Opinions & Interviews

Ambassador: Independence Day is a truly national holiday in Belarus

Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the Russian Federation

MOSCOW, 30 June (BelTA) - Independence Day is a truly national holiday, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Russia Dmitry Krutoi told the media after a ceremony to lay a wreath at the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall in Moscow to mark the 79th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from Nazi invaders and Belarus' Independence Day, BelTA has learned.

"Independence Day for us is essentially the birthday of our country: if it were not for the Great Victory, the successful Operation Bagration our country would have simply ceased to exist physically," Ambassador Dmitry Krutoi said. “We lost 3 million people, and we cannot betray their memory. This is truly a national state holiday."

"Today, in the light of the events taking place in the post-Soviet space, people understand even more what wartime hardships our ancestors had to endure. In order to prevent this from happening again, our country must be strong, develop successfully, avoid any internal strife, build a strategic alliance with Russia and with those friendly countries that want to work with us," the ambassador is convinced.

"We have learned the lessons of the tragedy of the Great Patriotic War, and I think that the leadership of our country will do everything to prevent this from happening again," Ambassador Dmitry Krutoi stressed.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks