Belarus-Russia Parliamentary Assembly Passes Historic Statement Affirming ‘Genocide of the Soviet People’
MOSCOW — The Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia on June 21, 2026, adopted a statement “On the Genocide of the Soviet People during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945,” issued on the 85th anniversary of Germany’s treacherous invasion of the Soviet Union.
The statement declares that “the actions of the German Nazis and their accomplices were aimed at exterminating the Soviet people.” In the occupied territories, the invaders committed acts intended for the complete or partial elimination of the national, ethnic and racial groups inhabiting the Soviet Union — including killing members of these groups, causing serious harm to their health, forcibly preventing births, forcibly transferring children, forcibly displacing people, and deliberately creating conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
The war claimed the lives of nearly 27 million Soviet people, with civilian losses exceeding 13.6 million.
The Parliamentary Assembly considers it unacceptable to forget the crimes committed by the Nazis and emphasizes that preserving the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War is essential to preventing crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, countering manifestations of Nazism, and maintaining universal peace and harmony.
The statement notes that Belarus adopted Law No. 146-Z “On the Genocide of the Belarusian People” on January 5, 2022, while Russia adopted Federal Law No. 74-FZ “On Perpetuating the Memory of the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945” on April 21, 2025. The legislative recognition of the genocide of the Soviet people is described as a logical continuation of the judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and subsequent court rulings against Nazi criminals and their accomplices.
Citing the Charter of the United Nations, the Charter and Judgment of the Nuremberg Tribunal, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, and the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity of 1968, the Assembly officially recognizes the atrocities committed by Nazi German invaders and their accomplices against the population of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War as genocide of the Soviet people.
Members of the Parliamentary Assembly called for resolute opposition to all attempts to rewrite history, justify Nazism or diminish the Soviet people’s role in defeating fascism. They regard support for neo-Nazism for the sake of political expediency as a threat to all humanity.
The Assembly called on the United Nations, international interparliamentary organizations and bodies, and fellow parliamentarians to join this Statement and adopt corresponding statements.
