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This year the key state holiday – Independence Day – has become a special event dedicated to momentous dates of Belarusian history: the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War and the 71st anniversary of the country’s liberation from the Nazi invaders. It was on this day – 3 July 1944 – that the country’s capital, the city of Minsk was liberated as part of the large-scale offensive operation Bagration. Nowadays people of Belarus remember and revere the deeds accomplished by the warriors, who defended the current generation’s right to peaceful life in the independent country. Following the established tradition the festivities began with the placing of flowers and wreaths at memorial complexes, monuments and obelisks erected in honor of the fallen soldiers all over the country. As part of the festive program concerts by Belarusian performers and music bands took place as well as theatrical processions, mass entertaining and sport events, exhibitions and fairs, popular merry-making that occupied over 980,000 people. Video