Today is European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Nazism and Stalinism.  The day - which follows a resolution passed in the European Parliament last April - falls on the 70 anniversary of the Ribbentrop-Molotov non-aggression pact, signed between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in 1939.

The Day of Remembrance recalls and pays tribute to the millions who fell victim to the deportation and mass annihilation policies pursued by Nazi and Stalinist authorities.


The Day of Remembrance - initiated by the OSCE last year and which draws moral equivalence between Nazism and Stalinism  - is being observed throughout Europe for the first this year. Russia’s Foreign Ministry, however, has reacted to the move by saying that it is, "an unacceptable attempt to distort history for political goals." The Russian Parliament also issued a statement saying that it was, "a direct insult to the memory of millions of Russian soldiers who gave their lives to liberate Europe from Nazi domination."