MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/: Contrary to ideas spread in the US, many Americans know that it was the Soviet Union who played a key role in defeating Nazism and liberating Europe, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said Saturday in an open interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.
"I would like to note that many Americans understand us, I know it from personally talking to former US Defense Secretary James Mattis, former governor of California John Brown and American veterans who were going to travel to us to the Red Square to take part in the Victory Parade but coronavirus git in the way," Antonov said. "There is no need to explain it to these people that it was the Red Army soldiers that liberated Europe."
According to the Russian envoy, there are burials of Soviet WWII military personnel in Alaska and Seattle. Americans respect the Soviet burials, "ordinary citizens come there to honor the memory of the Soviet-American war alliance" annually.
At the same time, the diplomat pointed out certain negative tendencies in the US regarding the historic truth. "Despite the Russian efforts, we feel that approaches to historic truth are distorted, the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazism is belittled. The emphasis is placed on some oppression of Eastern European nations by Russia," he concluded. "However, the second front is almost called the first that determined the outcome of the war. I underline, we never denied the allies’ role in the Second World War.".
