MOSCOW, May 26./TASS/. The member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were able to widely celebrate the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War despite the coronavirus pandemic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an online session of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers on Tuesday.

"This year is a special one - the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. I am glad to say that despite the coronavirus, this cherished date was celebrated widely and in various ways by our countries," the top diplomat emphasized.

He thanked the CSTO partners for assistance in arranging a joint online exhibition of archive documents and photos timed to mark the Victory anniversary. "We are planning a statement on the occasion of the 75th Victory anniversary. I am grateful to you for the substantial contribution to work on that project," the Russian diplomat added.

Due to the pandemic, many events scheduled for that date in Russia and other former Soviet republics were postponed or were held online.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 5,601,800 people have been infected worldwide and more than 348,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 2,381,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe. To date, a total of 362,342 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 131,129 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 3,807 fatalities nationwide.