Rector’s address on the Victory Day

Dear veterans and workers of the homefront, employees, lecturers, and students of Kazan University!

I warmly congratulate you on the occasion of the great holiday of the Victory Day.

This day is sacred for every Russian person – a symbol of the greatness of spirit and the unification of our multiethnic people. This unity helped us achieve the victory during those terrible war years. And today, while finding ourselves in a complex situation, we are together as ever.

We remember our debt to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The victory came at an immense cost, and we bow in gratitude to those who sacrificed everything to protect the freedom and independence of our Motherland.

The war years were difficult for Kazan University. The time really demanded stoicism, strength, and heroism of the staff and students, necessitated unrelenting and tiring homefront efforts. Over two thirds of our students and half of the teaching staff left for the batllefields during the first months of the war. Many of them didn’t return home. Our generation is in irredeemable debt to them.

We are proud to see the feats of our students and employees in the annals of the war, and we convene each year to commemorate our war heroes and express gratitude to those who fought for our right to a free and happy life.

Eternal memory to our heroes on the 78th anniversary of the Great Victory!

Let this holiday be a happy occasion for you. I want to wish the heroes of the battlefronts and the homefront sound health and longevity, and to all university colleagues – success, wellbeing, and peaceful skies!

Rector of Kazan Federal University

Lenar Safin