Russification of Belarus
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The
Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
of
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
( be, Расеізацыя Беларусі, Rasieizacyja Biełarusi; russian: Русификация Беларуси, translit=Rusyfikatsiya Byelarusi) is a policy of replacing the use of the
Belarusian language Belarusian ( be, беларуская мова, biełaruskaja mova, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language. It is the native language of many Belarusians and one of the two official state languages in Belarus. Additionally, it is spoken in some p ...
and the presence of
Belarusian culture The culture of Belarus is the product of a millennium of development under the impact of a number of diverse factors. These include the physical environment; the ethnographic background of Belarusians (the merger of Slavic newcomers with Baltic n ...
and mentality in various spheres of public life in Belarus by the corresponding Russian analogs. Russification is one of the major reasons of insufficient adoption of the Belarusian language by
Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...
. In Belarus, Russification was carried out by the authorities of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and, later, by the authorities of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.''Yuliya Brel.'' (
University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

The Failure of the Language Policy in Belarus.
''New Visions for Public Affairs'', Volume 9, Spring 2017, pp. 59—74
Belarusian president
Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука ...
has renewed the policy since coming to power in 1994,
Vadzim Smok
'
Belarusian Identity: the Impact of Lukashenka’s Rule
// ''Analytical Paper.'' Ostrogorski Centre, BelarusDigest, December 9, 2013
although with signs of a " soft Belarusization" (russian: мягкая белорусизация) after 2014.


Components of Russification

The Russification of Belarus comprises several components: * Russification of education ** Transfer of
education in Belarus Education in Belarus is free at all levels except for higher education. The government ministry that oversees the running of the school systems is the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus. Each of the regions inside Belarus has oversigh ...
to the Russian language * Repressions of Belarusian elites standing on the positions of national independence and building a Belarusian state on the basis of Belarusian national attributes **
Soviet repressions in Belarus Soviet repression in Belarus ( be, Савецкія рэпрэсіі ў Беларусі) refers to cases of persecution of people in Belarus under Soviet rule. Number of victims According to researchers, the exact number of people who became v ...
* Codification of the Belarusian language to bring it closer to Russian ** Narkamauka * Declaring Russian as the second official language created conditions for crowding out the Belarusian language * Destruction or modification of national architecture ** List of architectural monuments of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, destroyed by the authorities of the Russian Empire ** List of historical and architectural monuments of Belarus, destroyed by Soviet authorities ** List of historical and architectural monuments of Belarus, destroyed by the Moscow Patriarchate * Renaming of settlements, streets and other geographical objects in honor of Russian figures or according to Russian tradition * The dominance of Russian television, Russian products in the media space of Belarus * Lack of conditions for the use of the Belarusian language in business and documents workflow * Religious suppression and forced conversion **
Synod of Polotsk The Synod of Polotsk was a local synod held on February 12, 1839 by the clergy of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the city of Polotsk for reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church. Polotsk was the center of the Greek Catholic Arch ...


Russification in Belarus under Lukashenko


Education

In
Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
city for the 1994-1995 academic year, 58% of students in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language. After the beginning of
Lukashenka Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luka ...
's presidency in 1994, the number of these classes decreased. In 1999, only 5.3% of students in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language in Minsk. In the academic year 2016-2017 near 128,000 students were taught in Belarusian language (13.3% of total). The vast majority of Belarusian-language schools located in rural areas that are gradually closed through the exodus of its population to the cities. Each year, there is a closure of about 100 small schools in Belarus, most of which use Belarusian language in teaching. There is a trend of transfer the students of these schools to Russian-language schools. Thus, there is a loss of students studying in Belarusian. As for the cities, there are only seven Belarusian-language schools, six of which are in Minsk (in 2019). In other words, the capital city, regional and district centers of the Republic of Belarus has seven Belarusian-language schools in total: # Gymnasium № 4 (Kuntsaushchyna street, 18 –
Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
,
Frunzyenski District Frunzyenski District ( be, Фрунзенскі раён, Frunzienski rajon; russian: Фрунзенский район) is an administrative subdivision of the city of Minsk, Belarus. It was named after Mikhail Frunze and is the most populated d ...
) # Gymnasium № 9 (Siadykh street, 10 –
Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
,
Pyershamayski District Pyershamayski District ( be, Першамайскі, russian: Первомайский) is an administrative subdivision of the city of Minsk, Belarus. It was named after the First of May.Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
,
Zavodski District Zavodski District ( be, Заводскі, russian: Заводской) is an administrative subdivision of the city of Minsk, Belarus. It was formed in 1938 under the name Stalin district (Russian: Сталинский) and The "Factory district" ...
) # Gymnasium № 23 ( Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, 45 –
Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
,
Savyetski District Savyetski District ( be, Савецкі, russian: Советский) is an administrative subdivision of the city of Minsk, Belarus. It was named after the Soviets.Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
, Leninsky District) # Secondary school № 60 (Karl Libkneht street, 82 –
Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
,
Maskowski District Maskowski District ( be, Маскоўскі; russian: Московский) is an administrative subdivision of the city of Minsk, Belarus. It was named after the city of Moscow.Ivanava Ivanava ( be, Іванава, russian: Иваново, pl, Janów Poleski, he, יאנוב/ינוב על יד פינסק) is a city in the Brest Region of Belarus, an administrative center of the Ivanava district. History First mentioned in the ...
city)


Explanations of the Russification Policy

Officially, the Lukashenka regime gives no explanation for the reasons for forcing the policy of Russification after
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
. There is suspicion in the Belarusian civil society that there is a hidden deal between the Lukashenka regime and the leadership of the
Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. According to the alleged deal, the Lukashenka regime is committed to political loyalty to Russia and a policy of Russification in Belarus, narrowing the use of the Belarusian language in exchange for funds from Russia to retain power in Belarus. A possible confirmation of the existence of such a deal could be the traditional emphasis of Russia's leadership on the expansion of the Russian language and culture to neighboring countries. The Kremlin criticized
derussification Derussification (or derussianization) is a process or public policy in different states of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union or certain parts of them, aimed at restoring national identity of indigenous peoples: their language, culture ...
in
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
that has been implemented since
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, as well as derussification initiatives in
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
.Kazakhs reject Russian State Duma's meddling over proposed language law
// Caravanserai


See also

*
Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
*
Belarusian national revival The Belarusian national revival ( be, Беларускае нацыянальнае адраджэнне) is a social, cultural and political movement that advocates the revival of Belarusian culture, language, customs, and the creation of the Be ...
*
Belarusian nationalism Belarusian nationalism is the nationalism that asserts the nationality of Belarusians. It originated in the first decade of the 20th century. The Belarusian People's Republic, declared on 25 March 1918, was the first manifestation of Belarusian ...
*
Trasianka Trasianka ( be, трасянка, ) refers to a mixed language, mixed form of speech in which Belarusian language, Belarusian and Russian language, Russian elements and structures alternate arbitrarily.Hentschel, Gerd Belarusian and Russian in th ...
*
Polonization Polonization (or Polonisation; pl, polonizacja)In Polish historiography, particularly pre-WWII (e.g., L. Wasilewski. As noted in Смалянчук А. Ф. (Smalyanchuk 2001) Паміж краёвасцю і нацыянальнай ідэя ...


References


External links


Ніна Баршчэўская. Русыфікацыя беларускае мовы ў асьвятленьні газэты «Беларус»
// kamunikat.org

// TUT.BY


Further reading

{{Belarus topics Russification Social history of Belarus Anti-Belarusian sentiment Belarus–Russia relations