70th anniversary of the Great Victory

MOSCOW, 2 April (BelTA) – The ministers of foreign affairs of the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states have passed a statement in view of the 70^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The document was adopted at the session of the CSTO Foreign Ministers Council in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on 2 April, BelTA learned from CSTO Press Secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov.

The document reads that the Victory was secured only through the united effort of many nations for the sake of preserving the freedom and the ability to determine their future on their own. “Fight against the ideology of hatred regardless of the names the ideology bears is a common cause. Only united efforts of the entire global community will allow neutralizing new challenges and threats. The recognition of the Victory that was secured in 1945 as a common value of the entire mankind was confirmed by the unanimous adoption of the UN General Assembly’s resolution on the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War Two on 26 February 2015 upon the initiative of the CSTO member states,” the document reads.

“The CSTO member states do not accept and decisively condemn the well-directed effort meant to rewrite the history, distort and revise results of World War Two,” the statement reads. “We believe that any attempts to glorify Nazism and militant nationalism are inadmissible. We believe that equally inadmissible, sacrilegious, and cynical are attempts to make national heroes out of those, who fought against the Anti-Hitler coalition during World War Two or collaborated with the Nazi.” The ministers of foreign affairs of the CSTO member states believe that the countries that beat fascism should do their best to prevent the resurgence of neo-fascism, chauvinism, and other forms of xenophobia and prevent the popularization of radical nationalism, including among young people.

“From historic experience we have learned the danger of intolerance, discrimination, extremism, and hatred based on ethnic, racial, and religious grounds,” the statement reads. “We believe it is inadmissible to preserve and put up new dividing lines and closed borders, sources of hatred, tension and confrontation in the world, the world’s division into spheres of influence and interference with internal affairs of sovereign nations. It represents additional responsibility on the part of states to prevent intolerance and discrimination. As descendants of the victors we should set an example. We are convinced that the peaceful resolution of conflicts while observing norms of the international law and in compliance with goals and principles of the United Nations Organization is the only way to save the current generation and future ones from the adversity of new wars.”

The ministers of foreign affairs of the CSTO member states also called upon the international community to respect and protect the principles of international law that have been worked out on the basis of the Nuremberg Trials as the inalienable and necessary foundation of the modern world order that is not subject to revision. The establishment of the United Nations Organization was one of the key results of the Great Victory, the statement reads. “The organization was founded on the philosophy of many-sidedness and the collective way of action, the formation of reliable mechanisms to secure international peace. We are convinced that the UN Charter remains a solid basis for advancing international relations.”

During the session the CSTO foreign ministers looked into modern problems of international politics and measures to prevent relevant challenges and threats for the collective security region of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The ministers discussed the need to build up cooperation of international and regional organizations and step up their efforts to ensure security in Central Asia in view of the developments in Afghanistan. Apart from that, the CSTO Foreign Ministers Council approved a schedule of consultations between representatives of the CSTO member states. The consultations will take place in H2 2015 – H1 2016 to discuss matters of foreign policy, security, and defense.