Failure to acknowledge mistakes permanently preserved Russia's imperial mindset - Nauseda

VILNIUS - The failure to acknowledge its mistakes and responsibility has preserved Russia's imperial mindset for a long time, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday as Lithuania marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.

"We can see clearly where the long-term denial, falsification and manipulation of history has led today's Russia to. The inability to acknowledge its mistakes and its responsibility has permanently preserved a poisonous imperial mindset," the president said on Thursday in Macikai, Silute District.

"Yesterday's winners have become incapable of living without new imaginary victories, new justifications for their miserable existence," he said as he attended a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe in the village of Macikai.

"The end of World War II divided the world into those who saw the dawn of a new morning of freedom and those who were condemned to continue to endure totalitarian violence. For the latter, there was nothing left but to continue fighting for their lives, health and human dignity," the Lithuanian leader said.

In his words, Lithuania is committed to ensuring that "the crimes of the past do not serve as a cover for the crimes of today".

"For more than three years, the Russian people have been mobilized for a brutal war in Ukraine. Only Russia itself can admit its strategic and moral defeat and withdraw from the entire territory of Ukraine. But as long as the war continues, we support - and we will support - Ukraine. Realizing that impunity encourages the aggressor to continue its crimes, we will continue to look for ways to ensure Russia's legal accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine," Nauseda said.

The commemoration in Macikai is also being attended by Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene and Speaker of the Seimas Saulius Skvernelis.

Citizens from more than 20 countries were imprisoned in the camps, operated by the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian regimes in Macikai for 15 years, using the same buildings and infrastructure.

From 1941 to 1944, during the Nazi occupation, the Stalag Luft VI POW camp operated at the site. It held American, British, Belgian, Canadian, Polish, French, Australian and Soviet prisoners.

Between 1944 and 1946, the Soviets imprisoned Germans, Romanians, Hungarians, Austrians, Dutch, Poles, Czechs, Danes, Belgians, Yugoslavs, Portuguese and Greeks there.

In 1945, the Soviet occupation authorities turned the former POW camp into the Gulag Silute (Macikai) camp. Until 1955, it held Lithuanian citizens, including clergy, cultural and educational figures, partisan supporters, farmers who failed to meet quotas, escapees from exile, and women with their children born in the camp.

Many victims died from mistreatment or were executed, and mass graves are still being discovered in various locations in Silute District. Available data suggest that around 6,000 people of various nationalities died in the Macikai camps.

Between 1939 and 1955, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union operated a network of camps across Lithuania. During the Nazi period, 12 POW camps were established. From 1944 to 1955, the Soviet Union ran 36 camps in the country, holding not only prisoners of war but also civilians.

May 8 marks the end of World War II in Europe, commemorating the joint efforts of Allied nations that brought the war to a close and Germany's signing of the unconditional surrender in 1945.