Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova speaks with Alexander von Bismarck on RT DE, discussing the 80th Anniversary of Victory over Fascism.
🇷🇺 She emphasizes the power of shared history and the role of international remembrance.
🕊️ Guests from around the world were welcomed to Moscow to honor fallen heroes and recognize the sacrifices that defeated Nazism.
🇩🇪 Zakharova also reflects on the historic responsibility Germany holds and how the past continues to echo in today’s politics.
“Healing comes through truth and unity,” she affirms.
#MariaZakharova #VictoryDay80 #RussiaRemembers #WWIIAnniversary #NeverForget #MoscowParade #RTDE #RussiaGermany #SharedHistory #Geopolitics #HistoricalTruth #PeaceAndMemory #AntiFascism #UnityThroughRemembrance #VictoryDay2025 #InternationalGuests #ForeignMinistry #ZakharovaInterview #RTBroadcast #GlobalCommemoration
🇷🇺 She emphasizes the power of shared history and the role of international remembrance.
🕊️ Guests from around the world were welcomed to Moscow to honor fallen heroes and recognize the sacrifices that defeated Nazism.
🇩🇪 Zakharova also reflects on the historic responsibility Germany holds and how the past continues to echo in today’s politics.
“Healing comes through truth and unity,” she affirms.
#MariaZakharova #VictoryDay80 #RussiaRemembers #WWIIAnniversary #NeverForget #MoscowParade #RTDE #RussiaGermany #SharedHistory #Geopolitics #HistoricalTruth #PeaceAndMemory #AntiFascism #UnityThroughRemembrance #VictoryDay2025 #InternationalGuests #ForeignMinistry #ZakharovaInterview #RTBroadcast #GlobalCommemoration
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NewsTranscript
00:00it is now the 80th anniversary of the end of that terrible war at first the
00:09Germans didn't realize it at all they didn't understand what victory over
00:13national socialism was but now I think thanks to the anniversary there is a
00:19rising sentiment that it's not only a victory over the Nazis it's a victory
00:24for peace which we had for many years do you think 80 years after the end of
00:30this terrible war have the Germans realized that it's funny that you asked
00:37me a Russian citizen whether the Germans realized it or didn't realize it I think
00:43it would be right if I asked you a question about what is happening to the
00:47Germans what is happening to Germany and why not everybody obviously in Germany
00:53has learned the lessons of the Second World War which is already obvious I
00:57think but I'll try to answer it first we have invited foreign guests world leaders
01:02leaders of world powers who will be in Red Square we have also invited a large
01:06number of public figures people who are connected with anti-fascist activities who
01:12carry out this work on a literally daily basis from foreign countries we invited
01:18veterans who are actually the main guests of the parade veterans including those
01:23from foreign countries I'm just talking now about the international aspect of those invited and we
01:30did this as you can probably guess in order to share our joy with them our joy
01:36is absolutely perfect it is complete and it is all-encompassing it doesn't
01:41require a reaffirmation from someone of how happy we are or how much we remember
01:47what was we are self-sufficient but we also respect those who remember history who
01:53are descendants of those who fought against Nazism who preserve the
01:57historical memory and make sure with their lives that all this is not forgotten
02:01we invite foreign guests of all levels to share our joy with us not to get
02:07something from them in return but to share the joy but I think after your time in
02:12Moscow you will have an opportunity to tell the Germans what the desire of
02:17anyone the West any part of the world to try to inflict a strategic defeat on
02:23Russia leads to tell us about what you've seen in Moscow and in other cities
02:28tell me about how people live here tell us how this challenge that has been
02:33thrown at us has made us even stronger even though we experience it with deep pain
02:38for those who are now at the front who have not returned and who will never
02:42return but at the same time we endure these trials with resilience and great
02:48dignity the next time anyone has an idea to attack Russia to impose a strategic
02:54defeat upon it they had better think about that a hundred times over because as
02:59this situation as the last three years and the last three decades have shown it
03:04affects those who are hatching such plans in a negative way in the first place now
03:10about your question about lessons directly you understand that previously
03:15perhaps we used to talk about lessons not being learned but I think we need to
03:20talk in a different way the West has not given up the idea of segregating the
03:25world according to the principle of those who are worthy of living a full life
03:29and those who are somehow not worthy from their point of view earlier
03:35several centuries ago these ideas which of course originated in the Western
03:39civilization took the form of colonialism the form of imperialism the form of
03:45slavery the slave trade and the division of the world into those who are
03:50free from birth and those who could be enslaved from their point of view in the
03:5520th century this ideology was distorted in an even uglier direction it took the
04:02form of Nazism fascism when it seemed to the ideologists and inspirers of this very
04:08philosophy that it was not enough just to enslave people of other continents it
04:13seemed to them necessary to start pursuing the same policy towards their own
04:18neighbors their own fellow citizens inventing theories of racial superiority
04:23including within the context of their own fellow citizens do you remember where
04:28that led I think that this theory this philosophy this ideology which has taken
04:34different forms over the centuries is still alive today Joseph Borel who
04:40recently represented the foreign policy of the entire European Union said the
04:45world is divided into a beautiful garden and a wild jungle by the beautiful
04:50garden of course he meant as we understand the NATO centric community and
04:56the wild jungle is apparently everything else that's the same ideology so this is
05:02not about lessons but about the fact that the very core the very seed of this
05:07ideology is unfortunately alive
05:10yes I saw in Germany it was unbearable that amid this 80th anniversary of the victory the German foreign
05:20ministry forbade Russians and Germans from celebrating this day together for us for most people that's
05:27why do you tolerate it when will you stop tolerating it the Germans tolerated the
05:38externally imposed and paid for ideology of Nazism in the 1930s what did it lead to it
05:46led to monstrous consequences for the Germans themselves how many people died how many people
05:52were mangled mentally and then physically how many years Germans paid the price for
05:57tolerating the ideology that was imposed on them and the same ideology was paid
06:02for as it is now from the outside but Hitler didn't have such opportunities he
06:08didn't have such finances someone gave them to him he got them from somewhere and
06:13we know where from the West now to what point will the Germans tolerate it do the Germans
06:20realize they're on the verge of extinction as a people I'm not talking about a nation I'm not
06:26talking about ethnicity I'm not talking about DNA I'm talking about culture I'm talking about a
06:32community of people do they realize that they are being erased from world history in the history of
06:38Germany there were a lot of good and very bad things but now things are being erased to leave only the
06:44bad the idea of nationalism is being nurtured in Germans again you know it and I know it how long
06:51will this be tolerated a bus can see a feeling mention but very many Germans are taking to the
06:56streets for demonstrations to show their disagreement for example with what our
07:01former foreign minister did and there's a lot of writing about it on social media the
07:06mainstream media is very one-sided in presenting this information but this wave is
07:12growing and a lot of people are showing that they disagree and I think that's a good thing
07:16and these days many people are coming to the Russian embassy in Berlin to show their solidarity
07:22it's a little get a prostitute and the elite these are people these are ordinary people where are
07:31the elites I don't divide ordinary people and elites on this principle I mean where are those
07:37who have the ability to influence political processes economic processes where are they
07:43all where are the public figures German journalism is infected if not defeated there is no journalism
07:50in Germany there is propaganda it has been suppressed by liberal ideology by liberal dictatorship and has
07:58turned into a dictatorship of liberalism which is destroying Germany why is this because it doesn't
08:04show an objective picture of the world because they don't see history or modernity that's why we
08:11have to wake up Germany we have to make Germany wake up you know look what is happening German
08:17journalists have gone so far as to declare war on Russian journalists how can representatives of a
08:23democratic society imagine such a thing it's nonsense but they are actually literally harassing Russian
08:30journalists they are repeating the worst of German history but who pays them where does the money for
08:36all these German media companies come from everyone realizes where the money comes from too it also comes
08:43from the West as a vision that's via you know that we in Germany for decades have not been free from the
08:51United States they have been telling us what we should do people didn't realize that at first and maybe only now that Trump has come to
09:00power and JD Vance has expressed at the security conference that we ourselves are destroying the
09:06foundations of our democracy and we have never been free from the US and this is really a kind of awakening in
09:14Germany that is needed that's a mistake the awakening has to start in Germany not from the moment when
09:25somebody from another country says something because today you are told something by Vance tomorrow you
09:32will be told something from another country the awakening in Germany must start from within from
09:37self-awareness you're making the same mistake again you're again listening to what you will be
09:43told in the same United States you will forgive me I will remind you although you know it better than I do
09:51that Germany is older than the United States of America
09:55yes much more than that we need a different turn perhaps with the support of the US
10:03although we must have our own interests and we will use them to our advantage
10:08for example Germany is well suited to the role of mediator in Europe in its time 80 years ago Germany did many bad things
10:17but it is important to say that now we would like to be mediators including between Russia and Ukraine now the mood in Germany is changing and there are people in the European Parliament who will come to celebrate the victory five of them to show that the mood for change
10:35is there even in the European Parliament I hope you support that
10:42well I don't want to comment on the European Parliament that's the whole thing I think it's deeply unhealthy I would put it that way I would like to speak about the role of mediation or Germany's mediation role former German Chancellor Merkel undermined the trust of the world community in Germany's mediation function that trust can
11:03only be attempted to be restored at some point how did she do it very simply for seven years from 2015 to 2022 she said that she as the leader of Germany and that Germany itself
11:18were mediators participants of the Normandy format in the implementation of the Minsk agreements that they were an honest broker a mediator an assistant in order to resolve the situation
11:30a lot could have been done in seven years and the most important thing on the table was really a working map of how Ukraine could preserve itself as an integral state and find a real stable prosperous democratic free future it was the Minsk agreements
11:49it was a story about how Russia initiated knowing Ukraine knowing the history of the region initiated a plan that would help Ukraine rewire itself reintegrate itself with internal resources of international experience international law and the mediation of those who were interested
12:08and Merkel kept saying that then of course she would help make it all happen and then the same Merkel said she was not going to do that and that she only talked about supporting the Minsk agreements but in fact their task was to militarize Ukraine that is to prepare Ukraine to commit a massacre I don't think Merkel is not smart enough not to realize what would happen to Ukraine in case of a conflict a direct conflict
12:37with Russia they understood that Ukraine for all its militarization had no such power to carry out such a plan I understand that they just had to sacrifice Ukraine and make it a tool as they said themselves to defeat Russia strategically what mediating role are you talking about now I understand your desire I understand that this is the aspiration and hopes of many Germans but who will realize them
13:06your leaders have deceived them your leaders have deceived you and the entire international community the Minsk agreements are not only a document that united the Normandy format countries the Minsk agreements became a resolution of the UN Security Council an official document that was binding on all UN member states who was Merkel deceiving she deceived not only Ukraine she deceived not only Russia
13:36France she deceived the whole world she deceived the whole world she deceived the UN Security Council and one more point you say that many people are coming out supporting the restoration of ties with Russia opposing the destructive policies of the previous elites Schultz Baerbock and so on you're talking about others being elected how are they elected in a democratic society the media plays a crucial role in the electoral process
14:06but in principle in the entire electoral process if the media in Germany has already turned into propaganda then you know that they propagate only one worldview concept liberal dictatorship the dictatorship of liberalism you will have the same results they don't hear people they don't see the obvious they don't want to notice how people live I mean in Germany
14:36First of all something has to be done with the media in Germany
14:40We have to hold them accountable we need to demand that they start doing journalism instead of propaganda what they are doing is monstrous we need to look at where the money is coming from you have to do everything you can to understand who is funding the German media their publishing houses and the owners of these publishing houses and then you'll get the answer and here you are again talking about America's support and so on well you see that America is diametrically
15:10changing its course 180 degrees every four or eight years and what matters to America now in a few years will be even indecent or even prejudicial and that's the norm for them that's the way they're organized
15:24And do you see an opportunity to rebuild trust between Germany and Russia? I understand that Russia was disappointed with Angela Merkel and what she revealed people in Germany were shocked too
15:39What could Germany do to restore a relationship of trust with Russia?
15:44What have the Germans done if you, a man so enlightened, keep appealing to the interests of other countries?
15:53You talk about how Vance has finally opened Germany's eyes
15:56Then you talk about how with Trump's arrival a lot of things can change in Germany
16:01Now you ask me, what should Germany do to regain trust with Russia?
16:06That's not what I'm telling you
16:08I keep telling you that Germany has to finally listen to itself
16:12Germany has to look inside its own country to realize where its national interests lie
16:18To realize that it should not serve anyone else, but that it should act in the interests of the German people
16:24Not as the Nazis propagandized
16:27With ugly national interests and a hypertrophying national policy turning it into Nazism
16:33The true interests of Germany lie in the well-being of its citizens
16:38In the development of science and culture
16:41In the preservation of the best in the society and experience that Germany has
16:46And multiplying that experience in preserving itself with its best
16:51Its best traditions as a nation
16:54And when Germany realizes this inner self-consciousness will awaken in Germans
17:00In Germany, I would like to emphasize once again
17:03Not in a hypertrophied form, in the form of some nationalistic idea
17:08But in an essential, real, true understanding of the interests of the people
17:13Then something will shift, including, I think, in relations with Russia
17:18But if you constantly focus on how to make things more pleasant or convenient for one or another
17:24It will not lead you anywhere
17:26You've already gone down that road
17:28It has led Germany down an absolute dead end
17:32In 2022, the whole policy of Scholz and Baerbock was to get German business to leave Russia
17:38Some of the German businessmen left
17:41But you will laugh
17:43It seems to me that in percentage terms
17:46More German businesses left Germany than left Russia
17:49That's absurd, it's savage
17:52I think Germans should ask and demand answers from their political elites
17:57How did the political elites come to the point where German businesses are leaving Germany?
18:03This is the result of their activities
18:05The result of the fact that Russia was pressurized
18:08And a hybrid war was declared on us
18:11You see, you come here
18:13We have a growth of industry, production and technology
18:16We have businesses opening up
18:19Germany, which was the largest economy of the last 30 years in Europe
18:23Has now collapsed with no possibility of recovery in the near future
18:27First, the Greens, represented by Baerbock
18:31For many years, we thought that the Green Party was the party for the environment
18:35Then it became clear that they have nothing to do with ecology
18:39People who are in favor of the environment will not be in favor of supplying arms to an area of open conflict
18:47Think about it
18:48For decades, it was the Green Party that dissuaded the Germans from building nuclear power plants
18:54The Germans believed them
18:56They blocked the construction of nuclear power facilities in their country
19:00This was one of the reasons for Germany's economic backwardness
19:05Nuclear power is developing in France
19:08Nuclear power is developing in the US
19:10Nuclear power is developing even in those countries that Germany used to call backward
19:16It is developing everywhere
19:18In Germany, it has become a factor
19:21A very serious factor of backwardness
19:23As soon as they cut themselves off from Russian gas
19:27Schultz and his friend Baerbock found themselves generally dependent
19:31Totally dependent
19:32That is, Schultz and Baerbock sold this idea to the Germans in such a way that by cutting themselves off from Russian gas
19:40They would become independent
19:42But they became dependent on literally everything
19:46On expensive liquefied natural gas from the US
19:49On any supplies
19:51Just to get energy from somewhere
19:53For at least 10 years
19:55Germany and other countries around the world have been talking about digitalization
19:59That all parts of our lives
20:01Logistics, transport, services, trade, the economy
20:05Should be digitalized
20:07What does digitalization mean?
20:10It implies a colossal amount of energy
20:13For one, in order to produce iron
20:16In order to produce computers, tablets, servers
20:19The second part of the energy is to run those computers
20:23The third part of the energy is cooling
20:26That's an increase in energy consumption by leaps and bounds
20:30The same Baerbock, who on one hand is a representative of the environmental party
20:35Who was supposed to talk about reducing energy consumption
20:38She also talked about a need for digitalization
20:42And it all went well together
20:44So this is where I think we need to look for an answer to these questions
20:48You should become a professor in Germany to explain this to the people
20:55The sanctions imposed by the political elite had no strategy
21:00If there had been a strategy, it would not have been necessary to do it at all
21:06But we Germans have not yet woken up after 80 years
21:10We listened to what others said, but we had no interests of our own
21:15They are especially lacking now
21:17We were often subordinate, orientated towards others
21:21We didn't practice real politics
21:23We had a politics of morality
21:26And that has set us back
21:28And it affects everybody
21:30Energy prices are flying upwards
21:33And nobody knows how to pay them
21:36Maybe we need to be shaken up from the outside
21:39To help us realize ourselves what we need to realize
21:44You've expressed that very clearly
21:48Thank you for the invitation to become a professor in Germany
21:53But I have a lot to do in Russia for now
21:55And that includes teaching here
21:57You say Germans need to be awakened from the outside
22:00But that approach won't bring lasting results
22:03First, one side tries to wake you up
22:06Then another, then a third
22:08They'll all try something
22:10True change must come from within
22:12The disease that has plagued Germany in recent decades
22:15Is called the dictatorship of liberalism
22:19Listen to me
22:20What is liberalism in the western sense?
22:23It distorts the concept of humanity and the world
22:26Turning everything upside down
22:29We hear a lot about human rights
22:31Especially from Berlin
22:33But if anyone truly cared about human rights
22:36Merkel, Steinmeier, their officials
22:39They would have seen what's been happening in the Donbass since 2014
22:43Children killed
22:45Native languages banned in parts of Ukraine
22:48The world witnessed that the talk of human rights
22:51Wasn't backed by action
22:53It was just talk
22:54Serving commercial and political goals
22:57Liberalism shut people down
22:59And removed their ability to critically assess the world around them
23:03When it was a child
23:05But at power of lost people
23:06All donations
23:07Do not forget
23:08What is a child
23:09For your child
23:10And can't save people
23:11Not only
23:12The words of the child
23:13Who is a child
23:14Is a child
23:16You have to be a child
23:17You have to learn
23:18If you don't believe
23:19That's why
23:20What is a child
23:21You have to learn
23:23That's why
23:23The children
23:24You have to learn
23:25How can you find
23:26Some children
23:28You have to learn