MOSCOW - US broadcaster CNN's description of a Soviet World War II memorial in the Belorussian city of Brest as "ugly" was cynical and shocking, a senior Russian diplomat said Friday.

"US journalists ought to refresh their memory about the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal," Foreign Ministry human rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov wrote on his Twitter blog.

Dolgov said it should be remembered Russia and the United States were allies in World War II.

CNN's rating of the "world's ugliest monuments" caused an angry outcry in Russia and Belarus. CNN was quick to apologize for the offense caused by the list, which it ascribed to a "contributor".

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Soviet soldiers defended the Brest Fortress during the first weeks of the war. The fortress became a symbol of Soviet resistance and was granted the title of Hero Fortress in 1965.