Russian officials have accused U.S. President Donald Trump of exaggerating America’s role in World War II, with senior figures dismissing his remarks as historically inaccurate and self-aggrandizing.
Trump wrote on Truth Social last week that the United States contributed the most to the Allied victory, downplaying the roles of European countries that suffered higher casualties.
“Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II,” he said, declaring May 8 as WWII Victory Day and renaming Veterans Day on Nov. 11 as WWI Victory Day.
“We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything,” Trump added. “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”
The remarks drew criticism in Russia, which celebrates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany on May 9. President Vladimir Putin has often accused the West of trying to “revise” the history of the war.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev was among the first to respond to Trump’s claims, calling them “pretentious nonsense” and noting that the Soviet Union lost 27 million people in the war. “Victory Day is ours, and it is May 9,” he wrote on social media.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Medvedev’s criticism on Wednesday, telling the state-run Sputnik news outlet that Trump’s rhetoric reflected his trademark exaggeration.
“It’s clear that he has always exaggerated everything, as a person, a politician and a businessman,” she said. “He doesn’t hide it. He relies on it. And he’s built a fortune and a political career on exaggerated emotion.”
In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Putin said Russia and Israel were committed to “defending the truth about the events of World War II,” according to a Kremlin readout.
Putin has long used WWII history to promote patriotic unity in Russia, casting the modern Russian military as heir to the Soviet Red Army and justifying the ongoing war against Ukraine as a battle against “Nazism.”
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