THE 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army of the Soviet Union was marked today at the site of the former death camp.

Russian representatives were in the past central guests at the anniversary observances in recognition of the Soviet liberation of the camp on January 27 1945, and the millions of Soviets killed by the German Nazis. But they have been excluded since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to participants saying: “We will always remember that it was the Soviet soldier who crushed this dreadful, total evil and won the victory the greatness of which will forever remain in world history.