Herald Correspondent
RUSSIA's Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Nikolai Krasilnikov has called for the continued involvement of young people in the development and strengthening of bilateral relations to secure the sovereign futures of the two countries.
Addressing University of Zimbabwe (UZ) students at a Victory Day commemoration event held last Friday to mark Russia's triumph over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War 79 years ago, the Russian envoy said involving young people helps them to meet the aspirations of older generations.
He noted that such involvements instil, in the young people, the desire to identify, know and remember their heroes to keep evergreen the deep-rooted ties and bonds of friendship and solidarity between Zimbabwe and Russia borne out of fighting oppression.
"The Victory Day is one of the major annual events in our country and it is a great honour for the Russian Embassy to commemorate it at the University of Zimbabwe.
"It highlights the involvement of young people in the development of bilateral relations of Russia and Zimbabwe. This involvement meets the aspirations of older generations to keep evergreen our deep-rooted ties and bonds of friendship and solidarity," said Amb Krasilnikov.
He said because of the experience of solidarity and partnership between the two countries, there exists an invaluable heritage and a secure foothold "especially now when the unstoppable movement is gaining momentum towards a more just multipolar world".
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"We are proud of having among our close friends the glorious Zimbabwean people who gained freedom and independence through fighting oppression and who actually feel the same as we do."
At the event, Amb Krasilnikov recollected that despite ideological differences between the then Soviet Union and the US, their troops joined forces to defeat German forces.
The Russian envoy said his mission could have invited US Embassy officials to the event, but stopped doing so because of its goal "to break apart and destroy our country, to make null and void the outcomes of the Great Patriotic War."
"The joining of Soviet and American troops symbolised that we were comrades in arms against the same enemy. I wish I could have called the US diplomats to join us on such a day.
"But not this year, when in Washington DC they decide in favour of sending arms and ammunition to neo-Nazis in Ukraine who unleashed the war in 2014 against Russian people in the Donbass region and against whom the Russian Army have been fighting in the special military operation since 2022," saidAmb Krasilnikov.
He warned young people against the divisive agenda of the Western elites who "pit nations against each other and split societies".
"They provoke bloody conflicts and coups, sow hatred, including Russophobia, aggressive nationalism, destroy family and traditional values which make us human. They do it to keep dictating and imposing their will, their rights and rules on independent sovereign nations," said Ambassador Krasilnikov.
