Veteran organizations of Belarus’ Mogilev Oblast, Russia’s Primorsky Krai to cooperate
Photos courtesy of the Mogilev Oblast administration
MOGILEV, 6 October (BelTA) – Veteran organizations of Belarus’ Mogilev Oblast and Primorsky Krai of Russia agreed to establish long-term contacts and signed a cooperation agreement, BelTA has learned.
“Today, Mogilev Oblast and Primorsky Krai have roadmaps of cooperation in a number of areas,” Mogilev Oblast Vice Governor Valery Malashko said. “Despite the distance, we have established close economic, cultural, historical and socio-political relations. Today’s interaction of veteran organizations and the executive branch showed that we have an absolutely similar agenda and lines of activity. For example, civic and patriotic education of the younger generation is more relevant than ever. We have common traditions and historical past and need to cooperate more actively in these matters. We also need to recover the names of the soldiers who died in the Belarusian land during the Great Patriotic War and restore the historical memory.”
Search work is one of avenues of cooperation, Valery Malashko stressed. “In Mogilev Oblast there are 1,657 military graves holding the remains of more than 350,000 people. We have established the names of just 70,000 Red Army soldiers. Work to search and transfer the remains of the soldiers, to establish their names and destinies is carried out by Belarusian search teams in cooperation with Russian colleagues,” he stressed. “It is important that young people are involved in this work. Today we need to nurture the younger generation on the examples of search activity and teach them such concepts as courage, heroism and love for the Fatherland.”
During the meeting, representatives of Mogilev Oblast and Primorsky Krai exchanged experience of veteran organizations and social protection of this group of people. According to Konstantin Voloshin, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Development and Communications of Primorsky Krai, the region has developed a comprehensive approach to ensure systematic support of the wartime generation, including compensation payments for housing utilities and public transport fares, and free sanatorium and health resort treatment services. Today, 87,000 citizens in Primorsky Krai receive such support. A total of RUB682 million has been allocated for these purposes this year alone.
According to Chairman of the Mogilev regional organization of the Belarusian public association of veterans Anatoly Glaz, care for war veterans is also one of the priorities of the social policy of the Belarusian state. War veterans, in turn, help promote civic and patriotic education of young people. “Veteran organizations of our region have a membership of 243,500 people, including disabled war veterans, veterans of labor, Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies. One of the important lines of our activity is the work with the youth. Veterans know exactly what notions such as stability, peace, tranquility and development mean. This is the basis and guarantee of the prosperity of any state. We must pass on the value of these notions to the younger generation and protect them from the flow of negative information that distorts our historical past,” he said.
The meeting was held online as a video conference and gathered representatives of executive authorities, public organizations, including veterans and youth organizations. The event was part of the program of the Days of Belarus in Primorsky Krai running 4-11 October. The Belarusian delegation of over 160 participants is currently in Vladivostok. Belarusian representatives are set to present the trade, economic, investment, tourist and cultural potential of Belarus.
