Statement of the Nation's Memory Institute on the anniversary of the Russian aggression against Ukraine

The statutory tasks of the Nation's Memory Institute include promotion of the ideas of freedom and the defence of democracy against regimes similar to Nazism and Communism. The Nation's Memory Institute therefore strongly condemns the now year-long military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, preceded by an eight-year long conflict that began with Russia's occupation of Ukraine's Crimea and part of the Donbas in 2014.

Russia's aggression against Ukraine is a crime against peace. The forces of the Russian Federation are responsible for blatant crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during operations in Ukraine, thus bringing the methods of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin back to the 21^st century Europe. Russian aggression was preceded and is still accompanied by a state-controlled falsification of history, in which the representatives of the Russian Federation deny the Soviet Union's complicity in the outbreak of the Second World War and deny or conceal the crimes committed by the Soviet Union before, during and after the Second World War, including crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine.

Disinformation is one of the most serious long-term threats to our society as it manipulates public opinion. It also undermines public trust in institutions and sabotages our democratic system and the rule of law.

The Nation's Memory Institute therefore urges both public officials and all citizens of the Slovak Republic not to spread propaganda of Vladimir Putin's regime, not to try to defend Russian crimes committed in Ukraine, but to support assistance to Ukraine defending itself against unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression.