The Soviet Union played the key role in deciding the outcome of World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said as his country celebrates the 73rd anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany.
"All countries, all peoples, understood then that it was precisely the Soviet Union that determined the outcome of the Second World War," Putin said in a speech at a military parade in central Moscow on Wednesday.
Putin, accompanied by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, said that some people had been trying to rewrite history to undermine the Soviet victory.
He did not mention the Soviet Union's allies in the war, such as the United States and Britain, according to a Kremlin transcript.
Russia's relations with those Western powers have in recent years plunged to their tensest point since the end of the Cold War as they support opposing sides in the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
"Today they are trying to cross out the feat of this people, who saved Europe and the world from slavery, from extermination, from the horrors of the Holocaust," Putin said.
"They are trying to distort the events of the war, to forget the true heroes," he continued, without specifying who "they" are.
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