Press releases

MINSK, 26 April (BelTA) – A traditional wreath-laying ceremony took place in Minsk’s Friendship of Peoples Park on the 31st anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, BelTA has learned.

People gathered near the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Seeking of the Lost” to pay tribute to the courage and commemorate the victims of the Chernobyl tragedy. First Deputy Head of Belarus' President Administration Maksim Ryzhenkov was the first to lay the flowers. The event was also attended by representatives of the Minsk City Hall, security agencies, public organizations, embassies, the clergy, university and school students.

"People do not forget about this tragic day. Today they came here despite the bad weather," the leader of the public organization Disabled People of Chernobyl Mikhail Zhdanovich said. "We represent the disabled people of Chernobyl, the most affected part of the clean-up workers who went forward to protect our country and other states from the invisible danger. We did out job and did not think of the consequences. Since the establishment of the organization more than half of the participants have passed away. However we continue taking care of their widows and families and consider it our sacred duty. People should think of and remember those who went to the battlefield with the invisible danger," Mikhail Zhdanovich said.