Russia slams anti-UN Nazism resolution votes as 'blasphemous'
Out of the 180 representatives who voted on December 15, a total of 120 countries voted in favor, 10 abstained, and 50 voted against, including Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US.
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Russian Ambassador in Ottawa Oleg Stepanov
Russian Ambassador in Ottawa Oleg Stepanov told reporters on Monday that the votes of the former Axis countries against the Russian resolution on "Combating glorification of Nazism" in the UN General Assembly on December 15 were blasphemous.
Out of the 180 representatives who voted on December 15, a total of 120 countries voted in favor, 10 abstained, and 50 voted against, including Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US.
The countries have justified their opposition to the resolution on the basis that they believe Russia is using the resolution to credit its military operation in Ukraine.
"For the first time, Germany and Japan spoke out against it. Descendants of the main Axis states that lost World War II. For decades, they wanted to get rid of their dark past. They wanted to make the whole world forget their war crimes and crimes against humanity. And now they have shown their true identity," said the head of the Russian diplomatic mission, adding that their opposition to the resolution brought disgrace to the memory of the victims of German Nazism and Japanese militarism.
It also insults the UN Charter, the diplomat noted.
Read more: Intel reveals US politicians tried to hush US Nazi support
At present, it is unclear whether former Axis countries are regretful of their WWII crimes, Stepanov said.
"The question is the following: how sincere was the remorse of the West Germans that they were responsible for the world war? Not to mention the Japanese, who have not yet admitted responsibility for aggression and the atrocities and not only do not want to fully agree with the results of the Second World War, but also officially commemorate war criminals at the government level almost every year at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo."
He added that such actions are possible only with the complicity of the US, which is still under the "multi-layered secret occupation" of Tokyo and Berlin.
"In Washington (as well as today's generation of politicians in Ottawa), they 'forgot' about their participation in the anti-Hitler coalition for the sake of new geopolitical goals and are desperately trying to distort and falsify history," the diplomat concluded.
Is the United States openly embracing Nazism?
Last December, the United States and Ukraine were the only two states to vote against the anti-Nazism UNGA resolution. The resolution recorded an earth-shattering 49 abstentions, mostly coming from Europe, where racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia are rampant. Other countries that abstained included Japan, South Korea, and Canada.
Earlier this month, the US Congress has gone through with a decision to repeal the ban on Ukrainian neo-Nazi battalions, which essentially paves the way for US financial and military assistance to be sent to these aggressive parties.
The Azov and Aidar battalions - two of the most prominent neo-Nazi parties that have been accused of greasing bullets with pig fat to shoot Muslims - have been active on the ground in disenfranchised areas in eastern Ukraine before the said area joined Russia by popular referendum earlier this year. The battalions are official bodies within the Ukrainian military.
The Nation reported that the Pentagon lobbied the House Defense Appropriations Committee to remove the amendment backed by Conyers and Yoho, arguing that such funding was already prohibited under another law.
