The Ministry of Defense has responded to a petition demanding that the May 9th military parade be cancelled. The letter from the department was published on the petitions.by website under the collective appeal of citizens.
The collection of signatures demanding to cancel the parade started on the Comfortable City website on March 29th. The demand was supported by 7,305 Belarusians. Initiators of signature collection note that major mass events have been canceled in Belarus to stop the spread of coronavirus.
However, the Defense Ministry believes otherwise.
“The epidemiological situation in Belarus allows the armed forces to hold planned combat training activities. Preparation and holding of a parade is an integral part of combat training of troops. In the course of trainings the personnel improves their skills, including management and maintenance of the equipment assigned to them, as well as raises their professional skills,” says the reply, signed by Defense Minister Viktar Khrenin.
The agency also believes that the tradition of the parade, which is a tribute to heroism, symbolizes the willingness of the Belarusian people to defend the national interests of the state.
Earlier Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey noted that before the parade the situation with the coronavirus would be studied and the decision on the parade would be taken.
At the end of March Alyaksandr Lukashenka promised that despite the coronavirus, no events will be cancelled for the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
At the same time the Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin, decided to postpone the parade in Russia, as the peak of the epidemic has not yet been passed.
