New challenges that the world is facing today can be dealt with only through the International collaboration and specifically between Moscow and Washington, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on an occasion of the anniversary of the opening of the Alaska-Siberia route (ALSIB)
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2021) New challenges that the world is facing today can be dealt with only through the International collaboration and specifically between Moscow and Washington, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on an occasion of the anniversary of the opening of the Alaska-Siberia route (ALSIB).
"Today, the experience of the partnership between Moscow and Washington in countering common threats and maintaining global stability continues to be relevant," Antonov said in an Op-Ed published in the Washington Times on Thursday. "Nowadays the world faces new challenges - terrorism, climate change, the global pandemic and proliferation of WMDs. The fact remains unchanged, though, that they can be addressed only through cooperation among all members of the international community, including Russia and the United States. Only via joint action can we ensure safety and prosperity on the planet - just like the greatest generation of victors, the Soviet and American veterans, who together defended peace for all of us."
October 7 marks the 79th anniversary of the ALSIB operation launch, which served as one of the main supply channels under the Lend-Lease program during World War II.
Antonov underscored that this air route symbolizes the partnership between Russia and the United States in the fight against Nazism and its allies.
"The ALSIB project was used not only for delivering warplanes," he added. "The airway was many times exploited by high-ranking government officials of the two countries, including Foreign Minister of the USSR Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Ambassadors to the US Andrei Gromyko and Maxim Litvinov, Vice President of the United States Henry Wallace, Senator Wendell Willkie and others."
The Alaska-Siberia Air Route operated in 1942-1945 was used as part of the US Lend-Lease program to deliver US warplanes to the Soviet Union. It consisted of roads and airports that began in Montana and ran some 6,000 miles through Canada on to Alaska, where Soviet pilots tested the aircraft before flying them into Siberia to be sent westward for use against German forces. Over 8,000 US warplanes were sent to the Soviet Union along ALSIB to aid the country in its fight against Nazi Germany.
