MINSK, 2 July (BelTA) – The Belarusian nation is united in the eagerness to protect its sovereign right to choose the historical way. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement at a solemn assembly held on 2 July in anticipation of Independence Day, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “This sacred day symbolizes primarily people's unity, which helped Belarusians survive the strongest blow of fate, survive as a nation during the Great Patriotic War and win.”
The president stressed that the Belarusian nation was united 25 years ago when it chose the day Minsk was liberated from the Nazi invaders as its key state holiday. He said that Belarusians are also united today in their eagerness to protect the heroic legacy, memory of the Great Victory, and the sovereign right to choose the historical way.
“There is no other date in our history that can make one think so deep about the value of peace, independence, and freedom,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
He reminded that war-torn Belarus was liberated from the Nazi 77 years ago. “People, who had been crushed by the sorrow of losses and fear for their own lives, became free. Only they – witnesses and participants of the Great Patriotic War – know what true freedom and independence are. Because all of it was lost in an instant back then. And the period of occupation became genuine hell for them. Belarusians were burned alive in their own homes. Time cannot erase the footprint that Hitler's Germany left in our land. And we will not forget it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated.
