Russian lawmakers adopt ban on publicly denying the ‘Soviet people’s decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany’
Russian lawmakers have adopted in the third and final reading a law that bans publicly denying the “decisive role of the Soviet people in the defeat of Nazi Germany or the humanitarian mission of the USSR in the liberation of the countries of Europe.”
This prohibition will apply to public speaking, works shown in public, as well as in the media and on the Internet. The punishment for violating the ban isn’t spelled out in the document.
In addition, the State Duma adopted legislation that prohibits equating the “purposes, decisions, and actions” of the USSR with those of Nazi Germany and the European Axis powers.
Corresponding amendments are being made to the law “On Immortalizing the Soviet People's Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.”
The bill’s accompanying memorandum states that its goal is “to put up a legislative barrier” against “insults to our grandfathers and great-grandfathers” and “speculation” about the USSR’s victory, while “preserving space for historical research and academic discussions, including those concerning concrete actions by concrete persons.”