international community
***
The controlled chaos created by the Kiev regime within Ukrainian Orthodoxy has for years enabled the authorities, the OCU and radical groups to carry out forcible seizures of monasteries and churches, illegally re-register religious communities, cultivate hate rhetoric, and perpetrate unprovoked aggression and violence against the clergy and believers of the canonical Church.
Members of radical nationalist groups are enlisted to carry out such reprisals, with assurances that they will escape legal responsibility when breaking the law. Ukraine has developed and tacitly legitimised an entire system of backroom arrangements that encourages violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of believers and clergy.
❌ Religious persecution has now not merely intensified – it has become fully systematic, a fact acknowledged even by many Western politicians.
One of the reasons behind the current catastrophic situation facing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine is Western support for the Kiev regime’s religious policy, first and foremost from the US. This issue is also examined in the report.
Despite the vast number of documented cases of persecution against the canonical Church and clear violations of Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of human rights, these violations have still not received due attention from universal multilateral organisations, including the UN and its leadership, which refrain from issuing detailed reports on the matter or responding firmly, limiting themselves to routine references to the problem.
#KievRegimeCrimes
#Анонс
⚛️ С 28 августа по 28 сентября в России и за рубежом пройдет ежегодный международный просветительский проект «Атомный диктант - 2026», организованный Союзом организаций атомной отрасли «Атомные города» при поддержке ГК «Росатом».
Цель инициативы – знакомство с историей и достижениями российской атомной отрасли, ее выдающимися людьми и разработками - от ядерной медицины и атомной энергетики до освоения Арктики и исследования космоса.
Пройти диктант можно участникам любого возраста и уровня подготовки, очно или онлайн. По итогам каждый получит электронный диплом.
Часть заданий традиционно будет представлена в видеоформате. Вопросы зададут представители атомной отрасли, науки, образования, культуры, спорта и общественной сферы.
👉 Регистрация и подробная информация
#Россия
#Образование
⚛️ С 28 августа по 28 сентября в России и за рубежом пройдет ежегодный международный просветительский проект «Атомный диктант - 2026», организованный Союзом организаций атомной отрасли «Атомные города» при поддержке ГК «Росатом».
Цель инициативы – знакомство с историей и достижениями российской атомной отрасли, ее выдающимися людьми и разработками - от ядерной медицины и атомной энергетики до освоения Арктики и исследования космоса.
Пройти диктант можно участникам любого возраста и уровня подготовки, очно или онлайн. По итогам каждый получит электронный диплом.
Часть заданий традиционно будет представлена в видеоформате. Вопросы зададут представители атомной отрасли, науки, образования, культуры, спорта и общественной сферы.
#Россия
#Образование
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Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Interview by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with RBC TV (Moscow, August 28, 2026)
Key points:
• The world is undergoing a transformation, profound changes. These changes will most likely span an entire era, so the generation currently living on Earth may not necessarily see the final configuration that emerges.
• After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the West always had the idea of “keeping Russia close” – but not as an equal partner. Even when we triumphantly joined the G8, which later reverted to the G7, our membership was never fully equal.
• The turning point in our attitude, when we finally understood and became convinced that the West had no intention of cooperating with us on an equal footing, was President Vladimir Putin’s Munich speech in 2007. Everyone knows it very well.
• As President Vladimir Putin has already said, we will always be ready for dialogue, but we have learned our lessons, and our relations with the West will never again be what they were before February 2022.
• The recent visits to Moscow by the Vatican’s top diplomat and the CIA Director reflected the desire of those who came here to visit and talk.
• I held talks with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See. There was nothing secret about our meeting. We spoke about virtually everything at the subsequent press conference.
• Like everywhere else in the world, Russia has established rules governing interaction between intelligence services. There is nothing unusual about this. Nor is there anything unusual about such work being conducted discreetly.
• Much of diplomacy, too, takes place behind the scenes, but diplomats, by tradition and by the very nature of their profession, are expected to say something publicly. Naturally, we do not disclose details that are particularly sensitive or still being worked out, where it is important not to jeopardise possible compromises or consensus.
• The Zelensky regime shells schools, children’s centres, beaches and passenger buses – a vast number of facilities that have nothing whatsoever to do with military capabilities. And the West keeps shamefully silent. Regrettably, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk are equally silent. ☝️ They have unequivocally and firmly sided with the Ukrainian regime.
• Geopolitically and geoeconomically, giants such as China, India and Brazil are asserting themselves and rapidly strengthening their economic standing, taking their rightful place in global economic affairs.
• Fundamental changes are taking place in Africa as the continent begins moving away from the neocolonial model under which raw materials were extracted there while value was added in Europe.
Read in full
Key points:
• The world is undergoing a transformation, profound changes. These changes will most likely span an entire era, so the generation currently living on Earth may not necessarily see the final configuration that emerges.
• After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the West always had the idea of “keeping Russia close” – but not as an equal partner. Even when we triumphantly joined the G8, which later reverted to the G7, our membership was never fully equal.
• The turning point in our attitude, when we finally understood and became convinced that the West had no intention of cooperating with us on an equal footing, was President Vladimir Putin’s Munich speech in 2007. Everyone knows it very well.
• As President Vladimir Putin has already said, we will always be ready for dialogue, but we have learned our lessons, and our relations with the West will never again be what they were before February 2022.
• The recent visits to Moscow by the Vatican’s top diplomat and the CIA Director reflected the desire of those who came here to visit and talk.
• I held talks with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See. There was nothing secret about our meeting. We spoke about virtually everything at the subsequent press conference.
• Like everywhere else in the world, Russia has established rules governing interaction between intelligence services. There is nothing unusual about this. Nor is there anything unusual about such work being conducted discreetly.
• Much of diplomacy, too, takes place behind the scenes, but diplomats, by tradition and by the very nature of their profession, are expected to say something publicly. Naturally, we do not disclose details that are particularly sensitive or still being worked out, where it is important not to jeopardise possible compromises or consensus.
• The Zelensky regime shells schools, children’s centres, beaches and passenger buses – a vast number of facilities that have nothing whatsoever to do with military capabilities. And the West keeps shamefully silent. Regrettably, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk are equally silent. ☝️ They have unequivocally and firmly sided with the Ukrainian regime.
• Geopolitically and geoeconomically, giants such as China, India and Brazil are asserting themselves and rapidly strengthening their economic standing, taking their rightful place in global economic affairs.
• Fundamental changes are taking place in Africa as the continent begins moving away from the neocolonial model under which raw materials were extracted there while value was added in Europe.
Read in full
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s statement on Ukrainian strikes on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant (August 27, 2026)
💬 The deranged Kiev regime has resumed attacks on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant (#ZNPP), deliberately targeting critical components and systems essential to the nuclear safety of this Russian nuclear power plant.
On August 26, a Ukrainian drone targeted the dry spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the ZNPP – damaging it could have led to a serious radiation accident.
There are other examples of Zelensky and his clique engaging in increasingly reckless actions, demonstrating to the world their readiness to undermine the nuclear safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and provoke a nuclear disaster.
☝️ Such actions would be impossible without the constant support that Western countries provide to the Kiev junta.
It is precisely this support that instils in the criminal regime the false hope of impunity and encourages further reckless actions.
❗️ We once again call on the IAEA leadership to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and take comprehensive measures to exert pressure on Kiev.
💬 The deranged Kiev regime has resumed attacks on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant (#ZNPP), deliberately targeting critical components and systems essential to the nuclear safety of this Russian nuclear power plant.
On August 26, a Ukrainian drone targeted the dry spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the ZNPP – damaging it could have led to a serious radiation accident.
There are other examples of Zelensky and his clique engaging in increasingly reckless actions, demonstrating to the world their readiness to undermine the nuclear safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and provoke a nuclear disaster.
☝️ Such actions would be impossible without the constant support that Western countries provide to the Kiev junta.
It is precisely this support that instils in the criminal regime the false hope of impunity and encourages further reckless actions.
❗️ We once again call on the IAEA leadership to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and take comprehensive measures to exert pressure on Kiev.
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
8️⃣5️⃣ years ago, on August 28, the Tallinn Breakout of the Soviet Baltic Fleet towards Kronstadt — one of the largest and most difficult naval operations by the Soviet Union during #WW2 — commenced.
***
In the summer of 1941, the Nazis, having treacherously invaded our Motherland, advanced rapidly into the Baltic region. By August, the enemy had launched an offensive against the capital of Soviet Estonia — Tallinn. Thus, the city’s heroic defence commenced. Wehrmacht army group 'North' received a direct order from Hitler: under no circumstances were the Soviet Baltic Fleet or Red Army units to be allowed to withdraw to Kronstadt to take part in the defence of Leningrad.
By the end of August, the Soviet forces, including the Tallinn garrison, started regrouping under the heavy fire of Nazis and found themselves encircled on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland.
The land route to Leningrad had been severed by the enemy.
Faced with these dire circumstances, the Supreme High Command of the USSR took a vital decision: to evacuate the Baltic Fleet, the Red Army units, which were defending Tallinn, as well as civilians to Kronstadt.
In the early hours of August 28, the breakout began. A convoy of 225 warships and auxiliary vessels left Tallinn, carrying over 40'000 people on board. German Nazis and their Finnish accomplices were trying to thwart the evacuation by any means. Enemy coastal artillery opened heavy and relentless fire on Soviet vessels, while Finnish aircraft were mercilessly shooting at the Soviet people in the water.
The Gulf of Finland was sown with over 1'700 mines laid by the Nazis. Survivors later recounted:
By August 30, the Baltic Fleet finally fought its way to Kronstadt. Only 163 vessels reached the destination safely. More than 15'000 people, among them over 4'500 civilians, lost their lives during the breakout — an unprecedented number of casualties in the history of naval warfare.
Under such circumstances, the number of casualties could have been far higher, yet thanks to the unparalleled courage and heroism of Red Fleet sailors and Red Army soldiers, the main forces of the fleet were preserved and later engaged in the defence of Leningrad, shielding the city from from attacks via the Gulf of Finland.
🎖 The Tallinn Breakout stands as one of the most heroic and tragic episodes of #WWII. To this day, the depths of the Gulf of Finland remain strewn with the wreckage of vessels lost to Nazi mines — they serve as silent memorials to those three harrowing days in August 1941.
***
🕯 On August 28, 1978, a memorial was erected at Cape Juminda (the Gulf’s southern coast) to honour those who perished during the breakout — a granite boulder and plaque with naval mines around. Annually, commemorative ceremonies are held there with participation of the Russian Embassy in Estonia (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), Russia's compatriots’ organisations, veterans and their families, as well as Estonians who share our common historical memory.
💬 Russia's Ambassador to Estonia Alexander Petrov (2015−2021):
📖 For more details, read our in-depth historical feature on the Tallinn Breakout.
#WeRemember #Victory81
***
In the summer of 1941, the Nazis, having treacherously invaded our Motherland, advanced rapidly into the Baltic region. By August, the enemy had launched an offensive against the capital of Soviet Estonia — Tallinn. Thus, the city’s heroic defence commenced. Wehrmacht army group 'North' received a direct order from Hitler: under no circumstances were the Soviet Baltic Fleet or Red Army units to be allowed to withdraw to Kronstadt to take part in the defence of Leningrad.
By the end of August, the Soviet forces, including the Tallinn garrison, started regrouping under the heavy fire of Nazis and found themselves encircled on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland.
The land route to Leningrad had been severed by the enemy.
Faced with these dire circumstances, the Supreme High Command of the USSR took a vital decision: to evacuate the Baltic Fleet, the Red Army units, which were defending Tallinn, as well as civilians to Kronstadt.
In the early hours of August 28, the breakout began. A convoy of 225 warships and auxiliary vessels left Tallinn, carrying over 40'000 people on board. German Nazis and their Finnish accomplices were trying to thwart the evacuation by any means. Enemy coastal artillery opened heavy and relentless fire on Soviet vessels, while Finnish aircraft were mercilessly shooting at the Soviet people in the water.
The Gulf of Finland was sown with over 1'700 mines laid by the Nazis. Survivors later recounted:
The Gulf, choked with enemy mines, resembled a dumpling soup
By August 30, the Baltic Fleet finally fought its way to Kronstadt. Only 163 vessels reached the destination safely. More than 15'000 people, among them over 4'500 civilians, lost their lives during the breakout — an unprecedented number of casualties in the history of naval warfare.
Under such circumstances, the number of casualties could have been far higher, yet thanks to the unparalleled courage and heroism of Red Fleet sailors and Red Army soldiers, the main forces of the fleet were preserved and later engaged in the defence of Leningrad, shielding the city from from attacks via the Gulf of Finland.
🎖 The Tallinn Breakout stands as one of the most heroic and tragic episodes of #WWII. To this day, the depths of the Gulf of Finland remain strewn with the wreckage of vessels lost to Nazi mines — they serve as silent memorials to those three harrowing days in August 1941.
***
🕯 On August 28, 1978, a memorial was erected at Cape Juminda (the Gulf’s southern coast) to honour those who perished during the breakout — a granite boulder and plaque with naval mines around. Annually, commemorative ceremonies are held there with participation of the Russian Embassy in Estonia (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), Russia's compatriots’ organisations, veterans and their families, as well as Estonians who share our common historical memory.
💬 Russia's Ambassador to Estonia Alexander Petrov (2015−2021):
To the north of Juminda now lies what is perhaps the largest maritime mass grave not only in the Baltic, but in the entire world.
It is the moral duty of the living to bow their heads before those who perished and honour the courage and fortitude of all who crushed the Nazi regime during WW2.
📖 For more details, read our in-depth historical feature on the Tallinn Breakout.
#WeRemember #Victory81