The russian propaganda continues to actively use Europe’s fears of a world war for its own purposes. In particular, moscow plays on the sense of guilt in German society for the crimes of the Nazis during the Second World War, pretending to be the biggest victim of the fascist regime.
The main narratives of russian propaganda in Europe and within the russian federation are well known:
🔸 Nazism is an indisputable evil, over which victory was won only by russia. Other allies and even the republics of the former USSR had a secondary role, and now the Ukrainians have generally «lost their memory» and, therefore, have become Nazis.
🔸 Anyone who proves the negative role of the USSR in the outbreak of the Second World War (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and subsequent aggression against Poland, Finland, the Baltic countries) automatically tries to rehabilitate the Hitler regime.
🔸 The declared «SMO» goal of «denazification» justifies a military attack on Ukraine, and all those who help Kyiv with weapons and finances are descendants of Nazism.
❓ Why did Germany become the main target of kremlin propaganda?
First of all, Germany is the economic and political leader of the region, which plays a significant role in the consolidation of European opposition to russian aggression against Ukraine.
Second, Germany, as a direct participant in the Second World War, is the most vulnerable target for the kremlin to manipulate feelings of guilt towards russia in order to direct Berlin’s modern geopolitics. At the same time, referring to the consequences of the Second World War, the kremlin deliberately projects shocking facts of losses on the entire territory of the USSR, although in fact the territory of modern Ukraine, which russia persistently accuses of reviving Nazism, was the most affected by Nazism. In the consciousness of the average Westerner, primarily German, the idea is promoted «Ukraine’s losses in the Second World War are russia’s losses, which means that the current aggression is the kremlin’s personal matter, in which Germany and other European countries should not interfere».
Here are the dry statistics of losses in the Second World War of Ukraine, not the USSR.
As russian sources admit, the Second World War caused more damage to Ukraine than to any other country in Europe. The post-war volume of Ukraine’s economy reached 40% of the pre-war volume. More than 16,000 industrial enterprises, 5,600 railway bridges, 50,000 km of highways, and 132 port facilities were completely or partially destroyed. At least 5 million civilians died (1 in 6 Ukrainians) and 3 million soldiers (19.1% of the entire pre-war population, or one in five Ukrainians). During the German occupation (from mid-1941 to the end of 1944), 2.3 million people were deported from Ukraine to Germany for forced labor. Against the background of these facts, most of the territory of modern russia wasn’t under occupation, and a large number of enterprises from Ukraine were exported to the russian rear, which became an impetus for the industrial development of the Ural region.
❗️ That’s why the kremlin’s attempts to make Berlin feel guilty for russia look like frank manipulation. All the more so, against the background of the mass murders of peaceful Ukrainians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure during the current full-scale war in Ukraine.
Unfortunately, the kremlin’s propaganda has in a certain way influenced some politicians. After all, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is showing indecision on the issue of supplying tanks to Ukraine, playing along with putin in an effort to change the situation at the front.
Today, the German government is expected to overcome disputes with the USA regarding the terms of providing Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks and to create a powerful «tank coalition» in support of Kyiv. We expect a change in Germany’s position and a real breakthrough in the supply of the latest weapons systems to Ukraine from today’s summit of the defense ministers of Ukraine’s Western allies at the Ramstein Air Base.
☝️ The Krauss-Maffei Wegmann company has produced about 3,600 Leopard 2 main battle tanks and delivered them to many countries. Since the model is manufactured in Germany, the federal government has to coordinate every delivery to another country. Several European countries, including Poland and Finland, have expressed their willingness to transfer German Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but they have not yet received permission to do so from Berlin. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insists that Berlin will hand over Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine if the US decides to supply Kyiv with Abrams tanks. The White House said that each country should make its own decision on aid to Ukraine, and it would be more productive to send German Leopard 2 tanks, which are already used by many allies. The European Parliament formally called on Scholz to deploy Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine without further delay to prevent russian forces from regrouping for an offensive.
❗️❗️ Germany got a historic chance to demonstrate its true European leadership and atone for its guilt before Ukraine for the consequences of the Second World War.
