Aleksandr Lukashenko at Kupala Night Festival in Alexandria

Thanks to roots of national traditions Belarusians remain an original and independent nation. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during the festival Alexandria Gathers Friends on 11 July.

According to the head of state, the festival in Alexandria returns people to the roots of national traditions. “It is largely thanks to these roots that we were, are, and will be Belarusians – an original and independent nation,” the president stated.

Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that on approach to the concert venue he was thinking about what the most important, heaviest, and unpleasant thing in one’s life was. “It is not a disease, it is something else. The most important thing is that time implacably moves on. The first festival took place here just a short while ago. Now we’ve seen more than ten festivals in this blessed and kind land, on the bank of this beautiful [Dnieper] river, which unites fates of three Slavonic nations: our Russians, our Ukrainians, and Belarusians,” the head of state said.

“I am glad that we’ve gathered here today. That we’ve looked into each other’s eyes, talked to elder and old comrades, made new friends. We’ve breathed deep the summer air, which smells of honey and ripening cereal crops in Belarusian fields. We’ve heard birds sing. We’ve seen starry skies without city lights. We have an opportunity to once again feel the most ordinary things we felt during our barefoot childhood, the things that have become true luxury in the modern world,” the president noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that the folk festival in Alexandria with its surprisingly kind, warm, and light atmosphere has been giving such an opportunity for more than ten years already. In his words, hundreds of thousands of viewers, craftsmen and farmers, Belarusian and foreign artists, who want to come to the festival (this complicated year is not an exception) have become not just friends but nearly relatives. “Because genuine friendship, the desire to meet up have always been stronger than any barriers and distances,” the head of state stressed.