European Jewish Congress: We are shocked by Lavrov's shameful statement

• 19.01.2023, 9:10

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry spoke cynically about the Holocaust.

Kremlin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov angered the Jewish community with a cynical statement. He compared Russians to victims of the Holocaust and accused the West of Nazism. The European Jewish Congress (EJC) responded to Lavrov's words by publishing a statement on its website.

Lavrov claimed on Wednesday that the United States had put together a coalition of European states to solve the “Russian question” in the same way that Hitler had organised a Final Solution for Europe’s Jews.

“We are shocked and appalled by this shameful comparison drawn by Minister Lavrov between the actions of a coalition of democratic countries and Hitler’s persecution and murder of six million Jews in the Shoah,” EJC President Ariel Muzicant said.

“This is Holocaust distortion at its most basic level and we call on Mr Lavrov to unequivocally apologize and withdraw these comments,” he also stated.

Recall that in early May, Lavrov, answering questions from an Italian journalist about the accusations of Ukrainians and President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that “ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews” and that Hitler was also a Jew. This statement then so outraged the Jewish community that the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador for a meeting.