Dear fellow countrymen,

I wholeheartedly congratulate you on the 65^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

For us, people who live today, it is hard even to imagine the joy, exhilaration and happiness that the first peaceful spring brought with it. But, after all these years, we can appreciate the great historic meaning of that event. Decades of peace in Europe, freedom and independence of many peoples – all this came at the cost of the blood shed by our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers, millions of known and unknown heroes.

In fierce battles on the front, in partisan units and underground organizations, in the fields and at plants our people were giving their energy to achieve one goal, to hold out and win.

Belarus paid a horrendous price for the Victory. Therefore the memory of the past we hold sacred.

In the centre of Minsk, in the heart of our Motherland, the eternal flame burns, and the gratitude to all the living and fallen fighters will never dye down in the heart of each of us. And we repeat them, over and over again, the words we have known from childhood, NO ONE IS FORGOTTEN, NOTHING IS FORGOTTEN.

Dear veterans,

We owe everything to you, our life, freedom, the happiness of our children. We bow deep before you. Live long, remaining a example of honour and courage for us to follow. We, the inheritors of the generation of victors, promise to be worthy of marching next to you in one column.

On this holiday, allow me, from the bottom of my heart, to wish happiness, peace and well to you, my dear countrymen, and your loved ones!

Congratulations on the Day of the Great Victory!

Alexander Lukashenko