The head of state offered thanks for the organization of the forum and for the invitation to take part in it. He remarked that the timing and the location of the forum have symbolic significance. The forum is taking place in Stalingrad (it was renamed into Volgograd in 1961), the city that was an impregnable fortress of steel in the way of Hitler’s army. The course of the war was reversed here.

According to the president, the current meeting represents more than a tribute to the common heroic past. «We turn to history in order to protect not only the future but the present already. This is how the issue stands today,» he stressed. «We are heirs of the great generation of heroic winners. We have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide. This status comes with a lot of obligations. And it irritates many. Descendants of the losing supporters of the Third Reich oppose us. We speak about it increasingly often.»