Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich ( be, Вячаслаў Францавіч Кебіч, Vjačaslaŭ Francavič Kjebič , russian: Вячесла́в Фра́нцевич Ке́бич; 10 June 1936 – 9 December 2020) was a Belarusian politician and the 1st Prime minister of Belarus from 1991 to 1994.

Prime Minister of Belarus

Kebich was the first Prime Minister of Belarus, serving from 1991 until 1994, having held the equivalent office of the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

since 1990. During his tenure in office he promoted a pro-Russian stance. In early February 1994 he stated that he would 'continue campaigning for a monetary union with Russia, as I always have done and am doing now. It is not just a question of economic circumstances. We are linked by the closest spiritual bonds; we have a common history and similar cultures.' In early March he told parliament that Belarusian-Russian relations were Minsk's basic foreign policy priority, 'owing to the community of

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

- Russian culture, the identical interests of two fraternal peoples.'

Other roles and background

Kebich was one of the drafters and signees of the Belavezha Accords that effectively ended the Soviet Union and founded the Commonwealth of Independent States. He was also one of two candidates in the final running for President of Belarus in 1994 but lost to current leader Alexander Lukashenko by a wide margin. After the election, he led the Belarusian Commerce and Financial Union and was a member of the House of Representatives. Before his career as a politician, Kebich worked as an engineer. He was born on 10 June 1936, in the village of Konyushevshchina (present-day Minsk region of Belarus). In 1958, he graduated from the engineering department of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute. He studied at the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus.

Death

Kebich died from COVID-19 on 9 December 2020 (the day after the 29th anniversary of the Belavezha Accords), during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus.Умер Вячеслав Кебич. У него был коронавирус

References

1936 births 2020 deaths People from Valozhyn District People from Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939) Belarusian Roman Catholics Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia Heads of government of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Prime Ministers of Belarus Members of the House of Representatives of Belarus Candidates for President of Belarus Soviet colonels Belarusian engineers Soviet engineers 20th-century engineers Recipients of the Byelorussian SSR State Prize Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus {{Belarus-bio-stub