KOBRIN, 20 August (BelTA) - Belarusian Information Minister Dmitry Zhuk held a Q&A with residents of Kobrin District as part of the national information and educational project Pulse of the Country: Facts, Trends, Meanings, BelTA has learned.
On 20 August, more than 600 people gathered at the Palace of Culture in Kobrin, representing various sectors: trade, transport, housing and utilities, the private sector, and others. Dmitry Zhuk proposed to talk about Belarus, the historical stage the country is currently at, and the things that matter to all people.
“Perhaps we should talk about the events that took place exactly 35 years ago,” he noted. “I am referring to the GKChP [the State Committee on the State of Emergency], that very August putsch. At that time, I was in Brest at military training as a student of Belarusian State University. But they quickly pulled us back from the border, we took our exams, and our training period was cut short by a week. Of course, we were happy about it. We were young and did not really understand what this GKChP was all about or what those old men on the television screen wanted. But in reality, the country I grew up in was crumbling.” Dmitry Zhuk added that soon after, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. “Because right here, in Brest Oblast, in Viskuli, three men signed an act of capitulation. Do you know in which war the Soviet Union capitulated? Absolutely right. In the Cold War. The West won for the first time in many years, because the country fell apart,” the minister emphasized.
“In such a difficult time, Belarus began building a sovereign state. We have a truly unique opportunity: for the first time in over 100 years to pass this standard of living on to the next generation. So that they do not have to start from scratch like we did, but from the level of well-being and prosperity that exists in the country today. The Ukrainians will no longer be able to do that, nor will the Moldovans,” Dmitry Zhuk emphasized.
