Thread by @MollyMcKew

So, Lavrov penned kind of an amazing article about how pissed off the Kremlin is at being excluded from D-Day celebrations and treated as an unequal ally of history -- which hasn't gotten enough attention.

Some highlights in this thread /1

mid.ru/ru/foreign_pol…

1- interesting reference, arguing the USSR helped build post-WWII world order -- which it then largely decided not to participate in:

"The Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to defeating Nazi Germany &, jointly w/ the Allies, liberated Europe from the fascist plague...

... The victory laid the foundation for the post-war world order based on collective security & state-to-state cooperation, and paved the way to creating the UN."

2- meticulous thru out is narrative that questioning any aspect of Soviet behavior during war discounts the victory:

"Bitter as it is to witness, we see attempts to discredit the heroes, to artificially generate doubts about the correctness of the path our ancestors followed."

3- b/c still pretending Molotov-Ribbentrop didn't happen:

"Our detractors seek to diminish the role of the Soviet Union in WWII & portray it if not as the main culprit of the war then at least as an aggressor along w/ Nazi Germany, & spread theses about 'equal responsibility'"

4- He really lays the "rightness" on thick, even arguing that the Nuremberg Tribunal showed the Soviet Union was the greatest force of good in the war, while the Nazis were the greatest force of evil ...

5- after complaining about diminishment of Soviet sacrifice, he moves on to diminish D-Day (aka you didn't invite us to your d-day party, so it sucks):

"Young people are being told that the main credit in victory over Nazism & liberation of Europe goes not to Soviet troops...

...but to the West due to the landing in Normandy, which took place less than a year before Nazism was defeated."

Then, he just gets mean, with rhetoric to appeal to far right.

6- "Notorious for its political correctness, Europe is trying to smooth out 'sharp historical edges' and to substitute military honours for winners with 'neutral' reconciliation events. No doubt, we must look forward, but we must not forget the lessons of history either."

7- the next section is devoted to calling Ukrainians Nazis to argue they have no claim on "European values." Sigh.

8- now to the heart of the matter-- 'Russophobia' and why Russia fights battles of history:

"No one will admit this, of course, but here are the facts: the United States, NATO and the EU let their junior partners, who are using blatant Russophobia to build their careers...

...get away with quite a lot. These guys get away with everything, including glorification of Nazi henchmen and hardcore chauvinism towards ethnic Russians and other minorities for the sole purpose of using them to keep Western alliances on anti-Russian positions...

...and to reject a pragmatic dialogue with Moscow on an equal footing."

All the arm-waving and Nazi-calling is for the same reason as always: to argue Russia deserves to be treated as a great power with a role in every major global decision.

9- you can read the section about how most Europeans were really Nazi collaborators who helped Nazis genocide Russians for yourself.

But FFS

10- here's some massive projection:

"They adopt a policy seeking to undermine the existing int'l legal system & replace it w/ a certain 'rule-based order.' They want to create this order based on the principle of 'he who is stronger is right' & according to 'law of the jungle.'"

11- skipping over usual anti-American exceptionalism section, but --

"America honours its fallen soldiers regardless of what cause they fought for."

Say what, pal? They died for the United States. That was the cause.

Maybe he's mad there's been new documentation of the thousands of unmarked graves of Russian soldiers in E Ukraine? That these men are treated like garbage by the country they fought for?

The swipe at American troops is bad.

12- through the looking glass again:

"as we took part in Victory Day celebrations, we once again told everyone willing to listen: 'Yes, just like our ancestors we are ready to decisively repel any aggressor. But Russians do not want war, and do not want to go through horror...

...and suffering again.' The historical mission of our nation is to guard peace. The peace we are trying to preserve."

Yeah, Georgia and Ukraine were terrible aggressors against Russia. They had to defend themselves 🙄