The message reads, in part:
“Our peoples fought side by side against Nazism for the freedom and independence of European states. They joined forces to bring about the Great Victory, which took time and cost all of us so dearly.
It is amazing that the traditions of combat brotherhood, which were forged in mortal battle, still live on despite the dramatic changes in the world and the attempts to split people apart and to distort and rewrite history. Your meetings, the first of which was held back in 1959, are evidence of this. They bring together those who fought on the battlefront and in the underground resistance and the partisan movements, as well as members of volunteer and patriotic organisations. Your noble mission is to maintain the bond between the generations and to teach the next generation to respect the paramount spiritual and moral values and the heroic chapters in our common history.“