A historical exhibition and an international scientific conference marking the 90th anniversary of the completion of the World War I will take place in Minsk in autumn 2008, BelTA learnt from Sergei Musienko, the head of the analytical center EcooM. At the conference in Vienna “Belarus in Europe: economic cooperation and political dialogue”, Sergei Musienko offered to hold the events in the Belarusian capital.

Duchess Natali Golitsyna, the President of the Russian Club of Art and Culture (with the headquarters in Berlin), supported the idea. “Natali Golitsyna stated that the Russian Club is ready to support the arrangements. The Club is prepared to address the monarchic houses of the European countries that took part in the WWI (Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece and others) and the European cultural community to participate in the conference in Minsk,” Sergei Musienko said.

The duchess is willing to set up an organizational committee and present family archives of the World War I. An exhibition of the WWI photographs, medals and orders is also among the plans. Sergei Musienko does not rule out that the representatives of the European Parliament and other European structures will take part in the events. “In Vienna the officials of Western Europe were surprised by finding out that Belarus had no monuments and memorial boards related to the WWI where over 1.5 million Belarusians were killed, Smorgon and Baranovichi witnessed bloody battles,” Sergei Musienko stated.

The Russian Club of Art and Culture was founded in 1998 by Natali Golitsyna who had been bestowed an order of Saint Grand Duchess Olga, the supreme women’s order of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Club is non-political organization, which main objective is to revive and increase cultural and spiritual traditions of the Russian society.