Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
MINSK, July 2 (Xinhua) — Independence Day is of fundamental importance for Belarusians, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a ceremonial meeting ahead of Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus in Minsk on Tuesday. The corresponding information was published by the press service of the Belarusian head of state on the same day.
“Independence is a free and peaceful life, security and confidence in the future. This is how we should understand our independence. The Belarusian people remember well what it means to lose all this overnight. And they know what it means to lay down one’s life on the altar of the future of one’s native Fatherland. This has happened more than once in our history. But the date of Minsk’s liberation from the fascist occupation – July 3 – became a milestone. A milestone in the spiritual and civil development of a nation that established its status through fire and blood,” A. Lukashenko noted.
According to him, the Great Patriotic War, the most inhuman of all wars, turned the consciousness of the entire world community upside down. The head of the Belarusian state noted that the example of Belarus alone, which lost a third of its population in less than three years, including the weakest and most defenseless – women, the elderly and children – divided history into before and after.
“We continue the history of the unconquered people. The memory of their feat is a matter of national dignity, without which talk of independence, sovereignty, freedom is just words. We rely on real experience and real achievements,” the Belarusian leader said.
A. Lukashenko recalled that it was on Belarusian soil that the invaders encountered massive and comprehensive resistance, witnessed the unparalleled courage of strong-willed and unbroken people. He also noted that only in Belarus is Independence Day celebrated on par with the Great Victory Day.
“Because then, in the most critical period, in the most critical moment of the victorious offensive of the Red Army, the day of the liberation of Minsk became the harbinger of the victorious May 9, a symbol of the revival of the Belarusian land and the entire Soviet people. The choice of the date of our main state holiday is historically justified and accepted by the heart of each of us, every Belarusian. This choice is the will not only of us, contemporaries, who could not act otherwise, but of our fathers and grandfathers,” A. Lukashenko emphasized. -0-