Press releases

Belarusian diplomats attend Victory Day celebrations abroad

MINSK, 10 May (BelTA) – Belarusian diplomats took part in the commemorative events held abroad on 9 May to mark Victory Day, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“On these days Belarusian diplomats, alongside with their Russian and other colleagues, pay tribute to those who fought during the Great Patriotic War, worked on the home front, sacrificed their lives for the Motherland,” the ministry said.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Russia Igor Petrishenko attended the Victory Parade in Red Square in Moscow on 9 May. In the run-up to the Victory Day celebrations the Belarusian embassy in Russia organized a number of commemorative events. On 3 May, Igor Petrishenko together with veterans of the Great Patriotic War laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden, where the soil from the hero cities of Minsk and Brest is kept. The business and cultural center of the embassy played host to a solemn event to mark the 73rd anniversary of the Great Victory. War veterans were honored during the event.

Commemorative events to mark Victory Day were also held in Ukraine. On 9 May, Belarus’ Ambassador to Ukraine Igor Sokol laid flowers at the monuments to Minsk City Hero and Brest Hero Fortress at the memorial complex of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War in Kiev. Igor Sokol also attended the commemorative events in Chernigov.

On 9 May, Belarus’ Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Andrei Strachko took part in a meeting to mark the 73rd anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Bishkek. Andrei Strachko laid flowers at the Eternal Flame. On 7 May, the ambassador joined a meeting at the Kyzyl Asker cemetery. Commemorative events were also held in Kazakhstan and Armenia.

The victims of the Second World War were also commemorated in Poland. The Consulate General of Belarus in Bialystok took part in a wreath ceremony at the memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in the battles for the liberation of Poland in 1944-1945.

Belarus’ Ambassador to Latvia Marina Dolgopolova participated in a re-interment ceremony for the Soviet soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War. 240 soldiers were reburied at the cemetery in Ropazi. Diplomats of the Belarusian embassy in Latvia, together with their Russian counterparts, laid wreaths and flowers at the Monument to Soviet soldiers who liberated Riga in Mezaparks.

Victory Day events were held in a number of European countries as well. Belarusian Ambassador to Austria Alena Kupchyna and Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen took part in a ceremony to mark the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp.

On 9 May, Belarus’ Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Alexander Mikhnevich, embassy diplomats and members of their families paid tribute to the memory of the Soviet soldiers and citizens who died during the Second World War in Belgium.

Belarus’ Ambassador to Hungary and Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina Alexander Khainovsky and embassy officials took part in a flower ceremony in Budapest.

To mark Victory Day, the diplomats of the Belarusian embassy in Switzerland and the permanent mission at the UN office in Geneva took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of Soviet soldiers in Basel.

The Victory Day events in Germany included a ceremony with the participation of the CIS embassies at the Soviet military memorial in Pankow, Berlin. On 8 May, the memory of the fallen Soviet soldiers was honored at Treptower Park. The Consulate General of Belarus in Munich took part in the commemorative events at the Jewish cemetery in Munich to mark the 73rd anniversary of Victory Day. The Victory Day event was also held at the Soviet military cemetery in Potsdam.

Charge d’Affaires ad interim of Belarus in Spain Aleksei Panferov took part in the celebrations of the 73rd anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War at the Fuencarral Cemetery in Madrid. On behalf of the Belarusian embassy in Spain Aleksei Panferov laid a wreath at the monument of Soviet volunteers who were killed during the Civil War in Spain.

A photo exhibition dedicated to the 73rd anniversary of the end of the war was organized at the UN headquarters in New York on the initiative of Belarus and a number of CIS permanent representations in the organization.