Statement by the Heads of the CIS Member-States in connection with the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II August 5, 2019

We, the Heads of the Member-States of the Commonwealth of Independent States,

paying tribute to all those who perished during World War II in the fight against German Nazism, its allies and accomplices; participants in the warfare of the anti-Hitler coalition states, partisans and members of underground movements, victims of the Holocaust, the Nazi Master Plan for the East to destroy the population of Eastern Europe and the USSR, and other crimes committed during the war,

emphasizing that this tragedy became possible due to the inability of the international community to create an effective system of collective security, as well as a criminal policy to pacify the aggressor,

noting the universal and intergovernmental character of the United Nations, established at the end of World War II in 1945, and its special responsibility for maintaining peace and preventing new global conflicts,

reaffirming continuous commitment to the principles and norms of international law, to the goals and principles of the UN Charter, to the Charter and the Sentence of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, which gave a principled and unambiguous assessment of the crimes of Nazism and have no statute of limitations, as well as to the fundamental principles of the CSCE Final Act, signed on August 1, 1975 in Helsinki,

condemning any attempts to justify and heroize Nazism and its accomplices,

calling on all countries of the world to responsibly fulfill their obligations to preserve memorials, monuments, and cemeteries of soldiers, who died for liberation of European and Asian countries,

remembering the horrors of World War II,

declare the following.

The Second World War was the greatest tragedy of the XX century, which claimed the lives of tens of millions people. The largest humanitarian catastrophe in the history of mankind was the result of the aggressive aspirations of those who were convinced of their racial superiority, exclusivity and the right to solely decide the fate of other countries and peoples.

We regret to note attempts to rewrite and falsify history. We consistently and strongly oppose any attempts to whitewash Nazism and justify its heinous crimes.

The dangerous path to a new reshaping of the world starts with revision of the results of World War II, the denial of the crimes of Nazism, the fight against monuments to the liberators, the rehabilitation and heroization of Nazi criminals and their accomplices, who committed the most serious crimes during the Second World War, both individuals and organizations in general, xenophobia and intolerance, flirting with the followers of the Nazi ideology of all stripes.

There is no doubt that the Soviet Union, with the support of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, achieved a turning point in the war against Nazism, and, having begun the full-scale liberation of European countries from Nazism, paid the highest price for this. We will never forget that the victory in the Second World War and the salvation of the peoples of Europe from enslavement and destruction were achieved thanks to the unprecedented courage and dedication of the soldiers, partisans, members of the anti-fascist resistance and underground movement, rear workers, thanks to the unity of all the peoples of the Soviet Union.

Eight decades after that mournful day, we again call for comprehending the lessons of this tragic period in the history of our civilization. We stand for the revival of genuine interaction and mutual understanding between countries and peoples. We urge to do everything possible for the real unification of the world on the basis of equality, mutual respect and universal democratic values.