Afghan veterans refuse to accept awards from Lukashenka

• 22.01.2009, 9:58

War veterans refuse to accept awards on the 20th anniversary of withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

Alyaksandr Kamarouski, head of the organizing committee on creation of the Union of Veterans of Combat Operations, former political prisoner Mikalai Autukhovich, and human rights activist Aleh Vouchak have sent an appeal to Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the prime minister of Belarus refusing to accept anniversary awards on the 20yj anniversary of withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

“A reason is simple. In Belarus, veterans of the Afghan War and other local wars are in most unsatisfactory conditions in comparison with other CIS countries. We don’t have as status of participant of the war. We have no certificates of participation in combat operations, no preferences. We used to have some benefits, but they were cancelled by a president’s decree. Another case is that officials, bureaucrats, and the secret services interfere with activity of the non-governmental organizations. We don’t like this and so we decided not to accept these awards,” Alyaksandr Kamarouski, retired lieutenant colonel, who served transport air forces in Afghanistan in 1981-1982, told in an interview to Radio Svaboda.

“We don’t’ expect any financial benefits from the state, we are most interested in a moral aspect of the matter. We want to have certificates, we want to be recognized participants of the war and be able to solve our social issues with officials. There are 35,000 families of those who were in Afghanistan live in Belarus, and 5,000 families live in other regions. About 35 per cent died of diseases, of wounds they had got in Afghanistan. People die rather young, at age 40-50. Stress of the war can’t disappear,” the former participant of the Afghan War told.