June 24, 2024 — On its 55th consecutive meeting, the International Peace Coalition (IPC) was presented with the appeal from the East German Board of Trustees of Associations (OKV) in support of President Putin’s peace initiative of June 14. The attendees of the IPC, which includes leaders from Peace organizations and officials from around the world, overwhelmingly supported the appeal and committed to distribute its very important message.
The appeal, translated into English, reads as follows:
Declaration of the Presidium of the East German Board of Trustees of Associations on President Putin’s peace initiative
Our contribution is to support the peace initiative of the Russian President in such a way that it gains a broad echo and helps to help reason prevail in the interests of humanity.
15.06.2024 From the Presidium of the OKV e.V.
June 17, 2024
We welcome the renewed peace initiative of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, currently presented in his speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 14, 2024. His peace proposals are based on the vote of the population of the four new regions as well as the multiple votes of the people of Crimea. They are also based on the facts on the battlefield. They show the genesis of the Ukraine conflict.
This peace initiative is based on the continuity of Russia’s desire for peace, which was openly documented to the world in the conclusion and attempted implementation of Minsk-2 as well as in the willingness to negotiate and the treaty that is therefore about to be concluded in spring 2022. Responses from the various sides reveal to the world who the aggressor is, who is constantly escalating, who is indifferent to countless human lives and also what intentions lie behind it.
In view of the suffering caused by war and aggression and the danger of this conflict escalating into a third world war, broad support for this initiative is an expression of the will of all rational people to survive.
The war-mongering, profit- and revenge-driven calls for Russia to be defeated are based on the mistaken assumption that the theater of war can be limited. This was not the case in the First and Second World Wars. With today’s means, which can reach any target in the world in the shortest possible time, such an assumption is also evidence of a huge misjudgment and negligence of reality. Those calling for war and against negotiations believe that they themselves may have a safe chance of survival.
Our contribution is to support the Russian President’s peace initiative in such a way that it gains a broad echo and helps reason to prevail in the interests of humanity. We call on everyone we can reach to do so.
This idea was the basis of our conference “Dialogue instead of Weapons” in March 2023. This idea was also the basis of the international conference of the German Peace Council e.V. and the OKV e.V. with the participation of representatives of European members of the World Peace Council in September 2023, which we actively supported.
Regardless of party affiliation, faith or nationality, we call on everyone to join us in supporting V. Putin’s peace initiative.
Dr. Matthias Werner
President of the OKV e.V.
