Conferment of state awards

With their labor and talent, enterprising spirit and mastery Belarusians make life better and ensure the well-being of the country. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during the state award ceremony on 8 October.

The head of state said that it is a good tradition to honor compatriots for a big contribution to the development of the Belarusian state. In his words, it is very good that state awards have been conferred on the people who demonstrated genuine heroism and risked their lives to save others.

“We honor our brave military pilots,” the head of state noted. He stressed that aircraft commander of the 61^st fighter aircraft base of the Armed Forces of Belarus Vladimir Pavlenko refused to eject from the aircraft in a situation dangerous to life because the crash of the aircraft in a populated area could result in people’s deaths. In extreme conditions the crew managed to prevent a catastrophe and land the plane at a depot airfield. The pilot received the Order for Personal Courage.

The same award has been bestowed upon Georgy Mishayev, the chief of staff –first deputy commander of the military training air squadron of the 116^th guard attack aviation base of the air defense forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus, who had been deputy commander of the unit at that point in time. He piloted a disabled aircraft to a safe zone and bailed out after having made sure that the plane would not fall on residential buildings.

The Belarusian President thanked the pilots for courage and heroism. He noted that he presents the Order for Personal Courage only in exceptional cases. “You show a good example to the military, an example of service to the Fatherland. You are true heroes,” the President stressed. He also remarked that in this difficult time it is very important that people who are ready to risk their lives to save others serve in the Armed Forces of Belarus. The President said that the defense potential of the country relies not only on the power of weapons and the level of training of the military but also on the moral ideals and ethic principles of soldiers and officers.

Representatives of various professions have been honored with state awards. One of the awardees is Alexei Shkadarevich, Director of the R&D center LEMT of the Belarusian industrial group BelOMO. The company has been working successfully on foreign markets of high-tech products for over 20 years.

Valery Shevchenko, foreman at the civil engineering company OAO Promtechmontazh, was awarded the Honored Builder of Belarus title. The company has taken part in important construction projects such as Minsk Arena, Chizhovka Arena, and the national skiing resort Silichi.

The Belarus President also said a word of praise about employees of the Vitebsk Oblast natural gas supplier Vitebskoblgaz. The company has finished gas infrastructure development in Vitebsk Oblast. Now it is busy assimilating state-of-the-art resource-saving solutions.

During the state award ceremony Belarusian agribusiness was represented by Lyudmila Gutnik, Director of OAO Nesvizhskiye Ostrovki. The agricultural enterprise has greatly increased the productivity of its animal husbandry and crop husbandry divisions in the last few years. Production profitability has been increased, resulting in higher salaries.

Teacher’s Day was celebrated in Belarus several days ago. This is why it was no accident that teachers and professors of various education institutions were among the awardees.

The President showed his profound gratitude to mothers of many children. Among the awardees were six women who gave birth to five children. “I would like to express special gratitude to you for children. We need them now more than ever. I often speak about it. In the future we will continue attaching top priority to children and seniors. We will be doing everything possible for them,” the President noted.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, “we are seriously constrained and this is not through our fault.” “If not for external conditions, we would have been a prosperous state a long time ago,” said the President. “They can learn a lot from us, and I openly say about this during the talks with major foreign leaders once they start hinting about the government system in our country, about the democracy. First and foremost, democracy is the people. Democracy is the state does everything in the interests of the people. Democracy is when you have the opportunity to have kids, feel secure, where you can reach out to authorities. I do not want to say that we have done everything in these directions, but to reach the highest levels of power in our country is possible,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The head of state emphasized that the contribution of all Belarusian citizens to the development and prosperity of the state is very important.