On October 8, at the CIS summit in Moscow, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko presented an address to the peoples of the Commonwealth countries and the international community.
The address is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and is one of the items on the agenda of the expanded meeting.
The President of Belarus, thanking the heads of state for the right to present this address, noted that this right was granted by history itself and by the heroes who stood to the death in the Brest Fortress.
Our country has been given this right by history itself – the history of the Soviet Republic, the first to bear the brunt of the Wehrmacht divisions and the first to halt their victorious march across Europe. This right was given to us by the heroes who stood to the death at the Brest Fortress and on the outskirts of all Belarusian cities, blocking the road to Moscow, the presidential press service said in a statement.
The President's address stated that Belarus remembers its heroes, the pain, grief, and suffering of millions of compatriots, the burned villages, and “the echo of the silent cry for help from the exhausted residents of besieged Leningrad.”
Alexander Lukashenko, recalling the horrific number of victims of that war, emphasized that it has still not been closed, as evidenced by the mass graves of hundreds and thousands of tortured and executed victims that searchers are discovering.
Meanwhile, in some countries of liberated Europe, SS legionnaires are being honored. Neo-Nazis are openly marching through the streets, tearing down and desecrating monuments to the liberating soldiers, the President of Belarus emphasized.
Noting specifically that memory can be stolen, but not the truth, the Belarusian leader recalled that if it weren't for the feat and heroism of the Soviet people, there wouldn't be “those states and people who are doing everything they can to discredit the feat of the Soviet people and take away our Great Victory, which unites us so much.”
In summary, Alexander Lukashenko called the addresses a significant political step demonstrating a true appreciation of the role of the peoples of the CIS countries in the victory over fascism, respect for the historical past, and a constructive attitude toward a shared future.
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