Presidents of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus unveiled the Rzhev Memorial of the Soviet Soldier

Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, took part in the unveiling ceremony. When they met, the heads of state hugged each other and then laid scarlet roses on the pedestal of the monument.
The battles near Rzhev in 1942–1943 were crucial in approaching a decisive turning point in the entire Second World War, TASS quotes the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin at the unveiling ceremony of the Memorial to the Soviet Soldier.
“The significance of that long and bloody battle for the Victory of the Soviet people over Nazism is huge. The Soviet Army made it absolutely clear that the enemy would not be able to turn around and advance the attack on Moscow again, nor would it be able to break and subjugate the people who stood up for their Motherland’s defence,” said Vladimir Putin.
“Step by step, day after day, the battles near Rzhev brought closer the triumphant outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad and the long-awaited breaking of the Leningrad Siege, the liberation of Belorussia, Ukraine and Baltic countries – and the final and critical change in the course of the entire Second World War," said Vladimir Putin.
“We will always remember the high price the Soviet people paid for the Victory, the brunt borne and repelled by the Red Army where representatives of all Soviet republics and ethnicities fought side by side,” said Vladimir Putin.
Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, said that as long as people create monuments and come to them, there will be no war. “And as soon as we forget the way to these sacred places, we will definitely be at war,” said Alexander Lukashenko.
President Lukashenko noted that both states would not allow “diminishing the importance of the Great Victory” or distortion of the truth about the events of the Great Patriotic War.
“Having paid millions of lives of their citizens for peace on earth, Belarus and Russia are absolutely united in this aspiration,” said Alexander Lukashenko.
 

ADDRESS by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to the Parliaments of the Council of Europe Member States on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Victory over Nazism in the Second World War