VIENNA, June 22. /TASS/. Austria as a participant in the war against the Soviet Union now bears a great share of responsibility for building constructive relations of trust with Russia, the co-chair of the Russian-Austrian public forum Sochi Dialogue, Christoph Leitl, told TASS on Tuesday on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow, which marks the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
"We should never forget to recall in horror those terrible days, which brought us intolerable nationalism and racist ideology," said Leitl, 72, the president of the association of European chambers of commerce and industry (Eurochabmers), honorary president of Austria's Economic Chamber. "I'm saying so on the basis of my personal experience. My father participated in that war with Russia, while I am a participant in building peace with Russia. This is a great responsibility for my generation and the subsequent generations," said Leitl. As a co-chair of the Sochi Dialogue I wish the Russian people on this tragic memorable date all the very best and assure them of my personal friendship."
"Due to its participation in the war Austria bears special responsibility for peaceful, strong and constructive relations of trust with Russia. I wish to see the Austrian government in its relations with Russia come out with initiatives that would let us live amid common strong trust, peace and cooperation, and cause the sanctions to be lifted and solutions found to the existing problems," Leitl said.
He believes that the Russian-US summit was a clear sign the ice between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin has been broken.
"Europe now must hoist new sails. It is my wish we should derive lessons from the past and make future generations secure from a rerun of the past events. History is our teacher," Leitl said.
In the early hours of June 22, 1941 Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. At that moment Austria was part of Nazi Germany following its Anschluss (annexation) in 1938.