Festive Concert on the Occasion of Union State’s Tenth Anniversary Held in Moscow

A festive concert on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of signing the Treaty on Union State Formation was held in Moscow on 8th December, 2009 with more than 5 thousand guests attending the event.

A festive concert on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of signing the Treaty on Union State Formation was held in Moscow on 8^th December, 2009 with more than 5 thousand guests attending the event.

In the foyer the guests of the celebration could enjoy a large-scale photo exhibition “Union of Belarus and Russia – unity of nations, cultures, states” which was organized by the news agencies BELTA and RIA “Novosti”, Standing Committee of the Union State and Union State Parliamentary Assembly. The exposition visualized the life of the Union State in all its dimensions: significant political events, implementation of joint programmes in industry, defence and social spheres.

The gala night began, the way it should be, with a formal part. After Belarus’ and Russia’s national anthems had been played, Valeri Ivanov, Vice-Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives at Belarus’ National Assembly, and Sergey Naryshkin, Head of Russian President’s Administration, walked out onto the stage emblazed with the national emblems of the two countries. They read out the greeting messages of the two heads of states sent on this occasion.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that 10 years ago an outstanding event took place. It was a natural implementation of the two nations’ aspiration for unity based on indissoluble historical ties, spiritual and cultural community and close economic ties,” was said in the message of President Alexander Lukashenko. The Head of Belarusian state stressed that many provisions of the Treaty had already been embodied. “We jointly strengthen Union State defences and security, state the same positions in the international arena,” was written in the message. “We have achieved a high level of mutually beneficial industrial as well as scientific and technical cooperation, established close relations among different regions. Our main achievement is the equal rights of Belarusian and Russian citizens to work, pension and medical provision, to choose the place of residence and to be educated.

President Dmitri Medvedev declared signing of the Treaty on Union State Formation to be one of the important events in the contemporary history of Belarus and Russia. In his opinion, this step was dictated by the two nations’ aspiration to develop relations in economic and humanitarian areas. In his message of greetings Dmitri Medvedev stressed that the Union State still has a lot to do. “I’m sure that we will be successfully making headway so that our nations will prosper,” he said.

The evening was proceeded with a festive concert which also became a display of Union State achievements. The programme was divided into several theme blocks named “Fair”, “West-2009”, “Breakthrough”, “Sport” and “Culture”. Traditional stage design was supplemented with newsreels and a crawl line telling about progress in union formation, life of Russians and Belarusians as well as heroic past of the two countries.

Unusual entourage didn’t confuse Belarusian and Russian masters of art who took part in the concert. On the contrary, they themselves prepared unusual numbers and duets. For instance, Valeria and “Belorusskie Pesnyary” sang a song “I wish you, my dear motherland…” while Alsu and Lev Leschenko performed together a never-dying hit “We can’t live without each other”.

On the whole, the concert gathered the most popular artists. Among them were Elena Obraztsova and Igor Luchenok, Nadezhda Babkina and choreographic group “Khoroshki”, Irina Dorofeeva and Dmitri Koldun, Oleg Gazmanov and Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Yadviga Poplavskaya and Alexander Tikhanovich, Natalia Podolskaya and Vladimir Presnyakov, Leonid Agutin and Anzhelika Varum, song groups “Syabry” and “Pesnyary”.

And the song “Two sisters – Belarus and Russia” which concluded the concert became a true motto of the whole evening.