Russia Releases Yalta Conference Documents, as Lawmakers Second Putin’s Call for Summit

Feb. 5, 2020 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Foreign Ministry has released a collection of documents on the 1945 Yalta Conference compiled for the 75th anniversary of the Victory in World War II.

“To mark the 75th anniversary of the Victory, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s archive service has compiled a series of subject-related collections of documents, which, we hope, will be of great interest to scholars and the general public,” the ministry said on Feb. 4. “The first such collection presents documents from the Yalta (Crimean) Conference of February 4-11, 1945, a milestone event during World War II’s final stage that outlined key areas of cooperation between the allies on major military strategic and political issues of the post-war world order.”

The Ministry stressed that its archives contain unique documents related to the Soviet Union’s foreign policy and diplomacy during World War II. “Many of them have already been made public, even on the Internet,” the Ministry said.

Speakers from both the State Duma and Federation Council emphasized the importance of learning the lessons of Yalta’s history: Duma Speaker Viacheslav Volodin remarked yesterday,

“If there is such an opportunity, I would like that we translate these priceless materials from those times that are today published by the Istorik Journal [Istoricheskii Zhurnal, 1937-1945)], into different languages and send them to politicians of those countries who are forgetting history to remind them about it one more time.

“Our President was perfectly right, saying ... that contempt for the past and dividedness when facing threats can bring about terrible consequences and proposed that UN founding members gather again to protect the world and to discuss and resolve issues of security which is under threat now because many particularly forgot history, forgot about what Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin were saying, addressing the issues of the post-war order and creating an architecture that resolved all issues for more than 70 years,”

he stated.

Russian Federation Council President Sen. Valentina Matviyenko expressed similar thoughts in a blog post devoted to the 75th anniversary of the Yalta summit: “I agree with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s opinion that UN founding members should assume responsibility for saving the humanity and ensuring its sustainable development. They should also forge common approaches to ensuring stability on the planet.”