Who was the first president of Belarus. Lukashenko's departure: new President of Belarus named

Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko - President of the Republic of Belarus. He was first elected to the post of Head of State on July 10, 1994.

Alexander Lukashenko is the Commander-in-Chief of the country's Armed Forces, heads the Security Council, and heads the National Olympic Committee.

The President of Belarus has been the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Union of Belarus and Russia since 1997, and since the beginning of 2000 he was elected Chairman of the Supreme State Council of the Union State.

Activities of the President of Belarus Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko

Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko became the first president in the history of independent Belarus. He is called one of the most popular and charismatic politicians of our time, who takes an independent position on issues. Alexander Lukashenko demonstrates a desire for open dialogue and is a supporter of integration and peaceful policies in building relations with partner countries. In his activities, the Belarusian leader pays special attention to the implementation of social guarantees for the population and strengthening the international authority of Belarus. The head of state keeps a number of issues in the life of the country under special control. The President pays priority attention to the fight against corruption, the work of government bodies with citizens' appeals, support for motherhood and childhood, and a lot of attention to the development of sports. By the way, Belarus is one of the top twenty strongest sports nations and is the venue for major international competitions.

In Belarus, there are a number of important State awards and special prizes, which are awarded by decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

On the initiative of A. Lukashenko, special Funds were created to support talented youth, gifted pupils and students.

News about the President of Belarus

In news releases and analytical projects, Belarus 24 reports on events related to the activities of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. The most significant international meetings and summits, as well as press conferences of the head of state, are broadcast live on Belarus 24.

In March 2019, the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, resigned. Today, the wording “first president” in the post-Soviet space seems very outdated. Who will remember them now, the first leaders of the former Soviet republics, many of whom have long disappeared from the political field and become part of history?

VATNIKSTAN decided to look back to the early 1990s and find out who came to power in the 15 new states created from the ruins of the Soviet Union, and what their subsequent political careers were like.

Russia. Boris Yeltsin (1991−1999)

Photo from 1990

In the Russian Federation, Yeltsin became the personification of the era of the 1990s. Coincidentally, he resigned (like Nazarbayev now - voluntarily) at the very end of the chronological 90s - December 31, 1999, and began to lead the country in 1990 - May 29, being elected chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR. Before the advent of the position of president, the leader of the Soviets was considered the formal head of the Soviet country.

Yeltsin very quickly became a leader: he defiantly left the CPSU, criticized Gorbachev, and contributed to the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR on June 12, 1990. And exactly a year later, on June 12, 1991, while still part of the USSR, nationwide presidential elections were held in Russia. For comparison: Gorbachev was elected president only at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.

Yeltsin became one of the participants in the Belovezhsky Accords, which sent the united Union to the grave. And he extended his own presidency for a new term in 1996, overtaking communist Gennady Zyuganov in the second round. However, poor health no longer allowed him to actively govern the state, and a long search for a successor began. The famous “I’m tired, I’m leaving” marked the end of an era, after which Yeltsin completely disappeared from the radar. In 2007, the heart of the first president of Russia stopped.

Photo from 1999

Estonia. Lennart Meri (1992−2001)

Photo from 1995

Estonians consider Konstantin Päts, the leader of the Baltic republic until its liquidation in 1940, to be the first president. But, if we talk about the new Estonia, the post of president was established in 1992 according to the new constitution. And the position turned out to be very limited in its powers - Estonia is a parliamentary republic, and the president there is elected by the Riigikogu (parliament) or a special electoral college.

Lennart Meri gained popularity in the 1970s as a writer, and from the late 1970s he began to establish contacts with the foreign diaspora (this was facilitated by his periodic trips abroad). Meri became interested in political activities and joined the environmental movement. Namely, environmental protests became one of the prerequisites for the general perestroika indignation at the Soviet center in the Baltic states. Since 1988, Meri has been a member of the Popular Front, and since 1990, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia.

During his two presidential terms in 1992–2001, the first president of Estonia was remembered for his 1994 speech at a gala reception in Hamburg: Meri said (and this was back in the mid-90s) that a new imperial expansionist policy was maturing in Russia. Vice-Mayor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Putin, who was present at the event, defiantly left the hall. For Estonians, Mary, according to opinion polls, is still one of the most authoritative presidents.

In the 2000s, the already middle-aged politician (Meri was born in 1929) died. Tallinn International Airport is named after him.

Latvia. Guntis Ulmanis (1993−1999)

Guntis Ulmanis on the right

The process of Latvia's transition to new rails took quite a long time. In particular, until 1993, the chairman of the Supreme Council of Latvia, Anatoly Gorbunov, remained the de facto head of state there - by the way, he retained influence in politics even after that. But in 1993, Latvia, subject to the restored constitution of 1922, elected the 5th Seimas, and that, in turn, elected the first president.

He became Guntis Ulmanis - the great-nephew of the president and de facto dictator of Latvia in the 1930s, Karlis Ulmanis, and at the same time a former member of the CPSU and director of the consumer services plant of the Riga region, who fit well into the Soviet elite. Apparently, connections with the pre-war Latvian elite and exile as a child in the 1940s outweighed the party-economic career of the era of stagnation in the eyes of Latvians.

As you can see from the video presented, the main task of the 1990s for Latvia, as well as for many other post-Soviet republics, was to get rid of the Soviet legacy. Hence the main events of the presidency of the 1990s: the withdrawal of Russian troops, the adoption of the citizenship law. After completing two terms, the modestly behaved President Ulmanis took an even more modest place in public life: in politics, he was noted only for a short stay in the Seimas in 2010–2011.

Lithuania. Algirdas Brazauskas (1993−1998)

The political place of Brazauskas in the life of Lithuania is not similar to the fate of Meri and Ulmanis. The point is not only that in the parliamentary republic of Lithuania the president is still elected by direct voting by citizens, unlike Latvia and Estonia. Brazauskas himself is a typical member of the party and economic elite, whose biography will vaguely resemble Yeltsin (as, indeed, those of many other first presidents).

Since 1977, Brazauskas was the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, in 1988 he even became the first secretary, and in 1990 he was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Republic. That is, during the key years of perestroika, he was already the de facto leader of the country. The Democratic Labor Party, which he created in 1990, took the majority in the Seimas, and until the presidential elections he was the chairman of the Seimas. In a word, it is not for nothing that Brazauskas is called the “father” of modern Lithuania.

Despite the fact that after his first term Brazauskas did not voluntarily go for a second term, he eventually returned to politics, making his way through parliament to the post of prime minister, which he held from 2001 to 2006. Brazauskas died in 2010, so we can say that almost until the end of his days he tried to stubbornly hold on to his place in the political life of Lithuania.

Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko (since 1994)

In 2019, the Belarusian “Old Man” known to us can celebrate an anniversary in political life - he has held the position of the first and so far only president of Belarus for exactly a quarter of a century. The director of the state farm broke into political life in 1990, becoming a people's deputy of the Supreme Council of Belarus. He criticized the policies of the Chairman of the Supreme Council Stanislav Shushkevich and even, according to some sources, was the only deputy who voted against the ratification of the Belovezhskaya Accords.

Lukashenko and his team understood what they needed to rely on in the presidential election campaign - the desire of the people to restore order and prevent a decline in the socio-economic standard of living. The second round of elections in 1994 brought Lukashenko a landslide victory with 80% of the vote, and then he strengthened his legitimacy with a referendum in 1995. The referendum raised questions about giving the Russian language state status, about introducing a new flag and coat of arms using elements of Soviet-Belarusian symbols, about the course towards integration with Russia and about the right to dissolve the obstinate Supreme Council.

Having received the approval of the people, Lukashenko began to create the Belarus we know today. Another referendum, held in 1996, expanded the powers of the president and at the same time proposed to count the presidential term from the moment of the referendum. That is, the next elections should have taken place not in 1999, but in 2001. Instead of the Supreme Council, a new parliament (National Assembly) was created, but the deputies who had lost power decided not to disperse and even tried to hold their own presidential elections in 1999.

The paradoxical situation of dual power did not lead to a conflict like this, although the opposition was persecuted. Having passed the 2001 elections, Lukashenko promoted through a new referendum an amendment to the constitution that abolished presidential term limits. Today, “Batka” is the only “first and current” president in the post-Soviet space.

Ukraine. Leonid Kravchuk (1991−1994)

Unlike neighboring Belarus, Ukraine is an example of a country with very frequent changes of presidents. The first president was unable to hold office even for one full term.

Leonid Kravchuk rose to the top roles in the party and state elite only during perestroika, although his party career began in the early 1970s. In 1990, he became chairman of the Supreme Council of Ukraine and a member of the CPSU Central Committee. However, this did not prevent him from leaving the party the following year after

Kravchuk, along with Yeltsin and Shushkevich, was one of the participants in the Belovezhskaya agreements. There are assumptions that it was he who became the main initiator of these agreements, and the Ukrainian people themselves spoke out mainly against it at the referendum on preserving the USSR. So Kravchuk, one might say, carried out the will of his people. A free Ukraine, in his opinion, was supposed to become a peacefully developing European country - hence the decision to give all nuclear weapons to Russia under the Massandra Agreements of 1993.

In 1993, a major miners' strike began in the Donbass, and the Verkhovna Rada, together with the president, faced with a political crisis, decided to hold early presidential elections in 1994. Kravchuk advanced to the second round with the majority of votes along with Leonid Kuchma, but Kuchma was ultimately able to overtake him. The lion's share of reforms to create a new state occurred during Kuchma's presidency (the adoption of a new constitution, the introduction of the hryvnia) - Kravchuk simply did not have time to participate in key state-building processes.

He did not give up politics and was a member of parliament until 2006. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, the Social Democratic Party, of which he was a member, was unable to enter the Rada, and Kravchuk went into independent and not particularly intense public activity.

Moldova. Mircea Snegur (1990−1997)

Photo from 1992

During Soviet times, Mircea Snegur became the chairman of a collective farm and an employee of the Moldovan Ministry of Agriculture, while simultaneously developing his party career up to the post of secretary of the Republican Central Committee. In 1990, he repeated the fate of many repainted large partyocrats: he was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of the republic, then he left the CPSU, and at the end of the year presidential elections took place.

It is curious that the new president had a conflict with the Popular Front of Moldova, which had previously supported him (democratic “popular fronts” appeared in most of the union republics during perestroika). Social activists wanted to quietly join Romania, but President Snegur, on the contrary, decided to build an independent Moldovan state. However, Transnistria soon reconciled them.

In addition to the protracted crisis in Transnistria, Moldova is beset by economic problems, unemployment and emigration. Despite a relative majority in the first round of the 1996 elections, Snegur lost the second round. Like Kravchuk, he continued to participate in parliamentary life, which for him and his supporters became more and more invisible every year. Since the mid-2000s, Snegur has disappeared from active politics.

Georgia. Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1991−1992)

In the list of the first presidents, Zviad Gamsakhurdia can claim the title of the most tragic leader. This is his successor, Eduard Shevardnadze, similar to Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Brazauskas - a loyal party member and former member of the CPSU Central Committee, who became a democrat and supporter of the independence of his native republic. But Gamsakhurdia was a dissident during the Soviet years: he maintained contacts with Moscow human rights activists, created the Georgian Helsinki Group, and thanks to persecution by the authorities, he even came to the attention of some US congressmen who wanted to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition to human rights activities, Gamsakhurdia was also successful as a writer, translator and journalist.

During perestroika, he made his way into politics not through the division of government posts in the collapsing Union, but through real struggle. In 1989, he was one of the organizers of a nationalist rally suppressed by the police and army - these events went down in history as the “April 9 tragedy” or simply “Tbilisi events.” The prosecutor's office wanted to try Gamsakhurdia, but the criminal case was quickly dropped due to changing conditions. During the elections to the Supreme Council of Georgia, Gamsakhurdia's nationalist bloc received a majority of votes, and he became the chairman of the Supreme Council - the head of state.

The year 1991 brought Georgia a referendum on independence in March and the election of Gamsakhurdia as president in April at a session of the Supreme Council and in May - popularly. The leader of Georgia was too straightforward a politician and too convinced a nationalist. In a short time, he ruined relations not only with social forces, entrepreneurs and the National Guard, but also with other nationalities. A real civil war began in Georgia. Already at the end of this year there was a military coup in the capital; in January 1992, Gamsakhurdia was deposed and fled the city.

After some wanderings abroad, the first president of Georgia illegally returned to his homeland and organized an armed struggle. Government troops, however, were stronger. The circumstances of the death of Zviad Gamsakhurdia on December 31, 1993 have not yet been clarified: perhaps he was poisoned, perhaps he shot himself, or perhaps he was killed in some other way. His story continued after his death: his body was buried in Grozny (Gamsakhurdia maintained contacts with Chechen separatists) and was discovered only in 2007. Despite the controversial role of the first president in the history of the 1990s, his ashes were solemnly buried in Tbilisi.

Azerbaijan. Ayaz Mutalibov (1990−1992)

Photo from 1991

The fate of the first president of Azerbaijan was less tragic and, in addition, seems to have a happy ending. The classic party career of Ayaz Mutalibov did not stop even at the peak of perestroika: he became the first secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party and a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in 1990, at the same time the Supreme Council of the republic elected him president.

Mutalibov also received popular approval in the 1991 elections. However, he could not stay in power - at that time the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh was growing. The failures of the military operations of the Azerbaijani army lead to political pressure from the Popular Front and the resignation of Mutalibov. Mutalibov did not want to share power and tried to take advantage of the support of his supporters. In May 1992, the Supreme Council reinstated him as president, and he declared: “If the country needs a dictator to save it from disaster, then I am that dictator.” The dictator did not succeed - the military forces of the opposition Popular Front turned out to be stronger, and the confrontation in Baku ended with the flight of the president.

It is worth noting that the victory of the Popular Front was short-lived. Already in 1993, incapable managers gave way in politics to a new force that came from the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic - Heydar Aliyev's New Azerbaijan Party. And Mutalibov lived in Moscow until 2011 - only then was he allowed to return to his homeland, and now they are even paying him a personal pension. In 2012, Mutalibov, previously co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, announced his final retirement from politics.

Photo from 2013

Armenia. Levon Ter-Petrosyan (1991−1998)

The most successful first president of the three Caucasian republics was neither a dissident nor a partyocrat during the Soviet years. He is a simple intellectual and a researcher at several institutes. Ter-Petrosyan became interested in politics only during perestroika, joining the “Karabakh” committee, which demanded the withdrawal of Nagorno-Karabakh from the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan, for which he was arrested in 1988.

Times changed, and in the spring of 1989 he was released. This gave a good start to his political career, and in 1990 Ter-Petrosyan was already the chairman of the Supreme Council of the republic, and in 1991 - president. The Karabakh conflict in the early 1990s was a factor in the political crisis in neighboring Azerbaijan, but the relative successes of the Armenian army and the establishment of the de facto independence of Nagorno-Karabakh clearly contributed to the stability of Ter-Petrosyan’s presidency.

Having won the 1996 elections, he eventually resigned in 1998, and all because of the same Karabakh - the president proposed demilitarization of the conflict zone and the transfer to Azerbaijan of a number of settlements occupied by the army, but the government’s power bloc turned out to be more persistent. Ten years after his resignation, Ter-Petrosyan was content with a position at the Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, but in 2007–2008 he tried to solemnly return to big politics.

In the 2008 elections, Serzh Sargsyan received more than half of the votes, closing the election campaign in the first round, and Ter-Petrosyan was in second place with 21.5%. Attempts to organize rallies similar to the “Orange Revolution” ended in failure. Since then, Ter-Petrosyan has occupied a modest place in the political life of the country as the leader of the Armenian National Congress party.

Kazakhstan. Nursultan Nazarbayev (1990−2019)

If Lukashenko is now the only current first president of the post-Soviet space, then Nazarbayev is so far the first in terms of the duration of his reign. Nursultan Nazarbayev was the President of Kazakhstan for almost 29 years, and if we take into account the time since his appointment to the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, then it comes out to 29 years, 8 months and 26 days.

Nazarbayev’s state and party career began a long time ago, back in the late 1960s. Since 1984, he served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR. In a word, the entire perestroika took place before the eyes of Nazarbayev, who was already in one of the key government posts of the republic. At this time, he had to witness Zheltoksan (performances of Kazakh youth in 1986 - the first sign of a future surge of nationalist sentiment in the USSR).

Perhaps this specific managerial experience, and perhaps an oriental cunning, contributed to the fact that Nazarbayev was quite skeptical about the process of the collapse of the Union - for example, he ignored the invitation to come to Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and the independence of Kazakhstan was proclaimed last, even when everything was obviously - December 16, 1991.

As Nazarbayev's presidential terms increased, amendments were made to the Constitution. Ultimately, the concept of “First President” was introduced by law, to whom the two-term limit did not apply. The oriental flavor of Kazakhstan is expressed in the fact that Nazarbayev became not just an unlimited time president - he was proclaimed the “leader of the nation,” and the perpetuation of memory in toponymy, sculptures and the official holiday “Day of the First President” has been going on for many years. There is no doubt that after the recent resignation it will only continue and intensify.

Nazarbayev’s further political biography is still vague, but it is obvious that he will try to retain significant control over the political system of the state he created.

Turkmenistan. Saparmurat Niyazov (1990−2006)

Saparmurat Niyazov (sitting in the center) before he dyed his hair

In the ranking of the cult of personality, however, the President of Kazakhstan can only be placed in second place. The first rightfully belongs to Turkmenbashi, namely Saparmurat Niyazov. It is unlikely that the former molder of the Leningrad Kirov plant, senior foreman of a power plant in the Ashgabat region and member of the CPSU since 1962 could have imagined where the collapse of the USSR would lead him.

Niyazov's party career made him the first secretary of the Republican Party at the end of 1985. Since then, the head of Turkmenistan has not let go of power. Having become the President of the Turkmen SSR in uncontested elections in 1990, in 1992 - already in an independent country living under a new constitution - he ran... for uncontested elections. In 1993, when the painful process of establishing a new statehood was still in full swing in most post-Soviet republics, the Turkmen Mejlis proclaimed Niyazov “the leader of the Turkmens” (that’s how “Turkmenbashi” is translated). In 1994, a national referendum supported the idea of ​​extending the powers of the president automatically until 2002, without re-elections. Niyazov received the official lifelong presidency in 1999.

Turkmenbashi’s domestic policy has become overgrown with rumors and anecdotes over the long years of Turkmenistan’s isolation, and therefore it is no easier to filter accurate facts from speculation than with facts about the DPRK. Niyazov established new holidays (melon holiday, for example), renamed calendar months, ordered the division of human life into “life cycles”, abolished opera, ballet and circus, banned long hair, video games and makeup for TV announcers... Finally, the most important book of the Turkmen people “Rukhnama” was proclaimed - a philosophical work about the great Turkmen people, written by Turkmenbashi himself.

Saparmurat Niyazov died in 2006 from acute heart failure. Despite the gentle process of transfer of power, the cult of personality of the first president softened significantly: many monuments were removed, the name of Turkmenbashi was deleted from the anthem, and one of the main symbols of his rule - the Arch of Neutrality in Ashgabat, symbolizing the foreign policy of neutrality of the new Turkmenistan - was moved from the center to outskirts of the city.

Kyrgyzstan. Askar Akayev (1990−2005)

Askar Akayev stands out from the ranks of the first presidents, somewhat reminiscent of the Armenian Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Like the latter, Akaev is a representative of the intelligentsia who was not interested in politics before perestroika. But at the same time, he is not a humanist, but a specialist in the field of exact sciences, who has achieved notable results in optics and computer technology research. Having received his education in Leningrad and defended his doctorate in Moscow, Akaev, at the end of perestroika, became president of the Academy of Sciences of the Kirghiz SSR.

Politics pulled Akaev out of science for 15 years. He became president according to the standard scheme - first through elections to the Supreme Council in 1990, and then through a nationwide campaign in 1991. Despite a government crisis similar to the events in Russia in 1993, Akaev remained in power. One should not think that he remained a modest academician - the president’s critics reproached him for the fact that the wave of privatization at the turn of the 1990–2000s allowed the Akaev “clan” to gain many key positions in the country’s politics and economy.

Despite stable popular support in three elections and two referendums, the events of 2005, known as the “Orange” “Tulip Revolution”, erased Akaev from the political life of Kyrgyzstan, leading not only to his flight, but also to criminal cases against him and members of his family. Since then, the first president of Kyrgyzstan has lived in Russia, engaged in science and published serious works on economics and global problems.

Uzbekistan. Islam Karimov (1990−2016)

Like Turkmenbashi, Islam Karimov died as the first president of the Central Asian state. Although the democratic facade of Uzbekistan is more reminiscent of the Kazakh system. An engineer, party worker, minister of finance and first secretary of the Central Committee of the Uzbek Communist Party since 1990 became president elected by the Supreme Council, and since 1991 - popularly elected president. Despite the presence of alternative candidates in three subsequent elections in 2000, 2007 and 2015, more than 90% of voters voted for Karimov.

Naturally, Karimov was reproached for dictatorial tendencies and for the brutal suppression of the opposition. Let us add that the cult of Karimov’s personality did not develop. The unofficial title “Yurtbashi” is more of a joke among journalists than the president’s real intention to go down in history with some kind of special status. The installation of monuments and renaming began after Karimov’s death from a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage, and a mausoleum was built at the site of his burial.

Tajikistan. Kahar Mahkamov (1990−1991)

Of course, the current leader of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, who came to power as a result of a long civil war in the 1990s, is more suitable for the role of a typical long-lived president from Central Asia. But formally he was not the first. The position of president appeared in the Tajik SSR in 1990. By this time, the obvious and already familiar leader of the republic was Kakhar Makhkamov, since 1985 - the first secretary of the party's Central Committee.

The Supreme Council elected Makhkamov as its chairman in 1990, and six months later as president of the republic. In the same year, there were mass riots in Dushanbe: Armenians who had fled from Baku arrived in the city, and rumors spread that they were being allocated apartments, while there was a housing shortage in the city; In the end, this led not only to rallies, but also to pogroms. In parallel, the Islamic movement developed, and the Islamic Renaissance Party demanded official permission to operate.

Makhkamov could not stand the increasingly complex political process, and at the end of August 1991, when deputies of the Supreme Council expressed no confidence in him, he resigned, and at the beginning of September, he also relieved himself of his duties as first secretary of the party. Makhkamov's political activities continued until his death in 2016, but were limited to representative positions in parliament and the Eurasian Economic Community.

The Republic of Belarus is a country in Eastern Europe that has close ties with Russia that have developed over centuries. The Head of the Republic of Belarus is the guarantor of the country's constitution, the rights and freedoms of citizens, and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Theoretically, any citizen of the republic can become president, as demonstrated in the last elections in 2015: one of the candidates was an unemployed woman. The head of state must not be a member of political parties; after elections, membership is automatically suspended. Currently, the post of President of the Republic of Belarus is occupied by Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko.

The first states on the territories of the modern Republic of Belarus

The city of Polotsk is the center of the principality of the same name, which until the 14th century was the strongest state on the territory of the modern Republic of Belarus. In the 14th century it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The first nomadic tribes appeared on the territory of the Republic of Belarus at the end of the 3rd – beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. These were ancient Indo-European tribes who became the ancestors of the Balts and Slavs. Having mixed among themselves and with other tribes, they became the ancestors of:

• Yatvyagov;
• Lithuania;
• Krivichi;
• Radimichi;
• Dregovich.

Some scientists believe that Gothic tribes participated in the formation of the Slavic peoples, but this has not been proven.

The Radimichi were conquered by the Kyiv prince Oleg in the 9th century, after which their lands became part of Kievan Rus. The main goal of Prince Oleg was to receive tribute; he tried to conquer as many tribes as possible. When Prince Oleg died, many Radimichi tribes declared independence from Kyiv, but in 984 the army of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich defeated the army of former tributaries. The Radimichi territories again became part of Kievan Rus. In the 10th century, Prince Vladimir of Kiev baptized his subjects. The development of the first principalities on the territory of modern Belarus dates back to this century:

• Polotsk;
• Turovsky;
• Minsky.

The main role among them was played by the Principality of Polotsk, which fought for power with the Principality of Kyiv for about 100 years. Prince Vladimir captured Polotsk in 978. Despite this, until the 13th century, the Polotsk princes collected tribute from the Baltic lands, carrying out independent expansion. In the 13th century, the Baltic region came under the rule of the Crusaders.

Belarus as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

In the period from the 13th to the 14th centuries, the Belarusian lands became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). This contributed to the division of the ancient Russian people, since the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kievan Rus were constantly at war with each other. The confrontation between the powers intensified after the emergence of the Russian centralized state in the 15th century. Belarusian culture was distinguished by a high level of development, which was influenced by the ties of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Europe:

• In 1517-1525, František Skaryna published the first East Slavic books;
• In the 16th century, 3 Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were published - the Belarusian version of classical European feudal law;
• From the 14th to the 16th centuries, cities and castles were built along European lines throughout Belarus.

During the Livonian War of 1558-1583, the Belarusian lands suffered greatly: many cities were completely destroyed, the population decreased.

In the 16th century, ideas of reformation began to spread in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Protestant communities were founded. In 1569, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland united on the basis of union into a single state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In accordance with the decrees of representatives of the Catholic Church, Protestants began to be persecuted: their books were taken from them and they were deprived of land. Thanks to this policy, the main task of the Catholic Church to eradicate Protestantism was completely resolved by the middle of the 17th century.

The 17th century is the time of the Russian-Polish wars. Belarus suffered the most in the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667. In addition to the fact that many military clashes took place on the territory of the country, the anti-Polish uprising in Ukraine gradually spread here. By the end of the war, Russian troops captured the lands of the modern Republic of Belarus, but according to the agreement of 1667 they remained under the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The Republic of Belarus as part of the Russian Empire and the USSR

At the end of the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth experienced 3 divisions. As a result of these events, the Belarusian lands joined the Russian Empire. The form of the economic system immediately changed - it was rebuilt according to the Russian model. Cheap taverns were built all over the country, and people got drunk in them. The gentry lost most of their privileges, and Russian officials were in the highest government positions. Such reforms led to the gentry uprisings of 1831 and 1863-1864. A group of determined nobles and part of the intelligentsia tried to restore the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the rise of the national liberation movement began in Belarus. The First World War turned out to be fatal for the country - battles between Russian and German troops took place on its territory. The peasants suffered from both the Germans and the Russians - everyone needed food. The army of Kaiser Wilhelm II occupied the territory of the country.

After the revolution of 1917, they tried to declare Belarus an independent republic:

• In December 1917, the First All-Belarusian Congress took place in Minsk. This congress was dispersed by the Bolsheviks;
• On February 21, the Bolsheviks fled on the eve of the German capture of Minsk, the Executive Committee of the Rada of the All-Belarusian Congress declared itself the only legitimate authority in the region;
• On March 25, the country was under German occupation, the Republic of Belarus became an independent republic.

After the Germans left the country, the territory was occupied by the Red Army. On January 1, 1919, the Bolsheviks proclaimed the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus.

Since February 1919, another military conflict broke out on the territory of the Soviet republic - the Soviet-Polish war:

• August 1919 - the Polish army captured Minsk;
• July 1920 - The Red Army recaptured the city;
• 1921 - signing of the Soviet-Polish peace treaty, according to which the western part of Belarus went to Poland.

The eastern part of the country was declared the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR), which became part of the USSR on December 30, 1922.

During the reign of Stalin, numerous economic transformations were carried out on the territory of the Republic of Belarus:

• Industrialization;
• Collectivization;
• Formation of new industries and agriculture.

Along with the positive aspects, there were also a number of negative ones:

• A language reform took place, strengthening the process of Russification;
• The best representatives of the Belarusian intelligentsia were shot;
• Tens of thousands of wealthy peasants were repressed or exiled to Siberia.

In 1939, the territories of Western Belarus were annexed to the BSSR after the defeat of Poland by German troops.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the republic found itself under the rule of Nazi troops. The country turned into a partisan region, the resistance units were led by the remaining military and Bolsheviks. In 1943, the Belarusian Central Rada was created - a self-government body that performed police and propaganda functions. In the summer of 1944, the republic was liberated by the Red Army. The German occupation and years of war destroyed more than 30% of the population of the BSSR.

The second half of the 1940s and 1950s became a period of renewal for the Republic of Belarus:

• Destroyed cities and towns were restored;
• New factories and enterprises were built;
• Huge amounts of money were invested in the development of the education system and medical institutions.

In the early 1960s, the country turned into an “assembly shop” of the Soviet Union, which had a beneficial effect on the development of the economy of the BSSR until the start of perestroika.

Belarus at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century

Perestroika opened the way to Europe for Belarusians, but the first president of the country, Alexander Lukashenko (1994-present), decided to develop the republic on the principle of building partnerships with Russia

The beginning of perestroika in the BSSR, as in most republics of the Soviet Union, was characterized by the formation of a national liberation movement. Initially, the emphasis was on gaining expanded autonomy, and subsequently secession from the Soviet Union. Formation of the Belarusian independent state:

• In 1988, the Belarusian People's Front (BPF) appeared;
• In 1989 - the founding congress of the Belarusian Popular Front;
• In March 1990, republican elections were held in the country, the Communist Party was able to remain in power;
• On July 27, 1990, the Supreme Council of the BSSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty;
• On August 25, 1991, the country gained independence;
• On September 19, 1991, the BSSR officially became known as the Republic of Belarus.

In 1994, the Supreme Council adopted the first constitution of the Republic of Belarus. In July of the same year, presidential elections took place. Alexander Lukashenko unexpectedly became the winner, although the main contenders were Shushkevich, Kebich and Pozdnyak.

The Belarusian president was not satisfied with the restrictions in the constitution, so he initiated a referendum in 1996. The Supreme Council considered that the head of state had grossly violated the constitution and began impeachment proceedings. At this moment, the Russian delegation intervened and resolved the political crisis in the Republic of Belarus. The deputies and the president agreed that the results of the referendum would be advisory in nature, and the impeachment procedure would not be continued.

After the referendum on November 24, 1996, Lukashenko violated the agreement, citing the fact that the voice of the people is above any agreements. The President dissolved the Supreme Council, forming a new parliament - the National Assembly. It included all deputies of the Supreme Council loyal to the president. Thanks to the referendum, Lukashenko's first presidential term was extended until 2001.

In 2001, the president was elected for a second consecutive term. Before the elections, opposition representatives were completely ousted from government bodies. Although the functioning of parties was not prohibited, their members were deprived of the opportunity to hold public office. In 2004, a referendum was held in the Republic of Belarus in which the constitutional provision that did not allow one person to hold the presidential post for more than two consecutive terms was abolished. Alexander Lukashenko won all subsequent elections in the country with a huge advantage.

How to become the President of the Republic of Belarus?

A citizen who wishes to become the head of state must meet the following parameters:

• Be Belarusian by birth;
• Reach the minimum age of 35 years;
• Permanently reside in the territory of the republic for at least 10 years before the elections.

The President is elected for a five-year term and begins his duties after the inauguration.

A presidential candidate must collect at least 100,000 signatures. Elections of the head of state are called by the House of Representatives. The term of appointment is no less than 5 months before the end of the powers of the previous head of state. Duration: no less than 2 months before the end of the presidential term. If the post of head of the republic remains vacant, then elections will take place no less than 30 days and no later than 70 days after the vacancy opens.

The election of the president is considered valid if at least 50% of the country's population takes part in the republican vote. The head of state is considered elected if at least 50% of voters vote for him in the elections.

Status and duties of the President of the Republic of Belarus

The head of the Republic of Belarus has a number of responsibilities enshrined in the country’s constitution:

• Determination of dates for holding republican referendums;
• Calling elections to the Council of the Republic, the House of Representatives and local representative bodies. Elections can be either regular or extraordinary;
• Dissolution of parliament in cases provided for by the constitution of the Republic of Belarus;
• Appointment of members of the Central Commission for Elections and Referendums;
• Formation and organization of work of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus and other governing bodies under the head of state;
• Confirmation of a candidate for the position of Prime Minister. This procedure takes place only with the consent of the House of Representatives;
• Determining the structure of the government, appointing and dismissing ministers, deputy ministers, and members of the government;
• Making a decision on the resignation of the Government and its members;
• Appointment to the positions of Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Economic Court. These procedures are carried out with the consent of the Council of the Republic;
• Addresses with annual messages to the citizens of the Republic of Belarus, informs them about the achievements, main directions of the foreign and domestic policy of the state;
• Participation in the work of the parliament of the republic, annual appeals to it. The right to speak in parliament at any time;
• Presiding over meetings of the Government of the Republic (this is not an obligation, but a right);
• Appointment of presidential representatives in the parliament of the republic, heads of government bodies;
• Making a decision on granting citizenship, political asylum;
• Establishing holiday dates and days, awarding state awards;
• Pardoning prisoners;
• Conducting international negotiations, signing contracts.

The Head of the Republic of Belarus is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces; presidential orders have the force of legislative acts.

Residences of the President of the Republic of Belarus

Currently, the President of the Republic of Belarus has several residences. The most luxurious of them is the Palace of Independence. The first official events began to be held there in 2013. The residence is located on Pobediteley Avenue in the capital of the republic, Minsk. The building area is more than 50,000 square meters.

According to the leader of the Republic of Belarus, only Belarusian-made materials were used in the construction of the residence, but the builders claimed that even the nails were foreign. The Palace of Independence has more than a hundred different rooms. The president's reception is located here, although at one time the Belarusian leader argued that the Palace of Independence would not be a residence. In 2013, the inscription “Presidential Residence” appeared on the facade of the building. In the old building, on Marksa 38 in Minsk, the administration of the head of state is now located, and a hotline operates there.

The main residence of the Belarusian leader is the Drozdy residence, located next to the reservoir of the same name. The huge building is a legacy of the Soviet era, it was built in the middle of the forest, and is reliably guarded by the military and police from casual visitors. Near Drozdy there are several dozen large cottages that serve as permanent residences for ministers and influential businessmen.

The residence of the President of Drozdy is a huge complex of fifty buildings for various purposes:

• Presidential House with an area of ​​about 2,000 square meters;
• Two luxury buildings next to the residence. Each has an area of ​​850 m2. Important foreign guests, presidents and ministers from other countries are invited here. At the same time, Lukashenko is selective about invitations; only the most important people can count on them;
• 30 residential cottages, which are most often empty. Previously, they housed foreign ambassadors who were evicted in 1998. Many believe that close officials live there, but their houses are a little further away, behind the fence;
• Large sports complex with an area of ​​1,000 m2;
• Swimming pool 750 m2;
• Several bathhouses for the president and his guests to relax;
• Separate restaurant;
• Buffet;
• Large store with a wide range of products;
• Water deferrization station.

In general, there is everything you need to survive calmly for several months in case of an emergency.

Another fairly well-known residence of Alexander Lukashenko is the Ozerny complex in Ostroshitsky Gorodok. Previously, there was a dacha for Soviet Marshal Timoshenko. Before the president “moved in,” the building was rebuilt, and a complex of new buildings appeared nearby. The area of ​​the complex is more than 90 hectares, the main building is three-story, with a total area of ​​1,500 m2. A small tea house and a luxurious boathouse located on the territory of the complex catch your eye.

Pro-Russian politicians and officials in Belarus have lost their influence, while at the same time, contacts between Minsk and Western intelligence services are developing, writes the Bulba of Thrones Telegram channel. “From the outside, this looks like a full-fledged preparation for cooperation and a turn to the West, building bridges,” the authors believe.

ON THIS TOPIC

Experts called what is happening in Belarus a repetition of the Ukrainian scenario. According to the Telegram channel, after Alexander Lukashenko, the presidential post may be taken by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, Vladimir Makei, who has a reputation among experts as a Westerner.

The authors did not rule out that in a certain scenario Makei could “throw off” Lukashenko, especially since the rating of the Foreign Minister in Minsk is 21% and exceeds the level of approval of Old Man. “And control of the capital, even “mental”, is an actual guarantee of victory in political upheavals,” the analysts added.

Turned on the news

Lukashenko will come to Karelichi when the long-lasting fish is finished there

Turned off

— RB brain (@belamova)

Who has led Belarus over the last century? Which leaders have remained in people's memory over the last century? What names, besides Pyotr Masherov, can you name when remembering the leaders of the Communist Party of the BSSR? TUT.BY offers a brief overview.

Exactly 100 years ago, Belarus was the front line of the First World War. The war, the German and Polish occupations - a time that left no chance for full leadership of the country. Little depended on one specific person, and therefore in the vicissitudes of several pre-revolutionary years it is impossible to immediately single out specific persons.

A curious phenomenon of these troubled times was the Belarusian People's Republic (BPR), a political entity in the territories liberated by the Bolsheviks and captured by the Germans. However, the republic was not officially recognized either by the German authorities or later by the Soviet authorities.

The first communists. Myasnikov and Kapsukas

Soon after the revolution, the Communist Party of the BSSR became the body that was supposed to govern our lands (of course, completely dependent on the Moscow government). The first party secretaries had influence on events in the country until 1991. Let's remember what kind of people they were.

He led Belarus in 1918-1919. He became the first of the revolutionaries to take the reins of power in Belarus. Myasnikova Street now exists in Minsk, despite the fact that this man has always opposed Belarusian statehood and language. We also have Myasnikov Square, with a stone that is already for the narcissistic revolutionary.

Myasnikov was the first editor of the newspaper Zvezda (the modern Zvyazda was published in Russian for the first few years). He died in 1925 in a plane crash. At his funeral in Armenia he gave a speech Leon Trotsky.

There were many like him at that time. The revolutionary wave captured people who had not previously been involved in politics. They discovered in themselves the true talents of leaders of the masses and at the same time found a path in life that satisfied them much more than their previous activities. I want to say that the revolution made people like Myasnikov happy. He told me this himself, and it was evident from his smile, from his movements. Myasnikov was handsome and looked a little like Napoleon. He knew this and was very proud of it.

(Vaclav Solsky, “1917 in the Western Region and on the Western Front”, excerpts from the book are published on the website minsk-old-new.com).

From February to July 1919, Belarus was part of a buffer state between the USSR and Poland, which was called Litbel (Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belarus). During these months, our lands were led by. He was an active participant in the Lithuanian national movement and a revolutionary. Kapsukas died in 1935 in Moscow from tuberculosis. In Lithuania, the city of Marijampole was called Kapsukas for several decades.

Executed revolutionaries

He was a 24-year-old revolutionary who very soon lost in the struggle for power to Wilhelm Knorin. Very little is known about this leader of Belarus, except that there is a card of a certain Efim Borisovich Genkin, who was shot in 1937 near Moscow and rehabilitated two decades later.

Wilhelm Knorin (Knorins)- Latvian who led Belarus. From November 1920 to May 1922, and then from May 1927 to December 1928. Like Myasnikov, he was the editor of Zvezda, and like Myasnikov, he did not consider Belarusians a nation. Unforgiving Belarusians named an entire street in Minsk after Knorin. Knorin was shot near Moscow and rehabilitated in 1955.

The time of national states has already passed... We believed that Belarusians are not a nation, and those ethnographic features that separate them from other Russians should be eliminated. Our task is not to create new nations, but to destroy old national slingshots. The Belarusian movement is such an erection of national slingshots...

After Knorin, the leadership of the party in our area took over, whose point of view on the development of Belarus was very different from that of his predecessor. In less than two years (from May 1922 to February 1924) he managed to do a lot for the Belarusians as a nation. He insisted that the BSSR needed to be enlarged - at the expense of lands with a large percentage of the Belarusian population. In 1924, the borders of Belarus included lands from the Vitebsk, Gomel and Smolensk provinces.

Vaclav Bogutsky advocated Belarusization. He and other party leaders who adopted the Platform on the National Question believed that record keeping should be gradually translated into local languages. In Belarus, Belarusian, Jewish, Russian and Polish were considered such. From that time on, the Belarusian language was considered compulsory in schools.

In February 1924, Bogutsky was demoted. In 1937, Vaclav Bogucki was accused of belonging to the “Polish Military Organization”. As historian Immanuel Ioffe said in one of his articles, in December 1937 Bogutsky was shot. He was rehabilitated in 1956. A street in Grodno bears his name.

Alexander Asatkin-Vladimirsky led the party in Belarus for a short time - from February to May 1924. He was also subjected to repression in 1937, and was rehabilitated in the fifties.

Alexander Krinitsky led Belarus for three years (September 1924 - May 1927). Then he was a party official in Transcaucasia, People's Commissar of Agriculture of the USSR. In 1937, Krinitsky was shot and rehabilitated in 1956.

Jan Gamarnik worked as first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (Bolsheviks) from December 1928 to 1930. During these years he fully supported the policy of collectivization. Later he became a military leader, played a big role in increasing the combat readiness of the Red Army, and assisted Tukhachevsky in the reconstruction of the army. On the eve of his possible arrest in the Tukhachevsky case, he shot himself. After his death he was called an enemy of the people. Rehabilitated in 1955. In Minsk there is Gamarnika Street.

Konstantin Gey led the republic from January 1930 to January 1932. In addition to Belarus, he worked in party positions in various parts of the Union. In the late thirties he took part in the Great Terror. He was one of the organizers of the party purges. In 1939 he was shot, in 1956 he was rehabilitated.

Nikolay Gikalo was at the helm of the party from January 1932 to March 1937. He was a party worker, except for Belarus, in the Caucasus and Ukraine. In 1938 he was shot, in 1955 he was rehabilitated. In Minsk there is Gikalo Street.

Vasily Sharangovich was the first person of the BSSR for several months - from March to July 1937. In July 1937, Sharangovich was arrested. He was brought in as a defendant in the case of the Right-Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Bloc. This man was shot in 1938, and in 1957 he was rehabilitated. In Minsk there is Sharangovich Street.

When I was Yakova Yakovleva (Epiteina) Commissar of Agriculture of the USSR, the Holodomor of 1932-1933 occurred. During his short work at the head of the Communist Party in Belarus (July 27 - August 11, 1937), he made several arrests of “national fascists” in our area. In 1937 he was shot. Rehabilitated in 1957.

Alexey Volkov(was acting first secretary of the party in the BSSR from August 11, 1937 to June 1938) is known as a person who pulled "trail of execution cases". As researcher Immanuel Ioffe noted in an article in the Belarusian Duma magazine, a month after his appointment, Volkov reported to Stalin about dozens of Central Committee officials and members of the city party committee who had been exposed, arrested, and removed from work “for connections with enemies of the people.” "...The government apparatus of the republic was and still remains heavily clogged with enemies", - added Volkov.

Post-war leaders

Management Panteleimon Ponomarenko was torn apart by the war and the German occupation of Belarus. Excluding the war years, Ponomarenko led the party from June 18, 1938 to March 7, 1947.

During the war, Ponomarenko led the partisan movement and was a member of the military councils of fronts and armies. He was the head of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. It is known that Stalin spoke well of Panteleimon Ponomarenko.

Nikolay Gusarov ruled the party in Belarus from March 7, 1947 to June 3, 1950. An aviator by training, he is now described as an extraordinary, bright and original personality. However, Gusarov was removed from the post of first secretary of the party for mistakes and miscalculations in his work. He “ignored the collegiality of the leadership, personally changed the decisions of the Bureau of the Central Committee, had the wrong attitude towards criticism of shortcomings, did not work with party activists, did not truthfully inform the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks about the state of affairs in the republic”.

Nikolay Patolichev was at the head of the party for six years - from June 1950 to July 1956. Afterwards he managed to rise to the rank of Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR.

Under Patolichev, they decided to build the building of the Minsk circus exactly on the spot where it stands now.

Mikhail Volodin in his book “Minsk Stories” recalls the singer Aleksandrovskaya, who asked to build a circus next to her house. Before this, a place for the circus was supposed to be allocated on the outskirts of the city, in the area of ​​​​the current Mogilevskaya metro station.

Kirill Mazurov led the party in Belarus from July 1956 to March 1965. Afterwards he received the post of first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers. Led the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In his book “Minsk Stories,” Mikhail Volodin gives a story related to the time of Mazurov. They say that Kirill Trofimovich in Moscow in 1959 saw a wonder - a circular film panorama, with a 360-degree screen.

“Everything here was unusual: the fact that the films were released in a single copy, and the fact that they were shown using twenty-two projectors, and the fact that the audience in the hall stood, constantly turning their heads... The action took place everywhere simultaneously.”.

Volodin talks about how the leader of Belarus got the idea to repeat the miracle in Minsk. The Kremlin did not support him. Then Mazurov decided to build a less pompous cinema center in Minsk. “We will build on Lenin Square. On the site of the Red Church!- Mazurov told the architects. The Red Church proposed to be blown up. The historical building of the Red Church was saved from destruction by a happy coincidence of circumstances. One of which was Mazurov’s departure to party work in Moscow.

Petr Masherov was the leader of Belarus from March 1965 to October 1980, until his tragic death. At the end of the war he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Died on October 4, 1980 in a car accident on the Moscow-Minsk highway. A version is being considered that the car accident was staged to prevent Pyotr Masherov from taking the post of party secretary general.

Pyotr Masherov remains in memory as an intelligent and thoughtful leader. The name of Masherov is associated with the policy of urbanization; under him, the republic began to transform from agrarian to industrial. On the other hand, the years of his leadership are also associated with unbridled land reclamation on Belarusian lands.

Tikhon Kiselev led Belarus from October 16, 1980 to January 11, 1983. During Kiselev's reign there was active construction of the metro. He died of cancer in January 1983 in Minsk.

Nikolay Slyunkov led the party from January 13, 1983 to February 6, 1987. Slyunkov was sent from Moscow to Belarus; people here disliked him even before his arrival. During the reign of Nikolai Slyunkov, there was a disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which greatly affected Belarus.

Efrem Sokolov led the party from February 6, 1987 to November 28, 1990. In the apparatus of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus since 1969. Before his promotion, he was the party leader in the Brest region.

For residents of the Brest region, Sokolov is almost an ideal leader. No one had ever heard him raise his voice to a subordinate. Nobody saw him drunk. No one could even suspect him of dishonesty. All the years of his work in Brest, Efrem Evseevich did one thing: he built. He built houses, roads and giant livestock farms. There is a complex for 50 thousand heads - good, but there will be one for 100 thousand. The entire USSR should eat Brest pork. And the Brest residents themselves should have enough. And if there are giant agricultural enterprises, there must be good roads leading to them. And people should live in normal, comfortable houses. And the fact that the stern and unsmiling Efrem Evseevich was awarded the Star of Hero of Labor - the only party functionary under Gorbachev! - and then was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPB, in the region they took it for granted (A. Feduta).

Anatoly Malofeev Led Belarus from November 30, 1990 to 1991. Member of the last Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

In August 1991, he showed himself to be an open supporter of the State Emergency Committee and advocated the use of force to combat dissent. After the suspension of the activities of the Communist Party and the CPSU, he refused to sign documents on the transfer of former party property to the state.

Sovereign Belarus

Vyacheslav Kebich in 1990. In the early 90s, he initiated the adoption of progressive government regulations that were designed to help build a market economy. At the same time, Kebich was a supporter of the Russian-Belarusian union, and his active actions in this direction did not allow the market to develop. In the early 90s, the standard of living of Belarusians was falling, and protests for economic reasons were frequent.

About the achievements and failures of the era of the President of Belarus Alexandra Lukashenko(and this is the last 20 years) TUT.BY wrote not so long ago in great detail. They included an unreformed economy, growing debts, regular devaluations of the national currency, systematic violations of human rights, the poor situation of the Belarusian language, lack of change of power and much more. - low crime rate, preserved production, gasification of the country, improvement of infrastructure.

When preparing the material, Wikipedia, the local history website minsk-old-new.com, Mikhail Volodin’s book “Minsk Stories” and open Internet sources were used.

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