SHANGHAI, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and China will hold joint celebrations next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II and will withstand attempts to revise the war's history, the leaders of both countries said in a joint statement Tuesday.
"Russia and China will hold joint events to celebrate 70 years of victory over German fascism and Japanese militarism in the European and Asian theaters of World War II," the statement said, adding that the two countries will also resist attempts to reframe history and challenge the post-war order.
The statement was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's two-day visit to Shanghai for talks with President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, aimed at cementing economic ties between the countries.
Putin said Monday that the events will focus on educating young people about the war. He also said any distortion of history comes at a price, citing the current violence in Ukraine as an example.
"We share an idea that it is unacceptable to revise the results of the war, as the consequences will be extremely grave. It is clearly evident from the tragic events currently unfolding in Ukraine, where violent neo-Nazis are waging a real campaign of terror against civilians," the Russian leader told Chinese media.
WWII lasted from 1939 to 1945 and engulfed over 80 countries and regions. Up to 70 million people are believed to have perished in the conflict.
Throughout the war Russia and China countered major aggressions from fascists and suffered the largest death tolls. The Soviet Union, whose resistance to the Nazis reversed the course of the war, lost more than 25 million people in the conflict. Over 4 million Chinese soldiers died in the fight against the Japanese invasion, which left 60 million people homeless.
