In pictures: Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan commemorated in Minsk

Hundreds of people gathered on the Island of Courage and Sorrow in downtown Minsk on February 15 for a ceremony marking the 23rd anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, which is commemorated in Belarus as Internationalist Soldiers’ Day.
More than 30,000 residents of Belarus reportedly went through the 1979-89 Soviet war in Afghanistan and over 700 perished in the war. After WWII, the Soviet Union participated in more than 30 military conflicts, with the Afghanistan war being the largest-scale campaign.