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Putin visits Jewish Museum on Auschwitz liberation anniversary, slams Ukrainian government

Associated Press
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, shakes hands with Chairman of Federation of Russia's Jewish Organizations Alexander Boroda, left, and Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, right, at Moscow's Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center at a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in 1945 by Soviet troops, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, pool) (The Associated Press)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at Moscow's Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center at a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in 1945 by Soviet troops, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, pool) (The Associated Press)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, back to camera, and Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, right back to camera, watch a slideshow at Moscow's Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center at a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in 1945 by Soviet troops, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz to press the Russian points on Ukraine.

Putin, who was absent from Tuesday's commemorations in Poland because of a deep strain between Russia and the West over Ukraine, visited the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow where he talked about Ukrainian nationalists' collaboration with the Nazis in killing Jews during World War II.

Putin also used the anniversary to accuse the Ukrainian authorities of "killing civilian population in Donetsk and Luhansk in cold blood."

Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine has left more than 5,100 people dead since April. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of backing the rebels with troops and weapons — charges it denies.