Alexander Subbotin: "Today our main duty is to preserve peace"
Today I want to start my speech by addressing those who gave us this holiday, thanks to whom we stand together under the peaceful sky of Belarus! From the bottom of my heart, I congratulate you, dear veterans, on Victory Day! Exactly 79 years ago, fascism was heroically defeated. Decades pass, new generations are born, but we still honor the most cherished, brightest, and most memorable day – May 9th! Victory Day!
Belarusians, along with other fraternal peoples of the Soviet Union, did not bow their heads to the occupiers. In the battle with fascism, for freedom, we lost every third resident of the region. Our memory will forever hold not only the feats of front-line soldiers and partisans. Honor and glory to the home front workers, a deep bow to those who grew bread, manufactured shells, and nursed the wounded back to health. Along with heroic feats – the tank battle near Senno, the Surazh Gate, the Ushachi breakthrough – we will not forget the punitive operations "Winter Magic" and "Spring Festival." Behind the monstrously lyrical and cynical names lay ordinary genocide – the extermination of Belarusians, just like us. In their scale and cruelty (villages were burned with people inside), the punitive operations in our region during the war have no analogues in human history. On the eve of the "Osvia Tragedy," we remembered in the capital of our peace-loving Motherland. Where the long-suffering urban settlements of Osvia and Obol were solemnly awarded pennants "For Courage and Resilience during the Great Patriotic War."
Today, our main duty is to preserve peace. We see the situation developing around our borders. Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko tirelessly calls on countries for peaceful negotiations and conflict resolution. We want and must be heard!
Dear friends!
By coming here – to Victory Square in Vitebsk – we express our gratitude to the generation of victors! The genetic code of the nation is already embedded in the younger generation – to honor the immortal feat of heroes!
At the suggestion of Alexander Subbotin, the memory of the fallen was honored with a moment of silence.
Soon we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of our country from the Nazi invaders. The unity of Belarusians saved us then from the brown plague. We must be united today so that our children and grandchildren do not know the horrors of war!
Dear compatriots!
On this national holiday, I wish you good health, well-being, and military endeavors for the sake of peace and a bright future for our Vitebsk region!
Happy Victory Day!