Russian President Vladimir Putin had numerous meetings with national and foreign dignitaries at the Volgograd/Stalingrad April 29 gathering, “Great Heritage, Common Future International Forum of the Union State,” according to the President of Russia’s website. These included meeting with visiting President Lukashenko of Belarus; Sen. Valentina Matviyenko, the chair of Russia’s Federation Council; and Vyacheslav Volodin, the head of the Duma, emphasizing in all of them the importance of the history of the united battle against fascism in World War II, and the need to prevent the rise of fascism today. The meeting brought together over 450 delegates, including leading international experts, civil society leaders, government officials and youth representatives.
Putin said: “It is symbolic that this forum is taking place in the Hero City where the fate of the entire world was once decided … to honor the memory of those who defended the city and achieved immortal glory in the battles for Stalingrad. They stood their ground until the bitter end…. A decisive blow was dealt to the Nazi war machine, turning the tide of the war and clearing the path to the West, to Berlin, to the Great Victory, the 80th anniversary of which we will be celebrating very soon, on May 9.… The defeat of Nazism is our shared legacy.”
He continued: “We must do everything in our power to fight against the revival of Nazism and the proliferation of destructive ideologies, namely, Russophobia, anti-Semitism, national and religious intolerance, as well as the so-called exceptionalism, which camouflage claims to global domination and attempts at pressure or interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. It is also important to work together to form a more just multipolar world order based on respect for the interests of each other and the right of every country to its own development pattern.…
“We firmly believe that the global community should join forces to create a new architecture of equal and indivisible security, which would safely protect all states without detriment to the interests of others. This is especially important for Eurasia.… We presume that this new architecture could be based on the existing multilateral cooperation formats, such as the Union State, the CSTO, which I have mentioned, the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, ASEAN and other respected and influential organizations.”
