Putin to attend ceremony at site of future Georgian WW II memorial.

MOSCOW, May 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime-Minister Vladimir Putin on
Saturday will attend the stone-laying ceremony on the site of a future
monument to Georgian soldiers who fought in the Soviet Army in World War
II. The monument, to be erected over the next eighteen months at the
Poklonnaya Hill memorial complex in the Alley of Memory, will be a symbol
resembling the Great Patriotic War Memorial in the Georgian city of
Kutaisi, ruined just recently.
The inscription on the stone runs "Here there will emerge the monument
called In the Struggle with Nazism We Were Together, symbolizing the
inviolability of monuments to soldiers killed in the Great Patriotic War.
Laid on May 8, 2010 in memory of the Memorial of Glory that was
barbarically destroyed in Kutaisi on December 19, 2009."
The monument will appear in the alley behind the Great Patriotic War
museum. At this point it is unclear what the monument will look like. The
Moscow authorities will summarize the results of the contest in six weeks
from now. It is for certain that the monument will not be an exact replica
of the 40-meter-tall complex that was eliminated in Kutaisi. Presumably it
will be a sculpture some 10-12 meters tall.
The monument in Kutaisi honoring Georgians who lost their lives in the
war with Nazism was exploded on December 19 last year. The news sparked
anger inside Georgia, where many people objected to the idea of its
destruction, and in Russia.
A couple of days after Putin suggested recreating that monument in
Moscow.
"I believe it may be possible to recreate this monument in the capital
of what was once one country, in Moscow. I do hope that this initiative
will be supported by the public of Russia and Georgia, and I am certain
that in our country there will be enough people eager to donate their
money for the sake of restoring this monument in Moscow - in this
particular case, to Georgians, who perished in World War II while
defending our common Motherland."
In conclusion Putin asked Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to select a
proper place for the monument.
Putin also said that the destruction of the monument was a result of
dictatorial policies by Georgia's current authorities. But, as Putin said,
"relations between the peoples of our two countries have a very different
nature, for they rely on a centuries-old foundation."
"We are linked by thousands of invisible bonds and mutual interests
and by our common history," Putin said. "One of these bonds, of course, is
the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War - the time when we
presented a common front against the enemy."
"Now some would like to destroy this," he warned. "I am certain that
this cannot be done. This is beyond anyone's powers. This will never be."

.Victory over Nazism lasting source of Belarus' pride - Lukashenko.

MINSK, May 8 (Itar-Tass) -- The anti-Hitler coalition's victory over
Nazi Germany in World War II is an ever-lasting source of national pride
for the people of Belarus, and a pillar of the country's ideology and
statehood, President Alexander Lukashenko said at a special ceremony on
Friday on the eve of the 65th victory anniversary.
"The Great Victory is a landmark event that unites generations. The
sad list of our fellow Belarussians who suffered in that war holds a
special place in the whole of the European continent, because no other
European state made such a great sacrifice. Long-suffering Belarus lost
one in three of its citizens."
"We are in no mood of belittling the role of any of the anti-Hitler
coalition states. But we shall not let anyone take the Victory away from
us and from our people," Lukashenko said. He recalled that everybody
should remember whom the main strike of Nazi aggression was directed
against and who managed to repel it.
Lukashenko recalled that in the Brest fortress alone Hitler's Germany
lost as many troops as in the whole of the French campaign.
"Fighting in the Red Army were 1.3 million Belarussian-born officers
and men, and nearly half a thousand were awarded the title of the Hero of
the Soviet Union," he said.
The movement of resistance to Nazi occupation was a phenomenon
unparalleled in history.
"In the whole territory of the huge Soviet Union there were about one
million guerillas, and 800,000 of them - in Belarus," Lukashenko said.
He stated that "those who today are proud of the unity of Europe must
be aware that the roots of that unity are in the victory won in 1945."
"Millions of Soviet soldiers, millions of Belarussians who fought and
perished in the Great Patriotic War not just saved us, they not just
liberated the world from Nazi filth, but allowed Europe to become what it
is today - calm and prosperous," Lukashenko said.

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