MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended ceremonies on Friday, during which wreaths were laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and other World War II monuments in Minsk and at the Brest Fortress in Belarus.
The events were held to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from the Nazi occupation.
"It is our common holiday, our common victory, which helped overcome the hardest crisis, the hardest war in history. The Russian and Belarusian peoples made a decisive contribution to it [the victory]," Lavrov told journalists after the ceremonies.
The events were attended by Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Vasily Dolgolev, officials of the Belarusian diplomatic mission, WWII veterans and public figures, the Russian minister said.
"It is a symbol of our inviolable friendship [between Russia and Belarus]," he said.
Russian-Belarusian relations play an important role today, Ambassador Dolgolev said, adding that he is satisfied with the fact that the two countries "are moving forward toward the creation of a customs union."