“Your excellencies, dear friends,
Ambassador Kristjan Prikk,
Dear Mr. Zygis Pavilionis,
It is a great honor for me to stand before you today.
It is an honor but also a big pain. Today, we pay tribute to the millions of innocent victims of the Soviet communist tyranny.
We honor the memory of the millions of Ukrainians who were deliberately starved to death by Stalin during the Great Famine.
We honor the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians who were forcibly uprooted from their homes in 1949. Many did not survive the brutal journey to their places of exile.
And we also honor the memory of hundreds of thousands of Belarusians who died at the hands of Stalin’s NKVD. Among them — the best people of Belarusian nation – writers, artists, scholars, and politicians.
We don’t even know the names of many. Nor do we know why they received a bullet in the forehead.
Soviet system was barbaric and inhumane. Its only goal was to demolish our independent nations, and make us Russian slaves.
Belarusians, Ukrainians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Georgians — our people lost almost everything under communist oppression. But they could not take away from us our memory, our hope, our humanity, or our freedom.
The memory of our common tragedy, and our common grief for the innocently killed — is what binds our nations together now.
It is hard to admit, but Stalinism is back to Europe. It is back in Belarus. It is back to Ukraine. The methods employed by Russian invaders and Lukashenka’s henchmen are not different from what Stalin was doing to our people 90 years ago.
The horrifying stories from the past came to life again. Stalin is dead but his legacy is still there: in Bucha and Minsk, Mariupol and Vitebsk…
Tyrants prefer to do their crimes in darkness. But this time, the world is watching closely.
And tyrants must know: every crime will be documented. Every name of every henchman will become public. Every attempt to seize our freedom will not be tolerated.
I am confident that we will end this nightmare. Europe should not leave any space for tyranny and oppression — they must be exterminated forever.
We hold dear the stories from the past, and we vow: Never again.
Never again, a bloodthirsty dictator to enslave our nations.
Never again, we will allow them to drown our people in blood and suffering.
I am confident that justice and memory will be restored. And our nations will be free and reconciled. But everyone, who is guilty, will not avoid responsibility. It is my promise.
Thank you”.
