Dear friends,

60 years have passed since the liberation of the Belarusian land from the German Fascist invaders.

This holiday, sacred for the Belarusian people, is being marked together with us by our friends everywhere in the world.

Yesterday, at the Glory Mound and Khatyn, representatives of all the peoples of the former Soviet Union, participants of the Resistance movement, Presidents of brotherly Russia and brotherly Ukraine paid tribute to the feat and sacrifices of the Belarusian people.

Today among us at this assembly room we have those who were liberating our land, officers and soldiers of the Great Patriotic War - Belarusians, Russians, Armenians, Kazakhs, Ukrainians. They are together as they were 60 years ago: shoulder-to-shoulder .

We have here among us participants of the battles for Belarus from European states: Normandy-Niemen Squadron pilots, Resistance fighters, diplomats, representatives of the Anti-Hitler Coalition states.

We had common enemy at that time, and the liberation of Belarus was drawing the hour of the liberation of the whole Europe from the Nazi yoke nearer.

We are grateful to all those who have arrived despite ailments and diseases, and, maybe, despite obstacling their participation by the high and mighty.

Not only in Minsk have they arrived.

These days the holiday is being celebrated in every Belarusian home and in every village. In every urban-type settlement and in every town. There are guests everywhere.

This is, indeed, a great event.

Nobody has the right to forget what had happened on our land six decennies ago.

White Russia, destined to be located at the intersection of the mighty geopolitical forces, was more than once a scene of attacks and devastations…

(See Russian version of the site for the full text of the Address)