Grigory Rapota: Participation of the Union State in anniversary celebrations in Belarus and Russia ensures their All-Union relevance

The parliamentarians discussed the fulfilment of the Union State Activity Plan 2019-2020. In particular, the events related to two anniversaries: the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders (celebrated last year) and the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Date in Shared History 

The meeting was opened by Chairman of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly, Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin.

“First of all, I would like to congratulate our Belarusian colleagues and all citizens of Belarus on the occasion of the Independence Day,” he said. “It is symbolic that you celebrate your main state holiday on July 3rd. It is a memorable date in our shared history. Seventy-six years ago, Soviet soldiers liberated the Hero City Minsk. Therefore, we celebrate this date together with you. You know that on June 30th the leaders of our countries Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko opened the Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier, which was created with the support of the Union State. It is a peoples’ monument: citizens of Russia, Belarus and other CIS countries donated personal funds for its construction. About 400 million rubles was raised. A similar Union State project is being implemented in Belarus now. We are talking about the restoration of the memorial complex Brest Fortress Hero. Today, when the world fights a war with monuments and historical memory is being erased, our countries are doing everything to defend the truth about the victory of Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.

Turning to current tasks, Vyacheslav Volodin noted that Union integration is being strengthened and filled with concrete content day by day.

“On the territory of the Union State citizens of Russia and Belarus have equal rights to social protection, education, medical assistance,” stated the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly. “The relevant ministries of our countries have achieved rapprochement of the positions of all the participants in the negotiations on the abolition of roaming on the territory of the Union State. Bearing in mind the social significance of this task, it is important to reach mutually beneficial solutions by the end of the year”.

Moreover, the parliaments of Russia and Belarus should soon ratify the agreement on mutual recognition of visas, signed in Minsk on June 19th. According to Vyacheslav Volodin, this crucial decision will contribute to the formation of a single migration and tourist area of the Union State.

Response to Political Enemies

State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota delivered a report to the deputies.

“The Union State Activity Plan 2019-2020, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders and the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, includes 10 events in the field of culture, education, sports, health resort treatment, information support,” said State Secretary of the Union State. “Among them are also projects aimed to perpetuate the memory of the defenders of the Motherland. One of the most significant is the Union State project “Overhaul maintenance, restoration and museumification of the buildings of the Brest Fortress that are part of the memorial complex Brest Fortress Hero”, as well as “The Rzhev Memorial Complex to the Soviet Soldier in Tver Oblast”.

As for the first point, Brest Fortress, the amount of the Union State budget funds allocated to finance the project amounted to more than 200 million Russian rubles. In 2019, four facilities of the complex were overhauled; the work on creating expositions began. Renovation works on three units – the eastern fort, the fifth fort, and decorative lighting – are planned to be completed 2020. Two facilities – the eastern fort and the fifth fort – are planned to have displays.

A significant event, according to Grigory Rapota, was the construction of a unique sculptural composition for the Rzhev Memorial Complex to the Soviet Soldier in Tver Oblast. Union State budget financed the creation of its central part – the figure of a bronze soldier. Total funding, according to Grigory Rapota, amounted to slightly less than two hundred million Russian rubles.

According to Grigory Rapota, a number of other events included in the social block of the plan were held in 2019. For instance, the Academic Olympics for schoolchildren of the Union State “Russia and Belarus: Historical and Spiritual Community’, a tourist rally of Union State students, health resort treatment for veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the Union State sports festival for children and youth as well as the festival “Youth for the Union State”.

“This year, these events have been postponed due to the difficult epidemiological situation,” said Grigory Rapota. “We are working with the relevant health care departments of Belarus and Russia to schedule the event execution with minimal risks”.

A significant number of the plan items is related to media support of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. In 2019-2020, more than 800 news stories on this topic were published in periodicals, such as Soyuz. Belarus-Russia and Soyuznoe Veche, the Soyuznoe Gosudarstvo magazine, as well as in the media-partners of the Union State – Rodina and Belaruskaya Dumka magazines and the newspaper 7 Days.

News items were also posted in web-based media. The radio and TV channel TRO Soyuz broadcasted thematic programmes as well. The electronic media, Information Analysis Portal of the Union State soyuz.by and the official website of the Standing Committee postkomsg.com, published information materials devoted to the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

“The Standing Committee has organized and held the following military-patriotic events for Belarusian, Russian and Union media,” said Grigory Rapota. “On August 14th, 16th and 21st, 2019 there were expert media tours dedicated to the creation of a sculptural composition for the Rzhev Soviet Soldier Memorial. On July 1st-4th, 2019 there was an expert media tour, timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders. In January 2020, there was a solemn ceremony held to take in the soil in the places of fierce fighting of 1942-1943 in Rzhev District. In March 2020, the capsule with this soil was brought to the All Saints Memorial Church during the official visit of the parliamentary delegation of the Federation Council to the Republic of Belarus, headed by Valentina Matvienko. On June 30th, 2020, there was an expert media tour of Russian and Belarusian journalists to Tver Oblast, timed to coincide with the opening of the Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier. Participation of the Union State in important anniversary celebrations in Belarus and Russia has become a tradition and enables to hold a number of joint events on the territory of Belarus and Russia, ensuring their All-Union significance. This work is being continued.

Both Russian and Belarusian parliamentarians supported the words of the State Secretary of the Union State. For example, Gennady Davydko, Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Information Policy, who addressed the audience in Minsk immediately after Grigory Rapota’s speech, said that he considered the solemn opening of the Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier the most noticeable, significant and symbolic event not only within the framework of the Great Victory anniversary celebration, but also in the universal and spiritually unifying sense.

“If we put aside the temporary and temporal difficulties at this stage of the Union State formation, then the very fact of the participation of Russia’s and Belarus’s presidents in the opening ceremony serves as an important sign and response to the many insinuations of the political enemies of our Union,” said Gennady Davydko.