A webinar was held simultaneously in Beijing and Moscow on May 7 to acknowledge the end of the world’s anti-fascist war 75 years ago.

The webinar was co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Russian Historical Society.

As the main battlefields in the East and in Europe in the world’s anti-fascist war, China and Russia made great sacrifices for the victory, said CASS President Xie Fuzhan in his speech. Commemorating the victory of the Great Patriotic War and the world’s anti-fascist war aims to prevent the recurrence of historical tragedies and protect the conscience and justice of mankind. The peoples of China and Russia should work together to safeguard the victory and promote world peace and prosperity.

Sergey Naryshkin, chairman of the Russian Historical Society, said in his speech that the peoples of China and Russia made tremendous sacrifices for and significant contributions to the victory of WWII. The peoples of the two countries forged a friendship in the common cause of fighting fascism. By jointly holding an event to commemorate the victory, the two parties will raise people’s awareness of the need to cherish and preserve solidarity and peace and to jointly defend the fruits of victory.

Gao Xiang, president of the Chinese Academy of History, pointed out in his keynote speech that the victory of the Great Patriotic War and Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is the victory of justice, civilization and history, fully demonstrating people’s desire for maintaining peace and moral justice. History must not be forgotten, and peace must be defended. The achievements of China and Russia in the world’s anti-fascist war will serve as a model for safeguarding world peace and development, and they will always be remembered.

China and Russia have been jointly holding a series of activities to commemorate this 75th anniversary, said Andrey Denisov, Russian ambassador to China. This webinar is one of them. Relevant agencies of both sides will also jointly shoot documentaries of Chinese and Soviet pilots fighting side by side, and they will jointly publish commemorative books and picture albums.

Looking back 75 years, we experienced a war-torn era. At present, the COVID-19 pandemic is like a war without smoke, which has posed a huge threat to the lives and health of people around the world, bringing a great challenge to global public health and security, Xie said. The virus knows no borders, and the pandemic is the common enemy of all countries. Facing severe challenges to public health, solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons.

Zhang Hanhui, Chinese ambassador to Russia, said that in the face of profound changes unseen in a century in the world, all countries must fully address each other’s concerns, constantly seek and expand common interests, strive to build new international relationships centered around cooperation and mutual benefit, and build a community of shared future for mankind. Only by doing so can we better cope with various threats and challenges and promote the worthy cause of peace and development.