The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky:
It is difficult to describe what this day means for the whole world, for our republic during two or three minutes of an interview. Freedom, independence, peace, respect for one's neighbor... It was a terrible war. The Second World War, the Great Patriotic War –left an indelible mark, a scar on the body of the Soviet Union, the states of Europe, the world, of course. The Victory was achieved only thanks to the feat of the Soviet people – not just a Soviet soldier, a Soviet officer, a Soviet general, a marshal, but the entire Soviet people. Without the unity of the Soviet people, there would be no Victory. Children and the elderly forged the Victory in the rear in addition to the soldiers who died on the battlefields. It is hard to imagine Victory without the feat of the working Soviet people, who managed in a short period of time to transport the entire industry from the territory of Europe to the Soviet Union, beyond the Urals and to Siberia. There are some very interesting numbers. It was calculated that one and a half enterprises were opened in a day in fact, where the weapons of victory were forged. This was done by the hands of elderly, women and children, in an open field. This feat is comparable to the feat on the battlefield.
It’s not that there are a lot of disputes now, it’s not about disputes, let them argue, develop their own opinion. There are many lies now. They try to equate the Soviet Union with an aggressor state, they try to downplay the contribution to the victory in the Second World War, in the Great Patriotic War. Some states do not even know that the Soviet Union fought at all. They think that the British, Americans and so on did it. Of course, the British, the Americans were allies of the Soviet Union and also contributed, however there are facts, there are figures, there is history. Such a figure for example: 1942, one of the bloodiest – losses in the theater of operations amounted to 95% of Soviet soldiers and officers and only 5% of the allied forces. Here is the contribution approximately, plus or minus. No one belittles the contribution of the allies. However, I always say that one should know the history. I am ready to name twenty, thirty, forty successful offensive operations in the European theater of operations on the part of the Red Army, and I can hardly name those in the European theater of operations on the part of the allies in fact.
The Soviet Union is the liberator of Europe. There are no losers in that war, because the Soviet Union liberated all countries, even the countries of the Hitlerite axis from the fascist-Nazi ideology. This is the liberation of Europe: Germany, Hungary, and Italy, all the satellites of fascist Germany. This was liberation.
There are numbers again. There was the First World War, the Second World War. Civilian casualties were just over three percent in World War I. The casualties amounted to more than fifty percent of the civilian population in World War II. That is, this war was to destroy people. It was the fascist-Nazi ideology that turned the states of Europe into killing grounds. Almost all the states of the axis were covered with concentration camps, where people were burned, suffocated in gas chambers, not to mention the fact that more than six hundred villages of the Soviet Union were burned along with their inhabitants. The level and horror of the fascist-Nazi ideology today is difficult to realistically imagine. It is hard to believe that people were capable of this. Probably, having been soaked with Nazism, everything is possible. A person turns into a non-human when professes precisely these views. The Soviet Union really liberated the whole world. There would be no democratic world, there would be no Europe now, they would not teach Russia how to live now, if not the Soviet people, not the Soviet Union.
I always come with gratitude, with a great sense of duty to the graves and lay flowers, regardless of my position, starting from the school bench, that's how I was brought up. I've read books like this, I've watched movies like this.
Everyone in my family fought – my grandfather and all his brothers. If we take the fate of each of my grandfathers, this is a story, a separate book, it's all very interesting. These are the fates of people, the fate of every Soviet person. I am part of our Soviet people, I received a Soviet upbringing. It's just a duty and a memory for me, you know?
There are different holidays: there are Christian holidays, there are republican holidays, but May 9 stands apart. This is the day of liberation, the day, by and large, the independence of all of us.
I have already spoken about the lies that reign around us. The St. George ribbon is one of the symbols of the Great Victory, of course. Probably the main symbol of the Victory is the Banner of Victory that was hoisted over the Reichstag. There are other symbols: there is a St. George ribbon, which has its own history. But this is not the point, the point is that someone in neighboring states allows banning the symbols of Victory, attacking still living veterans, ripping off military awards from them for victories over Nazi Germany. We celebrate the holiday in such conditions.
Pridnestrovie has been subject to terrorist attacks now, and we are developing rules, we are ensuring the protection of public order, public safety, our armed forces are in regular mode, we are ready to defend the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic of course. This did not arise only a month or two ago, this situation arose much earlier. We need to tell the truth about this and we need to know about it. Pridnestrovie has been living in this regime for more than thirty years, and we passed 1992, there were losses, we defended our Motherland from Nazism, which again flourished in the neighboring state in 1992. It's hard for us, but we manage. There is another round of tension now. I consider that any war must end in peace in the end. Well, we are peacekeepers. I always talk about the independence of our republic, I am convinced that we will be a recognized state, but I would very much like our recognition to be not through bloodshed, but in a peaceful, civilized way, through negotiations. Pridnestrovians have already shed their blood in 1992, defending our Motherland.
We were preparing for the May 9 Victory Parade of course, the personnel were training, the equipment was in working order, but it just turned out that way unfortunately. We cannot endanger the inhabitants if there is a threat. If the situation is different, of course, we will hold a Parade dedicated to the Victory and the Day of the Formation of our state, on Republic Day.
Dear Pridnestrovians, dear veterans, I sincerely want to congratulate you on the Great Victory Day in the most terrible World War II, in the Great Patriotic War.
I want to address the veterans. Please, take care of yourself! I wish you health. You are part of a generation of victors who withstood the most terrible conditions, won, restored the Soviet Union. Take care of yourself, health to you and your loved ones.
I would like to wish hope to the Pridnestrovian people. Believe in yourself, believe in Pridnestrovie, come to the graves of your ancestors, lay flowers, respect yourself. We will succeed, I am sure of it. It is impossible to steal from the people neither the language, nor its history, nor its victories. Everything depends on us. If we don't let anyone do it, it won't succeed.
Dear Pridnestrovians, I want to wish everyone two very important things in this difficult time: health to all of you and peace to all of us. There will be peace - the rest will come. Pridnestrovie will be a recognized state, I am convinced of this.
