2022 New Year address by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko

Dear compatriots and friends of Belarus,

In a few minutes the year 2021 will become history for us and our country.

We are writing our history realizing our plans, fulfilling our dreams, giving birth to children and starting families. I want to thank all of you who have lived every day of the departing year with love for people and our beloved country, with respect for the memory of the nation and national traditions.

I want to say thank you to our farmers and workers of the manufacturing industry, doctors and teachers, people in uniform, scientists and art luminaries, journalists and athletes, executives and workers.

For 30 years, we have been working to build and consolidate our sovereign state. Let's agree that our country is a far cry from what it was in the early 1990s. We have built a modern, stable, and successful country. In the face of challenges we set new goals with confidence and move forward.

We grow crops, teach children, take care of public health, beautify and refurbish cities and villages, assimilate cutting-edge technologies and design facilities of the future.

We have done a lot this year. We have built new houses, roads and bridges, comfortable residential neighborhoods, inaugurated new schools, kindergartens, hospitals, and outpatient clinics, launched new creative projects and enjoyed sports victories.

All of that is the result of your work and dedication. Our achievements are a response to those who do not want to see our young independent state on the map of the world.

But this country will be! The Belarusian land is a birthplace of brave people, who are ready to work, fight, and even give their lives for their country, for their people.

We will always be grateful to our doctors for saving the life a Belarusian boy who rescued his little brother from a house fire.

We will cherish the memory of the military pilots who died on duty.

We will make sure that our sons remember an officer of the special operations unit Alpha who died in the line of duty.

All of them are of the same age as our independent state. They are strong and brave people loving their Motherland, true heroes of modern Belarus.

We will honor them just like we honor the generation of victors in the Great Patriotic War. They are an example of true patriotism and the greatness of the spirit in our history.

I am also proud of those who displayed such important qualities as humanity and compassion, the qualities which are very rare in our brutal time, to take care of people who lost their Homeland and had to look for a new shelter.

We have done it because we know the value of peace, home and bread. These are the things we have fought for many times in our history.

Belarus remembers the lessons of the past. Therefore, in the departing year we have restored the tradition to celebrate the anniversary of reunification of Belarusian lands. The Day of People's Unity has become a national celebration, one of the symbols of establishment of the Belarusian national state.

This is our land. This is our destiny. This is our history. We will be making our own history. No one will change that as long as long as our hearts beat with love for the Motherland.

We set new goals and we know that we cannot foresee everything. However, we can determine our priorities in the coming year.

This is what should stay in the memory of generations and in the hearts of every one of us. These are our true roots that have served as our moral compass for centuries. This is the source of our wisdom, experience and self-confidence.

Therefore, the year 2022 will be the Year of Historical Memory.

There is no future, no state, and no nation without respect for the past, without traditions.

Dear Belarusians,

Just a few seconds separate us from the new year of 2022. Time is taking us to the future with great speed.

Right now every one of us is trying to recall the most emotional moments of the departing year of 2021. We thank this year for all the good things that have happened to us, for the experience we have gained, for our near and dear who supported us in the times of troubles and on happy and cheerful days.

This is our greatest asset, a guarantee that all our aspirations and dreams will come true, that Belarus will become even more beautiful and prosperous.

I wish everyone good health, peace, happiness and love.

Happy New Year!