Patriotic forum "We are Belarusians!" in Minsk

Unity is central to keeping the state intact, to our surviving as a nation, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the patriotic forum "We are Belarusians!" dedicated to the Day of People's Unity in Minsk on 17 September.

“On 17 September, the day when the Red Army began the momentous liberation campaign, we celebrate one of the most important state holidays – People's Unity Day. Unity tempered in a selfless struggle for our national dignity. We are proud of the indomitable will of those who did not submit to the anti-human regime. Those who went underground, waged a guerrilla liberation war, resisted the policy of forced assimilation. If there had not been such a large-scale nationwide resistance, there would have been no reunification of the Belarusian people in 1939 into a single state. And there would be no modern sovereign Belarus if it were not for the conditions created in the family of Soviet peoples. We know that. We remember this," the head of state said.

"Both then and today, unity has been essential for the preservation of our state and its future. This is a matter of our survival as a nation," the Belarusian leader stressed.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, 17 September is one of the three milestone dates in Belarus, along with 9 May and 3 July which provide an opportunity to take a look into the past in order to hold the present firmly in your hands and protect the future.

"These dates unite us, modern Belarusians, in an effort to protect our historical memory in the name of peace in our native land," the president said. “I emphasize once again: we are not an aggressor. Our people, in fact, cannot be an aggressor. We do not threaten anyone and never will. This is not our policy. Objectively, we cannot threaten anyone. But we must defend ourselves, whether we are strong or weak. This is our historical role, of the generations living in Belarus today."