President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov takes part in festive concert dedicated to 65th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War

Fellow countrymen,

Military veterans and home front workers,

On behalf of the State Council, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and personally I would like to congratulate you cordially on the occasion of the glorious 65th Anniversary of the Victory in the great Patriotic War!

In this memorable year with special gratitude we recall the unfading exploit of the generation of winners, revere the memory of fallen and living heroes and admire the feat of our multinational people. Grateful remembrance of those who at the cost of their lives freed the humanity of the brown plague does not have time limitations. And with time going by we get better awareness of high importance and spiritual continuity of the Great Victory.

On May 9th, 1945, in the fallen Reichstag the soldier-liberator turned the last page of the heroic annals of the most appalling and bloody war. That truly unforgettable spring day entered the history of our Homeland as a day of triumph and sorrow, a day of glory and hope for the future. The Great Victory became the summit of greatness of our country, the genuine witness of invincibility of its people. This holiday, with tears in eyes, is sacred for all post-war generations. I am certain it will remain the same for those coming after us.

The victory cost us a high, irretrievable price. From three-million Tatarstan alone more than seven hundred people went to the front. Almost half of them fell in boundless battlefields. The memory of winners of the Great Patriotic War is engraved in the hearts of grateful descendants. It is kept in street names in our cities and villages, in thousands of bronze and granite monuments, in exhibits in local history and school museums. The examples of great valour and heroism are immortal names of such heroes as Musa Jalil, Mikhail Devyataev, Maguba Syrtlanova, Petr Gavrilov, Gania Safiullina, Nikolai Stolyarov, Gazi Zagitov and many other famous Tatarstanians.

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Dear veterans, I sincerely wish you live as long as possible! Thank you for everything you have done for your people, our country and our native Tatarstan.

Happy Victory Day!


Rustam Minnikhanov
President of the Republic of Tatarstan