MINSK, March 25. /TASS/. Belarus is capable of coping with all the challenges of today, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday.
"Today we are united as never before, so we will certainly cope with all the challenges of the time, as our heroic veterans did 80 years ago as they won the Great Victory for the nation," Lukashenko said at a ceremony where the military swore an oath of allegiance to the Belarusian people and the President of the Republic of Belarus at the State Flag Square in Minsk, where he arrived after the inauguration ceremony.
"Just as we did (and those who have already retired) at the walls of the Palace of Independence in 2020," he said. "Very little time has passed but we realize and understand today what would have happened to us should we have failed then."
"The duty of ours, people in uniform, is to strengthen the defense of the country and protect our native land from any encroachments. Time has chosen us, and we are responsible for this time. Both before our contemporaries and, most importantly, our descendants," the Belarusian president added.
Earlier in the day, Lukashenko, 70, who was elected president of Belarus for a seventh term in the January 26 elections, officially took office.
More than 1,100 people were invited to the inauguration, including the country's top leaders representing all three branches of power, presidential confidants during the last elections, members of the National Assembly, representatives of political parties and public associations, religious organizations, and the media. Russia is represented by its ambassador to the Republic Boris Gryzlov.
According to the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Lukashenko won the January presidential election with 86.82% of the vote.