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| Republic of Belarus Рэспубліка Беларусь | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Minsk |
| Official languages | Belarusian Russian |
| Dominant mode of production | Capitalism |
| Government | Unitary presidential republic under a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie |
• President | Aleksandr Lukashenko |
• Prime Minister | Roman Golovchenko |
| Area | |
• Total | 207,600 km² |
| Population | |
• 2022 estimate | 9,255,524 |
| Currency | Belarusian rouble (BYN) |
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence and sought to maintain its state-owned economy under president Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus is relentlessly harassed by the imperialist West for refusal to privatize its state assets and embrace the neoliberal world order.[1]
History[edit | edit source]
Kievan Rus'[edit | edit source]
See main article: Kievan Rus' (880–1240)
Lithuanian rule[edit | edit source]
Lithuania controlled what is now Belarus from the 13th to 18th centuries, and it was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after 1569.[2]
Russian Rule[edit | edit source]
In 1795, Tsarist Russia conquered Belarus during the partition of Poland but Polish landlords and merchants continued to dominate the area.[2]
Soviet republic[edit | edit source]
See main article: Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1991)
Soviet Russia ceded the western part of Belarus to Poland in a 1921 peace treaty ending the Polish–Soviet War. The Red Army reunified western Belarus with the Belarusian SSR in 1939.[2]
Capitalist era[edit | edit source]
In 1991, Soviet Union held a referendum on its preservation and 83% of Belarus's population voted to remain in the USSR.[3]
Stanislav Shushkevich, chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, signed the Belavezha Accords in December 1991 along with Leonid Kravchuk from Ukraine and Boris Yeltsin from Russia. This led to the illegal dissolution of the Soviet Union.[4]
2020 color revolution attempt[edit | edit source]
Following the 2020 presidential election where president Lukashenko was re-elected, Western Imperialist observers and their lapdogs criticized the results of the election, while promoting the anti-Lukashenko protestors in a US NGO-supported colour revolution.[5][6][7] The protestors were armed with Molotov cocktails[8] and received over $2.5 million from the NED, an arm of the CIA.[9]
Arrest of terrorist Roman Protasevich[edit | edit source]
In 2021 the neo-Nazi terrorist Roman Protasevich boarded a flight from Greece to Lithuania. While the plane crossed over Belarusian airspace, it was ordered to land by state authorities.[10] Protasevich was a member of the neo-Nazi militant organisations Young Front, Pahonia Detachment, and fought alongside the neo-Nazi militant organisation Azov Battalion.[11]
The incident triggered a wave of denunciations by Western governments and aggressive sanctions on Belarus, since the US uses these neo-Nazi groups to advance their imperialist aims.[10][12]
Politics[edit | edit source]
The liberal Belarusian opposition is led by the Belarusian Popular Front and the United Civil Party.[8]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Alan Macleod (2021-10-12). "US Writes Belarus into Its Familiar Regime-Change Script" MintPress News.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Albert Szymanski (1984). Human Rights in the Soviet Union: 'The European Nationalities in the USSR' (p. 85). [PDF] London: Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 0862320186 [LG]
- ↑ "Sowjetunion, 17. März 1991 : Weiterbestand der UdSSR als Föderation gleichberechtigter und souveräner Staaten" (1991-03-17). Direct Democracy. Archived from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
- ↑ "Ex-Belarus leader Stanislav Shushkevich, who helped dissolve USSR, dies at 87" (2022-05-04). France 24. Archived from the original on 2022-05-06. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
- ↑ Dissident Voice (2020) Belarus: A Color Revolution of a Different Shade?
- ↑ The Moscow Times (2020) A Color Revolution in Belarus? Not Yet.
- ↑ Greanville Post (2020) Belarus – This Color Revolution Is Already Dead. The Union State Has Killed It.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Nadezhda Sablina (2022-07-19). "The Struggle for Belarusian Sovereignty: Interview with Belarusian Anti-Imperialist" Red Patriot. Archived from the original on 2022-07-19. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
- ↑ Jeremy Kuzmarov (2022-12-21). "Nobel Peace Prize Winners Have Deep CIA Ties" CovertAction Magazine. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Grayzone (2021) US-funded Belarusian regime-change activist arrested on plane joined neo-Nazis in Ukraine
- ↑ FOIA research (2021) Roman Protasevich
- ↑ Shane Quinn (2019-04-19). "US and NATO's Ongoing Support for Neo-Nazis in Ukraine" Popular Resistance.