Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov spoke about the reaction in the US State Department to an article by Vladimir Putin about World War II.

“My interlocutors were interested in the clarification of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin regarding the upcoming summit of the permanent members of the Security Council (UN. - RT ) - an important event that should largely determine the contours of the further development of international relations and strengthen strategic stability,” he said in an open interview with the First Deputy General TASS Director Mikhail Gusman.

The diplomat pointed out that this is a good opportunity to talk about modern relations and the past.

Antonov noted that the Russian embassy sent an article by Vladimir Putin “to the leadership of the State Department, to leading non-governmental organizations, embassies of a number of leading Western European states” and to the diplomatic missions of the CIS.

“The publication aroused considerable interest and started the discussion. At least, my interlocutors emphasize the importance of a serious conversation about historical memory, noting that it affects modern political and security relations, ”the ambassador said.

Recall that Vladimir Putin wrote the article “75 years of the Great Victory: a shared responsibility before history and the future”, dedicated to the Second World War. Material published in the journal The National Interest. 

In the article, the Russian leader pointed out that the outcome of the First World War became the prerequisites for the Second World War - the Treaty of Versailles was a symbol of injustice towards Germany. This was used by the Nazis, who “skillfully played on these feelings, built their propaganda, promising to save Germany from the legacy of Versailles, restore its former power, and, in fact, pushed the German people to a new war.” Putin pointed out that the League of Nations, which was dominated by Britain and France, could have prevented a global conflict, but became bogged down in "empty talk."

Putin emphasized that responsibility for the outbreak of World War II rests one way or another with all the leading countries, and noted the incorrect statement that the visit of Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Moscow is the main reason.

The President also recalled that the decisive contribution to the defeat of the Nazi invaders was made by the USSR and the Red Army, despite all today's attempts to prove the opposite.

In addition, Putin expressed hope that a meeting of the leaders of the five nuclear powers, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, will be held soon, where it will be possible to speak frankly about the problems of maintaining peace, strengthening global and regional security, and strategic arms control.

“The agenda of the upcoming five summit proposed by Russia is extremely important and relevant both for our countries and for the whole world. And on all counts, we have specific ideas and initiatives, ”said Vladimir Putin.

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Member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Sergei Tsekov called positive interest in the proposal of the Russian leader, and expressed the hope that he would lead to a constructive dialogue.

“All the countries of the Five, and all the countries of the world are afraid of armed conflicts into which they may be drawn. In order to protect yourself, you must be able to negotiate. We were able to negotiate during the Great Patriotic War, after the war - on the creation of the UN, on the issues of the post-war structure, then we agreed on very many issues that removed the tension in the world in the use of nuclear weapons, ”he recalled.

In turn, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s committee on international affairs, Vladimir Dzhabarov, in a conversation with RT, noted that the summit of the UN Security Council, if any, would be a great achievement for the Russian president - "in the name of all countries and the preservation of peace."

“This is a unique proposal because Putin wrote in his article that usually the world reorganization began after the end of another world war. So the League of Nations was created first after the First World War, the UN - after the Second World War. So he suggested: maybe we should not wait for a new world war? It can gather in such peacetime by those countries that are responsible for the world order that created the UN. Meet and discuss all the threats that arise in the modern world, ”said the senator.