A delegation from the Vitebsk region will take part in the 50th meeting of veterans from three countries at the Mound of Friendship

July 29, Vitebsk / Sergey Kotovets - BELTA /. A delegation from the Vitebsk region will take part in the 50th meeting of Great Patriotic War veterans at the Mound of Friendship on the border of Belarus, Russia, and Latvia on July 4-5, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies Alexander Atyasov told a BELTA correspondent. The Vitebsk delegation will include over 100 veterans of the partisan movement and underground fighters. The official delegation of the region will be led by Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee Alexander Kosinets. This year, Russia is the host country, and the main celebrations will take place in the Sebezhsky district of the Pskov region. According to tradition, on July 5, the event will begin with a procession of veteran columns from the territories of the three countries along paths to the Mound of Friendship. At the solemn rally, the meeting participants will remember their combat comrades, honor their memory with a minute of silence, and lay wreaths and flowers at military monuments. The Ensemble of Song and Dance of the Leningrad Military District, as well as creative groups from the Pskov and Vitebsk regions, will perform for the veterans. The memorial meeting will conclude with an evening of reminiscences around an improvised partisan campfire. In addition, an international anti-fascist forum "Let's Protect the Memory of the Great Victory!" is scheduled for July 4. The forum will include a rally, a round table, and a photo exhibition. Vitebsk residents have prepared a presentation of the book "Brotherhood. Courage. Memory" about the history of the Mound of Friendship. The colorful publication will be presented to all participants of the event. The Russian delegation will present the film "Mound of Friendship - 50!". Activists of anti-fascist clubs from Latvia and Estonia are expected to attend the forum. A total of over 1,000 people are expected to participate in the jubilee meeting of veterans from the three countries. The Mound of Friendship was built in 1959 on the border of Belarus, Russia, and Latvia in honor of the combat camaraderie of partisans and underground fighters. Soil for the mound was taken from the graves of partisans and Red Army soldiers who gave their lives for their Motherland. An oak tree grows at its summit as a symbol of the unbreakable friendship of the three peoples. Three granite slabs are embedded in the mound, inscribed in three languages: "The Mound of Friendship is erected at the junction of the borders of three fraternal republics in honor of the combat friendship, cemented by blood during the Great Patriotic War, of Russian, Belarusian, and Latvian partisans. Opened on July 3, 1959." Three alleys extend from the mound: a birch alley towards Belarus, a maple alley towards Russia, and a linden alley towards Latvia. At the end of the birch alley, on the territory of the Verkhnedvinsky district (Vitebsk region), there is a memorial museum dedicated to the partisan movement. -0-