When this issue of the magazine falls into your hands, most likely, in the cities of Russia and the CIS countries, Victory parades will already take place and the fireworks will burst out. Or maybe still ahead, and you are one of those who flew to the United Arab Emirates on holidays for the May holidays and found our magazine in his hotel or at one of the cultural events that we traditionally support, and remain until the celebration of May 9 few days. Be that as it may, I want to heartily congratulate you, our dear readers, on the 71st anniversary of the Great Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War and, taking this opportunity, wish you happiness, prosperity, a peaceful sky above your head.
And I also want you to know that in the United Arab Emirates, despite all the seemingly exotic nature of this country, our compatriots differ little in patriotism from those who live in Russia, Kazakhstan, or, say, Belarus. Yes, this country is much different, but here we get together, watch Russian films, read Russian books, teach children the Russian language, love Russian cuisine and, of course, celebrate all our holidays together! Old New Year, February 23, March 8 and the most patriotic of all holidays is Victory Day, which is celebrated by virtually everyone: Russians and Belarusians, Uzbeks and Kazakhs, Bulgarians and Serbs, Kyrgyz and Ukrainians - people of completely different nationalities and religions.
The tradition of gathering on May 9 originated in the United Arab Emirates a very long time ago. Then, about 10-15 years ago, social networks were not yet developed, not everyone had digital cameras, not all mobile phones had cameras, but despite this we somehow found each other, called up, made joint plans . There were pictures of those years in which we gathered on May 9 in groups of fifty and even a hundred people in various places from Dubai to Ajman, and our veterans were remembered and honored to the songs of the war years.
Many years have passed, but the tradition has not died, on the contrary, every year more and more people come to the holiday, bring their friends, take their children with them. And every time we strive to make this event hurt the best strings of our soul, for a long time remained in our memory. Our veterans leave, every year they are less and less. And the fewer living veterans, the more audible the voices of those who are trying to convince us that May 9 is just a Day of memory and sorrow. But, fortunately, those who still remember how our grandfathers and fathers celebrated this holiday joyfully and unrestrainedly joyfully are those thanks to whom we won, thanks to whom we survived. Yes, there were minutes of grief, yes, there were sad memories, there were "one hundred grams without clinking glasses" for those who did not reach, who did not survive. Do not pick up more accurate words - "this is joy with tears in his eyes." But our winners celebrated the holiday as requested by the soul. So we will celebrate, too - cheerfully, sweepingly, with a twinkle, and we will certainly pass on such a tradition to our children.
Once again with a holiday, and have a good rest! I am sure that you will find a lot of interesting information on the pages of the magazine, and reading will be easy and enjoyable. Stay with us and see you soon!
Sincerely yours, Sergey Tokarev
