THE WORLD SHOULD REMEMBER THE LESSONS OF PAST WARS AND NOT REPEAT MISTAKES
August 10, 2014 “ICH” – “Press TV” – Russia’s President Vladimir
Putin has condemned political ambitions that threatened peace in Europe
during the First World War, saying the international community should
learn the lesson from the deadly conflict.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Poklonnaya Hill monument in
the Russian capital, Moscow, Putin said the First World War is a
reminder of what happens when unreasonable ambitions prevail over common
sense.
The monument honors the Russian soldiers who died during World War I.
“It serves as a reminder of what aggression and selfishness,
exorbitant ambitions of heads of state and political elites prevailing
over common sense can lead to,” Putin said on Friday.
Those ambitions put “the world’s most trouble-free continent –
Europe” in danger instead of preserving peace, the Russian president
added.
Putin also stated that it is time for humanity to understand and
accept the truth that “violence begets violence,” and that the path to
peace and prosperity lies in “goodwill, dialogue and remembering the
lessons of past wars.”
Putin said history shows an “unwillingness to listen to each other”
and respecting each other’s interests can have huge costs for the whole
world. On the eve of the First World War, he added, Russia did its best to
persuade Europe to resolve the conflict peacefully and to avoid
bloodshed.
“But [Europe] turned a deaf ear to Russian pleas,” Putin said.
Russia has recently been concerned over the fate of the former Soviet
Union republic of Ukraine, where pro-Moscow forces in the east are
fighting the Ukrainian government mainly in Donetsk and Lugansk.
World War I, which started on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November
11, 1918, is considered one of the deadliest conflicts in history of
mankind, taking lives of almost 16 million people.
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