Pellegrini: We Face Fundamental Challenge in Securing Peace in Europe

Banska Bystrica, May 8 (TASR) - European politicians, including those in Slovakia, face a fundamental challenge to conclude peace in Ukraine, and hence in Europe, so as to prevent tragic scenarios, president-elect Peter Pellegrini declared to mark the 79th anniversary of the end of WW2 in his speech at the SNP Museum in Banska Bystrica on Wednesday. Pellegrini added that if it becomes necessary, he will offer Bratislava as a venue for peace talks, as Slovakia's capital city has experience with holding similar summits. Pellegrini claimed that 79 years without war has caused a certain erosion in the perception of peace, which is taken for granted today. "Unfortunately, as we see today that is not the case. Saber-rattling has slowly begun to be heard from other parts of Europe and the globe with respect to the war in Ukraine. There's been talk about deploying troops directly into the Russian-Ukrainian war, many prepare plans for military conflict and diplomacy has toughened its language. Let's talk about a ceasefire, about peacemaking scenarios, instead, let's activate diplomacy and view arms as a solution of last resort," accentuated the president-elect. Pellegrini also expressed gratitude to members of the Red Army who liberated Slovakia in 1945 from Nazism. "We feel intensively today that an effort to rewrite history is growing. However, I'd like to reject from here any effort to twist the historical truth because there's only one truth. That's why I reject any attempt not to mention or purposefully overlook the credit the Red Army had in liberating our homeland, just as I reject efforts to humanise the fascist regime and downplay facts about its victims in concentration camps," claimed Pellegrini. mf/mcs