Second International Anti-Fascist Congress Starts in Minsk

On August 17–19, Minsk will host the Second International Anti-Fascist Congress initiated by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus.

This year’s Congress brought together participants from more than 30 countries to preserve the historical truth about the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. The First International Anti-Fascist Congress was held last year in Moscow.

Until August 19, military delegations, diplomatic corps, foreign academia and expert community, government agencies, leading media and major religious denominations, as well as veterans of the Great Patriotic War will discuss the real threats of neo-fascism.

The participants of the Second International Anti-Fascist Congress will also lay a time-capsule message to posterity in the crypt of the capital’s Memorial Church in the name of All Saints and in memory of the victims who served to save the Fatherland.

As you may recall, one of the main priorities set out by Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the CSTO PA, at the meeting of the Assembly Council in Minsk on May 18, 2023 is the protection of historical memory.

“Today, when the West encourages the revival of Nazism, uses the tactics of sanctions, pressure, intimidation to undermine our unity, it is necessary to set up our work to preserve historical memory and strengthen military and political cooperation within the CSTO,” Mr Volodin said.

At an extraordinary joint meeting of the standing commissions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly, the parliamentarians considered draft recommendations on criminalizing certain acts, including those related to attempts to rehabilitate Nazism, distort historical truth and humiliate the honour and dignity of military veterans.