Ministry of Defence: May 9 is not special event for those who don't like parade

A representative of the Ministry of Defence of Belarus thinks the “importance” of the parade on May 9 outweighs the inconveniences caused to Minsk residents.

“Some people can always find reasons to express their alternative point of view even if the parade is not organised,” colonel Uladzimir Makarau, the head of the information and ideology department of the Ministry of Defence, said.

He commented on negative remarks on social networking sites about traffic problems and inconveniences caused to Minsk residents by the rehearsal of the parade, BelaPAN reports.

“The rehearsal is held at night – at 22:00. But we need time to bring military hardware. Of course, it may cause certain inconveniences, but they are outweighed by the importance of the parade,” Uladzimir Makarau said.

According to him, “May 9 is, unfortunately, not a special event” for those who express discontent on social networks. “They make a tiny minority, but we have them,” the representative of the Ministry of Defence noted.

“We have always had and will have parades on this sacred date. We have parades on July 3 every year and on May 9 on milestone anniversaries. Despite certain inconveniences (however, people were warned beforehand when streets would be blocked), it is not an insuperable problem for the great majority of Minsk residents, Belarusians and all people of good will,” the head of the information department is confident.