Lukashenko arrives in Moscow on visit

Aleksandr Lukashenko and sons will attend an army parade in Moscow on 24 June. The parade will take place in Red Square. Apart from Russian military the parade will feature representatives of 13 countries, including from Belarus.

A phone conversation of the presidents of Belarus and Russia took place several days ago. Natalya Eismont, Press Secretary of the Belarusian head of state, told media that the organization of the army parade in Moscow had been one of the topics covered during the phone conversation. “Vladimir Putin invited his Belarusian counterpart to attend the parade. Aleksandr Lukashenko will take part in it. He will go to Moscow together with his sons. As the Russian president noted, Moscow looks forward to seeing Aleksandr Lukashenko and his family at the parade in Moscow on 24 June,” the press secretary said.

BelTA reported earlier that in Belarus the army parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 took place on 9 May. About 3,000 military personnel and over 150 vehicles took part in the parade. As many as 36 aircraft and helicopters flew over the nation's capital. During the parade Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “This holiday is sacred for us. The tragedy of the Belarusian nation, which bore the titanic burden of losses and destruction of the cruelest war of the 20th century, is incomparable to any hardships of today. Even thoughts to betray the traditions that have been glorifying the history of the great deeds of the victors for 75 years already are unthinkable for us.”

Prior to the visit to Moscow the head of state took part in a series of commemorative events. On 20 June Aleksandr Lukashenko participated in the opening a memorial complex in the village of Borki, Kirovsk District. The complex was erected in memory of the burned-down villages of Mogilev Oblast. The next day Aleksandr Lukashenko visited Svetlogorsk District where the memorial complex Ola was unveiled at the site of the village of Ola, which was burned down by the Nazi during the war.

On 22 June, the day of the start of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the head of state went to Brest. Aleksandr Lukashenko visited the Brest Fortress where a commemorative event traditionally took place at the hour of the beginning of the war.