Lukashenko: I Have Great Admiration for the People of Leningrad

In an interview with the MTRK "Mir," President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko expressed his deep respect for the people of Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg, describing the city as his own.

"What can compare to Leningrad—especially in light of the siege during the Great Patriotic War? Only Belarus. That is why we feel a close kinship with the people of Leningrad. I always bow my head before them. After the war, when it came time to rebuild Belarus, many people from Leningrad came to us—specialists and scholars." He continued, "For me, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) is a city I consider my own when I visit. Belarus and Leningrad are very similar, especially during those harrowing times of invasion and war. They bear a striking resemblance."

Lukashenko emphasized the human cost of the war on both sides: "There, people were dying before our very eyes. The same was true in Belarus. Belarus is the republic that suffered the most. This was recognized by both the leadership of the Soviet Union and Stalin himself, who did much to help rebuild Minsk and aid Belarus."

He added, "People often remark that our architecture is in the style of Stalinist Empire and so on. That all originates from there. Furthermore, he made a pragmatic decision: he compelled German prisoners of war to participate in the reconstruction. Eyewitnesses recounted that the Germans approached this task with great diligence and held a sense of guilt for the destruction. After a certain volume of work was completed, Stalin allowed them to return home," noted Alexander Lukashenko.