Allied partnership in war years proves importance of Russia-West cooperation — Lavrov

MOSCOW, May 27 /TASS/. An equal dialogue and negotiations will help averting new conflicts and preserving peace on Earth, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the presentation of a book titled "Joseph Stalin’s Correspondence with F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill in the Years of the Great Patriotic War" on Wednesday.

"The idea of publishing the messages, which the leaders sent to each other, appeared in 1950 and was realized seven years later," Lavrov said. "The book was reprinted several times. This correspondence was also published abroad many times. However, the two volumes prepared by a group of scholars of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations [MGIMO] headed by Vladimir Pechatnov, the deputy head of department of history and politics of Europe and America, make it possible to take a different look at the ‘big three’ leaders and have a better understanding of the motives behind their actions against the background of events of the Great Patriotic War," the Russian foreign minister said.

"The Anti-Hitler coalition was a unique phenomenon in international relations," Lavrov went on to say. "Each of the ‘big three’ leaders defended his country’s interests. That was a source of sharp controversy but despite that every time the leaders managed to find a way out of the most complicated situations and overcame their differences for the sake of reaching a common goal - Victory over the enemy," Lavrov stressed.

"This spirit of allied partnership confirms the imperative need to unite efforts and cooperate honestly in the interests of searching for a collective reply to common challenges and threats that are facing our countries," the Russian foreign minister said. "This task proves the importance of negotiations and diplomacy and of equal dialogue because there is simply no other possibility to avert new conflicts and save peace on Earth," Lavrov concluded.