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KDH: Slovak-Russian Communiqué Lacked Mention of Soviet Cruelties
Wednesday 07 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 7 (TASR) - The joint communiqué on the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe issued by Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic and Russian head of state Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday lacked a mention of the forced deportations of Slovak citizens to the Soviet Union in 1944-46 and the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, leader of opposition Christian Democrats (KDH) Jan Figel said later in the day.
"As the war front crossed (the country), thousands of innocent people, mainly from eastern Slovakia, were dragged by bodies of the Soviet public and secret police service NKVD into gulags in Siberia. Many remained there in cruel conditions for years, many didn't return at all. Unfortunately, the end of the war wasn't a liberation for these thousands of people," noted Figel.
Gasparovic and Medvedev stated in the communiqué that they consider WWII to be the biggest tragedy in human history, and on this occasion they paid tribute to the memory of the many millions of victims. The heads of both states highlighted the substantial contribution made by nations belonging to the Soviet Union, who bore the main brunt in terms of liberating Europe from Nazism. According to the joint communiqué, the help given by the Red Army to the Slovak National Uprising movement (SNP) in 1944 will never be forgotten.
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