MOSCOW, 28 June (BelTA) – Belarus has succeeded as an independent, self-sufficient state, Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Vladimir Semashko told BelTA after a wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall in Moscow on the occasion of Belarus' Independence Day and the 77th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, BelTA has learned.
"If we draw parallels with the past, we see that Belarus was a success in the Soviet Union and has remained so after gaining the independence," the ambassador said. "We are an independent, self-sufficient state."
"Times are not easy today. You see what is happening: some have forgotten the lessons of the Great Patriotic War and World War II in general," Ambassador Vladimir Semashko said. “We see attempts to teach us how to live properly, how to elect the leadership of the country. But we are smart, literate, beaten by life. We want to choose in which country to live and which leadership to have by ourselves. Yet, they are in hurry, imposing sanctions and churning out all sorts of moralizing lectures.”
The Ambassador noted that the sanctions imposed by Western countries against Belarus are not painless. "But I think we've been through much worse. We'll get through this too. Moreover, we have such an ally as Russia," the diplomat concluded.
