Posted:
29.03.2023 10:13:00
Khatyn is a place of strength for the Belarusian people
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, took part in a commemorative event dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Khatyn tragedy
“It’s really original and unique,” the Head of State noted after the tour. He drew attention to the fact that earlier the events of the war years were most often demonstrated in a movie-like way. But in the new museum, everything is as close to reality as possible.
The Head of State laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame and took part in a meeting-requiem, during which the memory of the dead was honoured with a minute’s silence.
In his speech, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised: time stopped here exactly 80 years ago. The history of Belarusian families, who peacefully lived in their own land, stopped. As many as 149 lives of the elderly, women, and children, including yet unborn children, were snuffed out.
“This tragedy as well as thousands of equally horrible crimes committed during the Great Patriotic War remains set in stone and in the heart of the Belarusian nation forever. In the heart of the victorious nation, a powerful and magnanimous one that knows how to forgive.
Up till now we’ve been trying not to burden with the feeling of guilt children and grandchildren of the butchers, who came to our land in order to conclusively put the problem of Slavs to rest. Eastern Slavs. We have not previously underlined that most of the Western Europe countries had joined Nazi Germany and the world capital had paid for this crusade. Today they enforce sanctions against us and have launched an economic and informational war. But we haven’t forgotten and will remind descendants of the death squads how the Belarusian land became one big death camp back in 1941. How people were burned alive, crushed by tanks, drowned, and killed with direct heavy cannon fire. How children were buried alive in order to save bullets. How chemical agents were sprayed over our towns and villages,” the President emphasised.
The Head of State went on saying, “You know that fascism has no human face, but it has names. These are names of murderers and traitors. And we know them. There are heirs and ideological successors whose gene of hatred towards us, the entire Slavic civilisation and our people has activated again.
‘Aryan standards’ were replaced with liberal democratic values. They have been filtering out people who do not meet the new standard for a long time. This is done by means of colour revolutions, riots, proxy wars, sanctions, blackmail. We also know how far this can go.”
According to the President, the example of neighbouring countries already shows how modern neo-Nazism is raising its head, “Therefore, we must, and we will do everything to commemorate the feat of the generation of Soviet people who showed extraordinary courage and heroism. We need to make Khatyn a place of strength for the Belarusian people. This is our duty.
In the Year of Peace and Creation we, Belarusians say it clearly and loudly: there is no justification for a genocide policy, nothing is more important than a human life.
I would like to emphasise: as long as we come here together with children, this will not happen again.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko visited the church on the territory of the memorial complex, which was restored on the model of the one that previously existed there and was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War. The Head of State lit a candle in the temple. Then the President talked to representatives of the media.
The journalists’ questions touched on various topics, including security. They also talked about the recent sabotage attempt in Machulishchi, and about the events related to the neutralisation of the terrorist in Grodno. The President urged Belarusians to unite and be vigilant,
“The unity of security, military and law enforcement agencies as well as our people is of crucial importance today. This will make our life easier in the future.
Attempts to conduct terrorist attacks in Belarus is something absolutely new for us. It’s not something we didn’t expect, either. We were expecting it. Both I and the military. But anyway it still seems unbelievable to us. What I would like is to see our people stay united. People see everything. You just tell us in time (I always address the people with such a request) if you see a stranger that looks or behaves weird. Just give us a signal. You just can’t imagine how fast the special services responded then. Thousands of people were involved. Those criminals were detected within five days. People were providing us with information: someone saw a person, a car and so on. We were following the tracks, we were searching. However, it is not always enough. This is not because people were hiding something from us. This is because people just live their lives quietly and complacently. But today we need to see everything that is going on around us. I am not saying that we have to tell on others, to slander someone. No. We have to be very careful.”
By the way, people also helped in the capture of the Grodno terrorist.
“But people were informing us. Except for those scumbags who let him into their apartment. They have been detained, and we are working with them. They are simply outlaws. But this is only the beginning. A number of operations are still ongoing on the territory of Belarus,” the President said.
The question addressed to the Head of State mentioned the UK’s recent statements about the intention to supply Ukraine with depleted-uranium ammunition. A Russian reporter asked the Head of State to comment on that.
Aleksandr Lukashenko immediately responded to the question by saying, “I’ll say that Russia will supply us with ammunition with ‘genuine’ uranium. If those people [in the West] are crazy, then they give a nudge to this process. It is the most dreadful and most dangerous thing. This is why it is necessary to slightly steer away from craziness… Once this ammunition blows up at positions of Russian troops, you will see that the response will be a terrible lesson for the entire planet. Russia has more than depleted uranium. You know it perfectly well… It is necessary to move towards a peaceful resolution the kind Putin and Xi Jinping talked about. The Russian leadership and one of the world’s largest powers — China — and many other nations agree with that.”
The Belarusian leader added: if there were more common sense in the leadership in Ukraine, then everything would have ended long ago.
While talking to reporters
Aleksandr Lukashenko explained why the West is enraged due to Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia,
“We are confident we are moving in the right direction. At least as far as Belarus and Russia are concerned. We are moving where doors are open for us.
If a door is closed, why should we try to force it open? They will come to us. Europe already complains about America. While encouraging Europe [to enforce sanctions and sever ties], Americans trade with Russians very well and so on. It is business. And these lousy Western politicians create this situation with one hand and use the other hand to try to not only talk to us fraudulently but trade with us and develop economy. This is why we go where we are welcomed. We are doing the right thing. But they understood that they had done the wrong thing, too.”
Answering the question of journalists about the forecasts of the country’s economic development, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the economy of Belarus has not collapsed and will not collapse,
“The first quarter of the year confirms my optimism that this year should be and will be at least as good as last year. If we live this year just like we did last year and if we hit performance targets set at a government meeting on top of that, we will live a normal life.”
The Head of State was asked about the political campaign that will be held next year in the country, and about the state in which society is approaching this.
“If we stay grounded, everything will be fine. Therefore, we will handle this. But, of course, we should not lower our guard. In fact, those bastards who fled, several hundreds of them who are the most active, will have to show to their sponsors that they can do more than just write posts on Telegram channels. They have tried this and that: rebellion, colour revolutions, media warfare (it still continues). The only remaining tool that they will want to try is to take up arms and fight... In February 2024 we will have the parliamentary elections, the elections to the Councils of Deputies at all levels on the single voting day. It will be followed by the elections of delegates to the Belarusian People’s Congress. After that we will proceed to the presidential election. We are responsible for public security. And the rest is on you. People will make a decision, as they always do,”
Aleksandr Lukashenko replied.
Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by
