Speech by the President of Belarus on May 9, 2022

Statement of the President of the Republic of Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko during the laying wreaths ceremony
at the Victory Monument on the occasion of the 77th anniversary
of the Great Victory

Minsk, May 9, 2022

Dear veterans!

Dear compatriots and guests of Belarus!

On a human note, I would like to start by addressing you and thanking all of you who have come to this sacred square. Those who passed away should see and know that we have not forgotten, that Belarus remembers. And as long as we come here with our children – it means that Belarus will always remember.

I congratulate you on the Great Victory Day. The Victory that has preserved the Belarusian nation and predetermined the way of development of all generations of the Belarusians and has become an integral part of the common national idea.

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

We remember all those who held back the enemy to the last bullet on the border and at the Brest Fortress, near Minsk and Mogilev, who were tortured in the torture chambers of the Gestapo, who was burned in Khatyn, Dalva and Trostenets. All those whose blood soaked every inch of our Belarusian land.

Hitler's executioners brought pain and death to the world. They wanted to wipe us, Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians off the face of the earth, as well as Jews, Gypsies, Tatars and, in their opinion, other «subhumans». Our great common motherland – the Soviet Union sacrificed millions of people on the altar of Victory.

And the 80 years that have passed have not stifled this pain.
Hail to the victors!
Eternal glory to those who died!
Minute of silence.
(Minute of silence)

Dear friends!

We, the Belarusians and our brotherly peoples, remember and understand the significance of today's Great Victory not only in our own lives, but also in the destiny of the world. We cherish this page of history, we carry in our hearts the pain of losses and the pride in our glorious victors.

We simply have no right and cannot forget it. Therefore, addressing contemporary generations, I first of all address my message to those who live in a fog of lies and deceit, who are deprived of the opportunity to study the true history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War at schools.

You have been and continue to be deceived by your own governments at home by rewriting your history books, rewriting the history of World War II among other things.

Those, on whose streets the slogans of marching SS veterans and neo-fascists grow louder and louder. I address this message on behalf of the Belarusian people to those who have outlawed the Victory Day, who destroy monuments to fallen liberators and, above all, to the Soviet soldier.

Knowing and understanding the place of Belarus and my own place in the system of coordinates of the current planet, I, nevertheless, as a representative of the victorious people, appeal to the peoples of the Western countries.

I underscore: my today's address is to you, the people of the Western countries, same people as we are. Your politicians have done much to make you forget to whom the world owes its liberation from fascism.

Today not many people living outside Belarus and Russia know that the Soviet soldier, the Soviet Union, won the Second World War.

That the second front, which today is much talked about in the West, was only opened in the summer of 1944, when the victory of the USSR became apparent. However strange it may seem, but in the victorious offensive of the Red Army, which led to the defeat of Nazi Germany, the current rulers of the world then saw a threat. Therefore, a course to denigrate and demonize the Soviet Union and the Slavic world was immediately taken.

Although after the victorious May, the Soviet Union, the United States and the other victors together, unanimously condemned Nazism at the Nuremberg war criminals tribunal. And everyone was sure that the inhuman ideology of racial superiority had been crushed and that its black shadow would never again arise over our planet.

But what do we see today? The medieval struggle for territory and resources continues. With the only difference that the crusades have been replaced by the expansion of foreign funds.

The same aggression is observed now under the slogans for safeguarding of human rights. But in reality, Western politicians do not want to admit that billions of people on the Earth have been living by their own laws for centuries. And in order to create a world in their own image, they are trying to weaken those who live and think differently.

Addressing the people of the West today, I would like to say: well, you are not so blind as not to understand all the monstrous consequences of the failed attempts to rebuild Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries by force. We all have witnessed it.
Have they managed to reorganize?

Democracy under the wings of NATO planes left only pain and suffering, casualties and destruction, economic chaos and no prospects for the peoples of these countries. And no puppet government you have brought to power there is capable of making a blooming oasis.

I want you, the people of the West, the ordinary people in Paris and Berlin, Warsaw and New York, Brussels and Amsterdam, living with dreams of a green Sahara and fed African children, with plans to save the Amazon forests, to know that your money, a lot of your money is spent on the most common genocide. You are not saving the Sahara, you are not saving the forests, and you are not feeding the children. You have been used in Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now our Ukraine.

Followers of the Nazis are obsessed with the idea of revenge. But they are not ready to openly fight the heirs of the Soviet people. They have learned their lessons well, that is why they are pumping weapons into Ukraine, fighting memorials, symbols, veterans, concentration camp prisoners and even their families.

In the most terrible dream it was impossible to imagine that in this brotherly country to us, which miraculously survived under the boot of the Nazi invaders, Nazism would raise its head again. And it was your Western elites who brought up this monster, overthrew the legitimate government in Kiev, armed to the teeth the new henchmen of Bandera and Shukhevich, made Nazism a state ideology and pushed the brotherly Ukrainians and Russians against each other.

I want you people of Europe and America to know that with your money, with your hands your governments are waging war against Russia in Ukraine, against the legitimate interests of almost 150 million Russians who, like you, want to feel safe.

Crazy politicians in Europe, first of all, do not understand that by using fascism, Nazism in Ukraine today, they will fight against it tomorrow, because it cannot be confined within the borders of one country. Tomorrow it will engulf all of Europe. I would like the Ukrainians, who succumbed to it, to understand that today they are heroes, they are being made heroes, and tomorrow they will be destroyed, because Europe does not need Nazism. Those Western countries want us to have Nazism, to be torn apart by contradictions, to suffer.

I believe the West needs to dwell over about this thesis, and Ukraine needs to reinsure it would not have to address us to help to save the integrity and unity of the Ukrainian state. They have already divided Ukraine into parts. They are already thinking about which piece to tear off for themselves. And you know them.

On this long-suffering land today, explosions are rumbling and people are dying. The so-called National Security Forces are exterminating their own people along ethnic lines.

I want you to understand that now your governments continue to deceive you about your right to your security, reinforcing it at the expense of the security of others. And that is the root of all evil! Behind your backs your governments are doing everything they can to keep the war in Ukraine going as long as possible. After all, a weakened Russia is a force one can ignore, subjugate.

The failed change of power in Belarus in 2020 would have been so important for such a weakening of Russia. After all, we are Russia's closest allies, and we are situated right between NATO and Russia.

But the collective West calls Moscow and Minsk the aggressor. That’s why they are trying to erase from history our culture, Russian culture, language and centuries-old traditions. But this is our heritage. And no wonder that we, Belarusians, along with Russians, share the burden of illegal sanctions and restrictions, from which you, ordinary Europeans and Americans, will suffer more than we do. You have already felt it, but this is only the beginning.

There, abroad, nobody cares that the Belarusian army is not fighting. They ignore what we did in our time in order to stop the hostilities as soon as possible, and we are trying to act this way even now.

We are peaceful people.

We have proved our peacefulness by deeds. Belarus was the first country to refuse from nuclear weapons which were left after the disintegration of the USSR. We sawed and melted down tens of thousands of our tanks and planes. We have reduced our army timely. We proposed the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Eastern Europe. The 2015 Minsk agreements on peace settlement in Donbass were negotiated in Belarus. Not a single Belarusian soldier has fought anywhere during the years of our independence.

But don't even try to talk to us from the position of strength. Your dreams of driving the Slavs into a new slavery, which you call globalism, are unrealizable. But alas, nothing has changed. Belarus still stands as an indestructible fortress of Brest on the way of any enemy. All attempts to strangle us only make us stronger and encourage others. Because billions of people are watching Belarusians and Russians are again fighting this world evil.

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

I am sure that you, ordinary citizens, like the majority of the world's population, are in favor of a new, just world without discrimination and sanctions, in which all peoples are free and equal, and issues and problems are resolved through dialogue. But your authorities will never tell you the real truth. The British, French, and American media keep setting their audience against Russia and Belarus. They form a false image of an aggressor in their minds. They need to finally deal with our unity, the last stronghold of our civilization.

It comes to the point of absurdity when you are forbidden to think that the first man in space was a Soviet citizen, when they ban works by world-famous Russian classics. Isn't it time to hear each other and stop? After all, none of you wants war. But European capitals have done everything to make it happen. It is no longer a secret that the entire Western world is at war against Russia in Ukraine. And we are reproached for supporting Russia. Come to your senses. Belarusians have neither the legal nor the moral right not to support Russia. We have always been together, we have always been united. And whatever you do, whatever arrows you throw in our direction, you will not succeed in tearing us apart.

You don't need any United Nations resolutions to understand that if you supply weapons to someone, sell or just give it away, as you are doing now in Ukraine, if you supply mercenaries there in droves, if you support them in this hybrid information war, then you are far from being a bystander. And don't try to make it about us. Some 50 countries have united in the West today against Russia. So, we shouldn't be blamed because we are alone with Russia. There are not 50 of us.

Look at your politics and think about what will happen tomorrow. I want everyone in the West to hear me again. Belarusians are not aggressors, but are remaining an ally and strategic partner of the brotherly Russia, we will support it in every possible way. We are united and inspired by the examples of the heroes of the past, by the responsibility to our children and the Great Victory, which we will never give up to anyone. In this regard, I would like to say: leave us alone, do not touch our holy ground, it is too deeply soaked in the blood of our ancestors. And do not disturb our graves in your land, it is not humane, it is inhumane.

I do not see all those Western ambassadors who came to Khatyn and Trostenets, I was asked to meet them there, who were in that square. Where are you? Why didn't you come to pray and repent? This is your face, this is your gut. In Khatyn, I talked about it, I knew it would happen. You played with us then and ended up with getting to the point of fascism, and now you continue your brainless, stupid policy. Stop and give it up before it's too late. Finally recognize our right to decide for ourselves how to be friends with our Russia, with our Ukraine. To be friends not against you. Such friendship will do no harm to Poland, or Lithuania, or Latvia, or Germany and France. Everyone will only benefit from this friendship. This concerns the supply of raw materials, energy, transit of goods, and there are no other shorter and more reliable ways, because we are neighbors, who are not chosen, but come Godgiven. So, think about it: a world where interests of everyone are respected is more reliable than momentary decisions to join NATO or build a fence in the middle of Europe through the thousand-year forest of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

And where are you conservationists? Why are you stalled? Why aren't you going there to save animals that have lived for centuries and have seen no barriers? Where are you hypocrites? You are afraid, you are afraid to let people go there because they will see dozens, maybe hundreds of graves of the dead, the ones that went to you at your call just recently across our border. You grabbed them, killed them, and buried them in the woods.
Think about it and think twice: Belarus offers you to create such a world together, in a neighbourly manner, but for this you must stop teaching us about life, at least. Think about it. Think about how to draw the attention of your leaders to the really important issues for the future of the planet.
Belarus is ready to strengthen our common and indivisible security, respecting everyone's interests with the understanding that you will also respect ours.

I would very much like my thoughts to be heard far beyond Belarus, especially in the West. Our Foreign Ministry, I am sure, has enough opportunities to do so.

And turning back to today's theme, I am especially pleased to see thousands of young, energetic and talented Belarusians in the square. Looking into their bright, intelligent eyes, I believe that the great feat of arms of the people and the memory of it will live on for centuries.

Dear friends!

It seems to be a holiday, but you should agree that it is a great holiday with a flavor of grief and sorrow. One would not like it to happen again. But you must remember: this is our victory. We simply must not give it up to anyone. It is our greatest legacy, the legacy not only of the Belarusians, but of all the peoples of the Soviet Union, the Resistance movement in the West, all the people, including the Americans, British, Germans who fought against fascism. Let us appreciate that.
I congratulate you on one of our most important holidays.

I wish the heroes-veterans health and longevity, and to all Belarusians – peace, kindness and well-being. May the blue sky and the bright holiday sun always be above us.

May our pure, bright, beautiful and peaceful White Russia live and flourish.

May the memory of our victorious soldiers live on for centuries.

Happy Victory Day!