Victory Day celebrations

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko took part in Victory Day celebrations on 9 May.

The head of state laid a wreath at the Victory Monument in Minsk.

Aleksandr Lukashenko was accompanied by his sons.

The wreath-laying ceremony was also attended by government officials, representatives of the National Assembly, judges, law enforcement, public associations and political parties, diplomats, veterans and priests.

Address of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko at a ceremony on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of Great Victory at the Victory Monument in Minsk:

Dear veterans,

Dear compatriots and guests of Belarus,

First of all, I want to thank all those who came to this sacred square today. They should see and know there that we have not forgotten, that Belarus remembers. As long as we come here together with our children, Belarus will always remember.

I wish you Happy Great Victory Day. This victory helped to preserve the Belarusian people and predetermined the path of development of all generations of Belarusians. It has become an integral part of the national idea.

Today, standing at the sacred Eternal Flame we bow before our veterans, pay tribute to the memory of those who died defending our right to live. To live freely in our native land and in our own state.

We remember everyone who held back the enemy on the border, near Minsk and Mogilev, who was tortured in the Gestapo dungeons, who was burned down in Khatyn, Dalva and Trostenets. We remember everyone. Every inch of our native land is soaked with their blood.

Hitler's executioners brought us grief and death. They wanted to wipe us, Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians, off the face of the earth, and also Jews, Gypsies, Tatars and others who they considered ‘subhumans’.

The Soviet Union, our great common homeland, sacrificed millions of lives for Victory.

The past eighty years have not eased this pain.

Honor and glory to the winners!

Eternal glory to the victims!

A minute of silence.

(A minute of silence)

Dear friends,

Belarusians and fraternal peoples remember and understand the significance of Great Victory not only in their lives, but also in the fate of the world. We cherish this page of history, keep the pain of losses and pride in our glorious winners in our hearts.

We simply do not have the right and cannot forget it. Therefore, addressing modern generations, I, first of all, address my message to those who live in the fog of lies and deception, who are deprived of the opportunity to study the true history of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War in schools. Those who have SS veterans and neo-fascists marching along the streets of the cities. I address this message on behalf of the Belarusian people to those who have canceled Victory Day, who are destroying monuments to the fallen liberators and, above all, to the Soviet soldiers.

Knowing and understanding the place of Belarus and my place in the modern coordinates system, I nevertheless, as a representative of the victorious people, appeal to the peoples of western countries. I emphasize that my address today is to you, people like us. Your politicians have worked hard to make you forget to whom the world owes liberation from fascism.

Today, not many people living outside Belarus and Russia know that the Second World War was won by Soviet soldiers, by the Soviet Union, that the Second Front, which is much talked about in the West today, was opened only in the summer of 1944 when the victory of the USSR was assured. The victorious advance of the Red Army, which led to the defeat of Nazi Germany, was seen as a threat by the mighty of the world, no matter how strange it may seem today. Therefore, they immediately set a course to denigrate and demonize the Soviet Union and the Slavic world.

Although after the victorious May, the Soviet Union, the United States and other victors together, passed the unanimous verdict on Nazism at Nuremberg. Everyone was convinced that the inhumane ideology of racial superiority had been crushed and that its black shadow would never again raise over our planet.

But what we see today: the medieval fight for territories and resources continues; it is just that crusades have been replaced with the expansions of foreign funds. We are now witnessing the same old aggression, now under the slogans of human rights and some kind of sustainable development. In fact, Western politicians do not want to admit that billions of people on Earth have been living according to their own laws for centuries. To create the world in its own image, the West is trying to weaken those who live and think differently.

Addressing the peoples of the West, I want to say: you are not so blind as not to understand all the monstrous ramifications of the failed attempts to reorganize Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries by force. This all has happened recently. Did you succeed? Democracy on the wings of NATO fighter jets has brought these countries only pain and suffering, casualties and destruction, economic chaos and any lack of prospects. No puppet government that you brought to power there managed to turn their countries into a blooming oasis. I want you, the peoples of the West, ordinary people in Paris and Berlin, Warsaw, New York, Brussels, Amsterdam, dreaming of a green Sahara, of saving the Amazon forests and feeding children of Africa, to know that your money, a lot of your money is spent on the most garden-variety genocide. Western politicians kept their citizens in the dark regarding the true reasons of the events in Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now in Ukraine.

Followers of the Nazis are obsessed with the idea of revanchism. But they are not willing to fight openly with the heirs of the Soviet people. Well, apparently they’ve learned their lesson. Therefore, they pump Ukraine with weapons, fight with memorials, symbols, veterans, prisoners of concentration camps and even their families.

In the darkest dream we could ever imagine that Nazism would rear its head again there, in the fraternal country which miraculously survived under the boot of the fascist occupiers. It is the Western elites who have nurtured "this monster" in Ukraine, overthrew the legitimate government, armed the newly-emerged henchmen of Bandera and Shukhevich to the teeth, made Nazism the state ideology, and pitted the kin peoples of Ukraine and Russia against each other.

What mad European politicians do not understand is that, using fascism and Nazism in Ukraine today, they will have to fight against it tomorrow. Because it cannot be contained within the borders of one country. It will sweep across Europe tomorrow. I want the Ukrainians who have succumbed to this to understand that today they are hailed heroes, but tomorrow they will be destroyed because Nazism is not needed in Europe. Western countries want Nazism here, want us to be torn apart by contradictions. They want us to suffer.

I think the West needs to think about this thesis. Meanwhile Ukraine needs to think about the fact that they might have to turn to us for help saving its own integrity and unity. Other countries have already divided Ukraine into parts. They're already thinking about which piece to tear off for themselves. You know who I mean.

Explosions are ripped through and people are dying on the long-suffering land today. The so-called nationalist battalions are exterminating their people on ethnic grounds. But the collective West calls Moscow and Minsk the aggressor. This is why it is trying to erase our culture, Russian culture, language and centuries-old traditions from history. It is not surprising that we, Belarusians, share with the Russians the burden of illegal sanctions and restrictions, from which you, ordinary Europeans and Americans, will suffer more damage than us. You are already reeling from them. But that's just the beginning.

No one abroad cares that the Belarusian army is not taking part in the military operation. They ignore the efforts of Belarus to ensure for the speedy cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.

We are peaceful people, but do not even try to speak with us from a position of force. Your dreams of driving the Slavs into a new slavery, which you call globalism, are unrealistic. However, nothing has changed since the war: Belarus still stands as an indestructible Brest Fortress on the way of any enemy. All attempts to strangle us only make us stronger, and our fight inspires others. Because billions of people are looking at Belarusians, Russians, who are again fighting the world evil.

China, India, Latin America, Africa, Arab states... Everyone is tired of the American diktat!

The majority of citizens of the planet stand for a new, just world without discrimination and sanctions, where all peoples are free and equal, and where problems are resolved through dialogue. However, your governments will never tell you the truth. The British, French and American media continue to paint Russia and Belarus black, forming a false image of the aggressor in the minds of their audiences. They want to break our unity - the last stronghold of our civilization.

It is sometimes reduced to an absurdity when they prohibit to think that the first human sent to outer space was from the Soviet Union, when they prohibit books of world-famous Russian classics. Isn't it time to hear each other and stop? After all, none of you wants a war. Yet European capitals have done everything to make it happen. It is no secret that the entire Western world is at war against Russia in Ukraine. We are reproached for supporting Russia. Come to your senses! Belarusians have neither the legal nor the moral right to abandon Russia. We've always been together, we've always been one. No matter what you do, no matter what arrows you send our direction, you will not be able to drive us apart.

You don't need any United Nations resolutions to understand that since you supply someone with weapons, sell them or just give them away, as they are doing now with Ukraine, if you supply mercenaries in droves, support them in this hybrid information war, then you are not an outside observer. Don't turn this around on us. About 50 states have rallied today in the West against Russia. We should not be reproached for supporting Russia. There are not 50 of us.

Look at your politics and think what will happen tomorrow. I want everyone in the West to hear me once again: Belarusians are not aggressors. But, being an ally and strategic partner of fraternal Russia, we will support it in every possible way. We are united and inspired by the examples of the heroes of the past, the need to take care of our children and the Great Victory which we will cherish forever. In this regard I want to say: us alone. Do not touch our holy land. It is too deeply soaked in the blood of ancestors. Do not disturb the graves of our soldiers in your lands. It is not humane.

I don't see Western ambassadors today here. They attended commemorative events in Khatyn, Trostenets and asked me to meet them there. They used to attend Victory Day celebrations in this square. Where are you? Why didn't they come to pray and repent? This is your true face! You were toying with us then, and ended up with fascism. Today you continue your brainless, stupid policy. Stop! Give it up before it's too late. Finally, recognize our right to determine how we build our relations with our Russia, with our Ukraine. We are friends not against you. Such friendship does not threaten Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany or France. Everyone will benefit from this friendship. This is about the supply of raw materials, energy, and transit of goods. There are no other ways, shorter and more reliable, because we are neighbors. So think about it. The world where the interests of all parties are respected is more reliable than instantaneous decisions to join NATO or build a fence in the middle of Europe through the centuries-old forest of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

Where are those environmentalists? Why don’t you say anything? Why don’t you go there to save animals who have never seen any borders in the course of centuries? Hypocrites and scoundrels. You are afraid of letting people go there because they will see dozens or even hundreds of graves of migrants who tried to cross the border following your invitation. You caught, killed and buried them in that forest. Think about it! And then think again: Belarus invites you to build a better world together, but it in order to do so you must, first of all, stop teaching us how to live. Think about! Just think how you can make your politicians focus on things which are truly important for the future of the planet.

I want my ideas to be heard abroad, first of all, in the West. I think that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has enough capabilities to make this happen.

Going back to the today’s topic, I would like to say that I am especially pleased to see thousands of young, energetic and talented Belarusians on this square. Looking into their clear intelligent eyes, I believe that the great feat of the people and the memory of it will live through centuries.

Dear friends,

I am sorry for such informal talking. Victory Day is a great celebration with the taste of grief and sorrow. I do not want those events to happen again. You must remember that this is our victory. We must not give it to anybody. This is our biggest legacy, the legacy of Belarusians and all peoples of the former Soviet Union, the Resistance movement in the West, all people who fought against fascism, including Americans, Brits, Germans. Let’s cherish that.

Victory Day is one of the biggest celebrations for us.

I want to wish health and longevity to our veterans; peace, kindness and wellbeing to all Belarusians. May all your days be merry and bright.

I wish prosperity to our beautiful and peaceful country.

We will always remember the feat of the victors.

Happy Victory Day!