Dmitry Mezentsev moderated the plenary session of the Forum of Young Historians of Russia and Belarus

Dmitry Mezentsev, State Secretary of the Union State, noted that the meeting in Smolensk is an opportunity to compare positions and talk about the model of the future Union State.

"We wanted the conversation that began yesterday, not only in Smolensk, but also in the Smolensk region, the conversation that will be in this audience in a few minutes, to be an opportunity to compare our positions. So that it would be a conversation about the model of the future Union State," Mezentsev said. He stressed that the Union State has a special duty – the duty of a citizen to his union states and the duty of memory to the generation of winners.

"We have repeatedly talked about how we will increase the number of civic-patriotic events. Even in the Union budget, over the past three years we have almost doubled the number of events and allocated about twice as much funds from the Union budget for this. But this is not how we can assess the fact that we are able to reach the hearts of young people who, in 15, 20, 25 years, will fully take responsibility for the future of Belarus and Russia, for the positioning of the Union State," Mezentsev said. He also stressed that it is very important to pass the baton to young people and understand whether they share the values of the current generation, whether they take responsibility for the future of the Union State.