Congratulations on Defender of the Fatherland Day and Armed Forces Day

Comrades soldiers, sergeants, warrant officers, and officers!

Dear veterans!

Dear compatriots!

I congratulate you on the holiday - Defender of the Fatherland Day and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus.

For centuries, warriors who stood up to defend our land in difficult times have been honored. Sacrificing themselves, they defended the freedom and independence of the Motherland.

This was also the case 85 years ago during the dark years of the Hitler invasion. At that time, the Red Army, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers saved the country and the people, breaking the back of the fascist beast and leaving us the Great Victory as a legacy. We must always remember this and honor the feat of heroes, for forgetting leads to the possibility of everything repeating itself.

We see this today, when at the borders of our native Belarus, the heirs of the Nazis are once again trying to form an armored fist for a strike to the East. We all know this, track it, and understand it. I am convinced that only a modern, mobile, well-equipped army can stand up to the aggressor. Such an army is what we have been creating together all these years. An army capable of cooling the ardor of any aggressor, and the guarantee of a peaceful future for Belarus has been and remains the strength of the Belarusian Armed Forces, the unity and cohesion of the people, which we must tirelessly strengthen with our labor.

I wish everyone good health, peace, kindness, and prosperity.

Happy holiday, dear friends!

Aleksandr Lukashenko 

Source president.gov.by