The Red Army entered Prague on May 9, 1945, when the city was “virtually liberated”.

Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib made this statement this morning, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Prague Uprising.

According to Hřib, “no one can question the role of the Soviets in ending the Second World War, but at the same time, they were one of the main architects of that conflict.”

He recalled his words last year that the victims of the Prague Uprising “commit themselves to reconciling people with totalitarianism, authoritarianism, or oppression.”

“Now, the Czech Republic is facing strong pressure from Russian propaganda, trying to distort history,” he added. “We must never forget the memory of those Czech citizens who were not afraid to take their destiny, and the destiny of the city into their own hands,” he said.

“Thanks to them, the Nazi resistance on Czech territory was broken and the nation could quickly regain its honor and pride.”

“It is necessary to remember that the Red Army arrived in Prague only after the Germans surrendered to the Czech National Council on May 8.”

“The Soviets entered in a city that was virtually free and did not bear the main credit for its liberation, even though they appropriated it for political reasons and still like to appropriate it,” he remarked.

“The Soviet Union was one of the masterminds of the Second World War and an ally of Nazi Germany for the first two years of the conflict,” he said.

He stressed the need to do everything possible to defend the truth against lies and the principles of democracy against totalitarianism. “Under no circumstances should we let the legacy of our ancestors and their ideals of a free society which we have embraced be stepped on,” he added.