MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. A joint statement made by the Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the meeting of the US and Soviet troops on the Elbe should be heard in those European countries, which tear down monuments and rewrite World War II history, senior Russian MP Leonid Slutsky said on Sunday.

According to Slutsky, who chairs the Russian State Duma (lower house) Foreign Affairs Committee, the public recognition of "military achievements of US and most notably Soviet soldiers in defeating Hitler’s Germany has serious importance amid the West’s numerous attempts of rewriting World War II history."

"The joint statement by the Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, on occasion of the 75th anniversary of the meeting of the Soviet and US troops on the Elbe should sober the adepts of historic lies," Slutsky said. "I hope that the statement will be welcomed and heard in European capitals, where today there is the war against monuments to warriors-liberators at the state level and in history textbooks the Soviet Union’s role in the victory over fascism is artificially marred."

The senior lawmaker believes that the statement of the two presidents "gives hope that ‘the spirit of the Elbe’ can still be restored in Russian-US relations as a symbol of common approaches to modern challenges and threats." "This is first of all related to the issues of the fight against the pandemic, strategic stability and safety on the planet," he noted.

On Saturday, the Kremlin press service reported that Putin and Trump adopted a joint statement commemorating the 75th anniversary of the meeting of Soviet and US troops on the Elbe. This event took place ahead of the crushing defeat of the Nazi regime, it said. The presidents of Russia and the United States emphasized that the spirit of the Elbe is an example of how Moscow and Washington "can put aside differences, build trust, and cooperate in pursuit of a greater cause.".