Lessons from World War I are now more important than ever

BELGRADE - World War I changed the geopolitical map of Europe and the world, caused massive destruction and human death, and Serbia suffered the most in the war, losing in it a sixth of its population, participants at an international conference in Belgrade said on Wednesday.

Attempts to falsify history and put the blame for the outbreak of the war on Serbia are unacceptable, said participants at the two-day event held to mark the centenary of the Great War.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov said that important lessons should be drawn from that war, the first global disaster of mankind.

We are increasingly witnessing astonishing distortions of history, coming even from very high levels, which shows ignorance of historical events, Meshkov said, adding that World War I was cardinally different from the previous wars as it saw weapons of mass destruction being used for the first time.

Meshkov said that the pointless attempt to kick Russia out of the world game was a fatal mistake, but it was very instructive when it came to the European politics of today.

According to Meshkov, the crisis in Ukraine that has shaken the world has a negative impact on Russia's relations with its partners.

But although it is obvious that there would be no return to the old models of cooperation, Russia is open to dialogue and cooperation, he said.

Meshkov also stressed the important role of Serbia as holder of the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2015.

He said that all attempts to isolate international partners to force them to give up on pursuing an independent policy and attempts to put Russia on the margins of European politics were dangerous...