MINSK, 22 March (BelTA) – It is inadmissible to question the feat of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War, State Secretary of the Union State of Belarus and Russia Dmitry Mezentsev said during a commemorative event at the Khatyn Memorial Complex, BelTA has learned.
“Pain has no time limits. It is unacceptable to question the grief, tragedy, suffering, death people faced during the Great Patriotic War. On the sacred land of Khatyn, we all re-experience and realize it again. Now a number of Western leaders are trying to question the feat of the Soviet people. Here I should say: the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. The invaluable contribution of our grandparents and great grandparents to the victory is just as obvious,” the state secretary said.
According to Dmitry Mezentsev, not all young people have a sensible judgment of the feat of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. “In many ways, the blame for that is on us, the older generation. If one gets doubts, it is necessary to understand where they come from. We should not force this memory upon young people, we should simply invite them to talk about it,” he said.
The state secretary added that Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have the same stance on the Great Patriotic War. They remember the heroic deeds of the people and respect them, counter threats that may arise from distortion of historical facts.
On 22 March, Belarus pays tribute to the memory of the residents of the village of Khatyn that was burned by the Nazis in 1943.
