Andrzej Duda Not Coming To Belarus

The President of Poland will not participate in the opening of the Trastsianets memorial.

On June 29, a memorial to the victims of Nazism in the village of Trastsianets near Minsk will be opened. It was expected that the presidents of Austria, Germany, Israel, Poland, Czech Republic will visit the mourning ceremony, Radio Svaboda informs.

The press service of the President of Poland said that all Andrzej Duda's plans have already been published on the website of the presidential office by the end of the week.

The calendar on the Duda's website states that he will be on a visit to Latvia on June 28, there are no events he plans to attend on June 29.

As it became known from diplomatic sources, it will be announced tomorrow who will represent Poland at the celebrations.

On June 8, the Minsk International Education Center confirmed the participation of Alexander Van der Bellen, the current Austrian President, and former President Heinz Fischer, whose wife's relatives died in Trastsianets, in the ceremony.

As for the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the date of his arrival was agreed on June 29, using diplomatic channels. A final confirmation is awaited.

The memorial complex in Trastsianets was established on the site of a concentration camp of the Second World War times. This is the fourth concentration camp by the number of people killed, after Auschwitz, Treblinka and Majdanek. This is the largest death camp on the territory of the former USSR.

Here, peaceful Soviet citizens and prisoners of war were killed, as well as citizens of Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Most of the victims were Jews.

The ceremony will begin at 12 noon on 29 June.

Let us remind you that public persons of Belarus appealed to the leadership of Germany, Poland, Austria and Israel with a call to include a visit to Kurapaty in the program of their nearest official visits to Belarus.