Lukashenko: people forget the road to the monuments, and they start to fight

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko with Russian leader Vladimir Putin opened a memorial to Soviet soldiers near Rzhev. The heads of state talked with veterans of the great Patriotic war and laid flowers to the monument.

“Today we open the monument to soldiers, among whom were representatives of all the peoples of the Soviet Union. We give them their FILIAL duty, the duty of Holy memory. Until we create monuments, until we come to monuments, we are not going to fight,” – said Lukashenko at the opening ceremony, which was broadcast channel “Russia 24”.

Lukashenko reminded that during world war II Rzhev perished hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and for each of the characters it was the last span of his native land.

“War is always blood, horror and death. In this inhuman brutal reality, there are borders, a confrontation which paid an incredible price. Rzhev is exactly such a place,” – said Lukashenko.

the Belarusian leader stressed that as soon as “we’ll forget the road to these Holy places, we are definitely going to fight.” Lukashenko expressed confidence that the memorial “will always be a symbol of unbreakable friendship” of Russia and Belarus.

the memorial to Soviet soldiers was created on public donations, on the initiative of veterans of the great Patriotic war. It is a bronze figure with a height of 25 meters and weighing about 80 tons. The sculpture was installed near the village of Khoroshevo Rzhevsky district of Tver region. The project was implemented Russian military-historical society with the support of the Union state, the Ministry of culture of Russia and the government of the Tver region.

In 1942-1943 in the battles around the Rzhev-Vyazma bulge Soviet forces lost about 400 thousand people killed, missing and prisoners. These battles were of great importance to achieve a fundamental turning point in the great Patriotic war. Rzhev was given the honorary title “Mountainsod military glory” in 2007.