** Zakharova: Germany paying only Jewish survivors of the Siege of Leningrad is a "disgrace of disgraces"

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has condemned Germany for paying compensation only to survivors of the Siege of Leningrad who are Jewish. She said the German authorities have "completely sunk to the level of beasts."

"This is a disgrace of disgraces, it is such a humiliation of people's memory," Zakharova said. She said that dividing siege survivors by ethnicity insults the memory of everyone who lived through it.

Zakharova said Moscow has raised the issue with Berlin many times, asking that all survivors be compensated regardless of ethnic origin. Russia stayed quiet about it publicly for several years, she said, but Berlin kept avoiding a direct answer.

Germany pays the Jewish survivors as Holocaust victims. In June, Zakharova accused Berlin of using far-fetched pretexts to deny payments to the city's other surviving defenders and residents. She also pointed out that Germany has for decades paid social benefits to former Third Reich soldiers and SS veterans, including foreign collaborators who took part in the siege.

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