President of Belarus: We cannot change the past, but we can protect the future

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has paid a working visit to the Russian Federation. The programme of the Belarusian leader’s stay in St. Petersburg was very eventful. The key event was the bilateral talks with the President of Russia (the two heads of states had several face-to-face talks) and a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State. Yet, no less important were Aleksandr Lukashenko’s participation in the commissioning of a new wintering complex at Vostok station in Antarctica, the opening of a memorial complex to commemorate victims of the Nazi genocide, a visit to a requiem concert in honour of the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade and to the SKA Arena sports complex in St. Petersburg.

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The plane of the President of Belarus landed at Pulkovo airport on Saturday, January 27th. It was on this day back in 1944 that the Red Army troops completely broke the siege of Leningrad. The feat of the city’s residents, who survived almost 900 brutal days of deadly hunger, cold and constant air raids, is an eternal example of unsurpassed courage and perseverance. On Saturday evening, the Presidents of Belarus and Russia, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, took part in the solemn opening ceremony of a new memorial in Leningrad Region — a memorial complex to commemorate Soviet civilians who fell victims of the Nazi genocide during the Great Patriotic War.

“Today, on the anniversary day of the complete lifting of the siege of Leningrad, we are embracing the thoughts and feelings of people who experienced hell on Earth,” said the Belarusian leader. “The price of the Great Victory is our common pain, and this pain is shared by all peoples condemned to death by Hitler’s Germany. Belarusians feel it more than anyone else... Every such monument is a witness, a prosecutor and a judge. Every monument is an irrefutable proof of the genocide of the Soviet people…
We cannot change the past, but it is in our power to protect the future.”

The Belarus President drew attention to the fact that the memory of the war victims today, the heroism of our fathers and grandfathers gives a hard time to ideological followers of murderers and traitors. 
“It is they who honour the executioners in their parliaments today. It was they who started the war with graves and monuments in Poland, the Baltic States and Ukraine. Complete madmen! Do they think that by destroying a monument, they can destroy the memory that lives in the heart of the people? The people who found the strength to build new peaceful relations with those states that just yesterday brought suffering and death to our lands. The memory of the heroism of the victors and their spiritual feat will be preserved forever.” 
Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked Vladimir Putin, the entire Russian people and those who created this monument. 
The memorial was erected in Gatchina district of Leningrad Region. During the occupation, numerous camps for war prisoners were located in this place, as well as concentration camps for Soviet children, whom the Nazis used as blood donors for German soldiers. More than 8 thousand children died here. 
On the same day, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko and President of Russia Vladimir Putin attended a requiem concert in honour of the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. 
Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that the exact number of victims of the Great Patriotic War is still unknown. Both in Belarus and Russia, the remains of murdered mothers holding their babies tight are still found, babies buried alive. 
“We are peaceful people. We do not want war. Yet, we are faced again with the question of the right for our civilisation to live, to preserve traditional values and national cultures. We do not need anything that does not belong to us, especially those benefits that were repeatedly imposed on our ancestors with fire and sword. But still. 

Just like it was after the victory, today we also call for a peaceful dialogue. This is on condition that our historical memory and the truth about that war are respected. We are open to any friendly steps towards us — both in Russia and Belarus,” the Belarusian Head of State emphasised. “I agree with the President of Russia who says, ‘We would have lost our civilisation and would not be living on this land today if we had not fought for every piece of land’… May the memory of those who passed away inspire us to create for the sake of future of our peoples, for the sake of peace. We will preserve our civilisation, you can be sure of that.”

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On January 28th, the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, together with Russian leader
Vladimir Putin took part in an event on launching of a new wintering complex at the Vostok station in Antarctica

At present, the work on the creation of a new wintering complex has been completed there. Vostok is a year-round intercontinental Antarctic research station in Russia, located in the central part of Antarctica. The works carried out there are aimed to research the Earth’s climate and magnetic field, to make meteorological, geophysical, glaciological (for the study of natural ice) observations, to study the properties of materials at low temperatures, and more. 
During the event, video communication was planned with the station where Belarusian polar explorers are based, but it was not possible due to the weather conditions. 
Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that Antarctica is up until now the least explored continent on the planet. 
“Russia is a leader in Antarctic exploration today. We had a great country, the Soviet Union. We worked together.
If someone hoped that all achievements in this area would be lost, they were wrong. It turns out that we have reached a higher level, instead,” the Belarusian leader underlined. The President of Belarus also thanked Russian friends who help Belarusian scientists with accommodation at their station, support their research, share scientific data, and provide equipment.
“I know that our equipment also operates in Antarctica. As I was informed, an ultraviolet photometer designed by the Belarusian University was put into operation here in 2018-2020. Once back to Belarus, I will draw closer attention to the development of this sector,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Belarus has been implementing its Antarctic programme for a number of years. With the support of the Head of State, the country began its journey in the development of Antarctica in 2006.
A Belarusian research station has been under construction in East Antarctica since 2015. The creation of its first stage was completed in 2021, and it is planned to complete the formation of its second stage by 2026.
After the meeting, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin had a long tete-a-tete conversation.

Negotiations between the Presidents of Belarus and Russia   

During the communication and bilateral negotiations, the heads of two states dived deep into the economy and issues of military industrial complexes. The Belarusian leader drew special attention to this fact on January 28th at the beginning of negotiations with his Russian counterpart at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg.
“We do not hide anything. We have discussed many problems, opportunities for further development, as well as the kind of systems we will devise taking into account the bitter experience of a special military operation,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The Russian President thanked his Belarusian counterpart for coming to St. Petersburg on these days.
“In general, the situation is developing vigorously. Russia is the largest investor — our investments to the Belarusian economy stand at 4 billion US dollars. This work is going on in a bilateral mode — our business operates in Belarus, 
and our Belarusian friends are also more and more actively exploring the Russian market,” Vladimir Putin pointed out.
“The relations are developing in all directions. I am referring not only to industrial co-operation, but also to agriculture, science, education, and the cultural sphere.” 
The meeting agenda of the two leaders covered issues of bilateral co-operation and interaction within the integration associations — the CIS, the EAEU, the CSTO. Vladimir Putin also informed Aleksandr Lukashenko in detail about the situation in the zone of the special military operation.

One of the important points of the programme of the Belarusian President’s stay in St. Petersburg was a visit to the SKA Arena with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin

SKA Arena is a hockey stadium of the SKA club in St. Petersburg. Construction works were completed in 2023.
The arena can accommodate more than 21.5 thousand spectators for hockey matches, which makes it the largest hockey stadium in the world.
The heads of states had a warm conversation with the SKA team players and watched the training on the ice.
The leaders of the countries were presented with hockey jerseys with the team’s symbols as a souvenir.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by