The head of state was a bit late for the event. The president explained the reasons for being late: “Today we have wrapped up a large-scale anti-terrorist operation. We thought that they would stick to the economic warfare scenario. No. Terror against people and facilities continues inside the country on a larger scale. We will reveal the details soon.”
“After wrapping up counterintelligence activities today, we will raise questions not with some Heiko Maas, Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs, but with the chancellor herself and some other top officials of Germany. I will tell you more later,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president addressed special words of gratitude to those who wear shoulder straps, and for whom the oath, officer honor and military duty are an integral part of their moral compass. “Our state is unshakable because guys in uniform have been up to the task and are among the awardees today, and their subordinates and colleagues have carried out that large-scale operation that has just ended. This means that we have will power, we stick to what we believe it and no one will be able to subjugate us,” the Belarusian leader said.
He emphasized that the military and rescuers have recently proved what it means to be real defenders of their country. “Maybe some 10 months ago some of you lamented about violence on the Internet and did not understand what was happening. But today there are no people in attendance who would not understand what is happening. Today there are no people in the country who do not understand what is going on. And thank God that this happened last year. Those events exposed ulcers and tumors in the society that we had to cut out, and we did it. If people do not understand it after all the things that were shown and told, this is no longer about misunderstanding, these people can be viewed as enemies whose goal is to destroy the state,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
