A meeting of veterans from Belarus, Russia, and Latvia will take place today at the Mound of Friendship.

On July 1, Vitebsk /BelTA/. The next, 53rd meeting of partisans and underground fighters of the Great Patriotic War will be held today at the Mound of Friendship, the Department of Ideological Work of the Verkhnedvinsk District Executive Committee informed BelTA. The event will begin with a ceremonial procession of delegations from Belarus, Russia, and Latvia and their meeting at the Museum of Partisan Glory in the border area of the Verkhnedvinsk district. Then, the participants of the meeting will proceed to the territory of the Sebezhsky district, where a ceremonial rally will be held. Veterans and representatives of the delegations will lay flowers on Russian territory at the memorial dedicated to Maria Pyntho, a partisan of the 4th Kalinin Brigade, who was brutally tortured by the fascists in May 1944. On Belarusian territory, they will lay flowers for the underground fighters of the village of Proshki and hand over wreaths for laying on Latvian territory at the monument to Hero of the Soviet Union Imants Sudmalis. A concert program for the meeting participants has been prepared by creative teams of the Verkhnedvinsk District House of Culture. The meeting will conclude at the traditional bonfire of Friendship. The Mound of Friendship was erected in 1959 on the border of three republics – the BSSR, the RSFSR, and the Latvian SSR – in honor of the combat camaraderie of partisans from Belarus, Latvia, and Russia. The earth for it was taken from the graves of partisans and Red Army soldiers, from the places where Alexander Matrosov, Klava Nazarova, Lenya Golikov, Masha Poryvaeva, and other heroes perished. Three alleys lead to the Mound: from Belarus – a birch alley, from Russia – a maple alley, from Latvia – a linden alley. An oak tree grows at the top of the Mound, symbolizing the unbreakable friendship of the three peoples. Three granite slabs bear the inscription in three languages: "The Mound of Friendship is erected at the junction of the borders of three fraternal republics in honor of the combat friendship, cemented by blood during the Great Patriotic War, of Russian, Belarusian, and Latvian partisans. Opened on July 3, 1959." The Sinyaya River flows through the complex, which is now the border between Russia and Latvia.

In the regions at the junction of Belarus, Russia, and Latvia, small armed resistance units against the fascists began to be formed in the first months of the war. Brigades of Belarusian, Russian, and Latvian partisans were later formed on the basis of these units. In August 1942, a large part of the territory of the Osvy, Rossony, and Drissa districts of Belarus was liberated from the occupiers. By the beginning of 1943, as a result of joint combat operations by Russian, Belarusian, and Latvian partisans, a significant territory at the junction of the RSFSR, BSSR, and Latvian SSR was liberated, and a partisan territory emerged. It occupied an area of about 10 thousand sq. km with a population of approximately 100 thousand people, extending from Novorzhev to Polotsk from north to south and from Ludza and Dagda to Novosokolniki and Nevel from west to east. Soviet authorities operated in this territory, collective farms worked, and schools were opened. In late 1943, Soviet troops reached the approaches to the partisan territory, and partisan actions were already coordinated with military formations.-0-

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