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Putin Calls for International Efforts to Counter Fascism, Terrorism
Nazi ideas still haunt the world and a key international priority is to bar the emergence of breeding grounds for fascism, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a gathering of World War II veterans Tuesday at the Kremlin.
"Fascism was stopped and beheaded, but the swastika and the ideas of Nazism are still roaming the world," said the president; "Connivance with them could provide good soil for the revival of fascism."
"One of the main tasks of present-day world politics and the main lesson we must learn is that we must prevent the emergence of hotbeds of fascism, even if they are on a local-scale," he stressed.
The president went on to say attempts to dominate the world are the main cause for many previous and current wars and such attempts have not been eradicated completely and are extremely dangerous.
"Therefore, we will continue to defend the principles of equality and mutual respect, trust and cooperation. Only on this basis will we manage to solve many of our global problems," he said.
Putin also called for "an effective collective security system, " urging the international community to make joint efforts in dealing with global threats that already exist, among them terrorism, particularly terrorism tinged with nationalism and religious extremism.
"Terrorism can be resisted only on the basis of law and good organization. Russia, in pursuing its foreign policy, attaches enormous importance to this fact," he added.
Putin on the same day also handed the Red Banner of Victory, now the Banner of the Russian Armed Forces under presidential decree, to Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on the Kremlin's Cathedral Square.
Regarding the global confrontation as the past, Putin said nowadays a country's military power largely determines the strength of the state and its ability to defend itself and its citizens.
He spoke of many problems in Russia's military sphere, saying the state's military must be effective, while the army must be mobile and highly professional, and capable of fulfilling any task.
Putin said Russia would work to ensure the creation of "an effective system of international collective security, to safeguard peace on our planet and to make the life of its inhabitants tranquil and rich."
Earlier Tuesday, Putin laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider near the Kremlin Wall, starting a series of celebrations to mark the 56th anniversary of the victory in World War II.
Before the event, Putin shook hands with war veterans invited to attend the ceremony and congratulated them on Victory Day.
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