Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the ceremony to lay wreaths at the memorial plaques at the Foreign Ministry, Moscow, May 8, 2024

Colleagues,

Friends,

Today, according to tradition, we celebrate Great Victory Day, May 9, a day that will never be gone from our memory,  a day when we commemorate those who protected Russia, Europe and the world from Nazism and pay tribute to their heroism.

We are proud that diplomats were among the heroes who resisted the enemy, weapon in hand, or worked to support their Motherland on the home front, addressing economic tasks. After the war, they spared no effort to create a just international system, in which the USSR – our state, our nation – would take its rightful place, which was due to us according to historical justice. This is how the United Nations was created.

I would like to repeat that employees of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and our colleagues from the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Trade contributed to that victory on all fronts. Many of them became victims of political repression. We will always remember this.

We also commemorate our colleagues who lost their lives in the line of duty. In particular, quite recently, just a couple of years ago, we lost our comrades-in-arms in Afghanistan. They were carrying on the work started by their fathers and grandfathers, defending their homeland’s security and legitimate interests. Today, we honour their memory, too.

As President of Russia Vladimir Putin said on May 7, this year’s Victory Day has a special significance because we are celebrating this great holiday in a situation where Nazism is rearing its head again. The descendants of Napoleon and Hitler have joined the Anglo-Saxons, again seeking to inflict a “strategic defeat” on our country, destroy it and subordinate it to their narrow selfish hegemonic interests.  Just like our fathers and grandfathers volunteered to the front, ready to give their lives for the future of their children and grandchildren, for the future of the country, today, once again, we see an extraordinary upsurge in society, as Russians are rallying to another sacred battle.

The new rulers of the world are trying to take revenge for centuries of unsuccessful attempts to subordinate our homeland to their interests. For that, they are using the openly Nazi regime in Ukraine that they have nurtured for years. Our soldiers on the front line, the people who provide them with weapons and equipment, as well as others, who are fostering the correct perception of our just struggle in the international arena, are definitely continuing the cause of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers.

On May 7, President Vladimir Putin said at his inauguration ceremony that we must answer to our thousand-year-long history and our predecessors today. This is how we see the mission that Russia is on today. What the President said implied that this responsibility lies with our country’s leaders and every citizen alike. I would like to emphasise our special focus on ensuring the consolidation of the countries that constitute the global majority – those who reject the West’s aspirations to be called a blooming garden while referring to the rest disdainfully and contemptuously as a thick jungle.

The countries of the global majority know that Russia is fighting for everyone who wants to make their own choices and follow their own traditions, who do not want to see any manifestations of Nazism, racial or religious discrimination. The West is constantly pushing its satellites and puppets to this.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all Foreign Ministry employees and our colleagues in other ministries and agencies who are involved, in one way or another, in addressing tasks related to upholding Russia’s foreign policy interests.

I wish everyone all the best on the Great Victory Day, primarily our dear veterans, who continue to do a lot to maintain the continuity of the diplomatic service and pass their experience and knowledge on to younger generations.

Special words of gratitude and greetings to our friends from the National Guard – their colleagues have been fighting on the front line from the first day of the special military operation. We wish them and all our fighters only victory. What’s most important is that we know: victory will be ours because the truth is on our side.

Happy Victory Day.