Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich ( be, Вячаслаў Францавіч Кебіч, Vjačaslaŭ Francavič Kjebič , russian: Вячесла́в Фра́нцевич Ке́бич; 10 June 1936 – 9 December 2020) was a

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 ...

ian politician and the 1st Prime minister of Belarus from 1991 to 1994.

Prime Minister of Belarus

Kebich was the first

Prime Minister of Belarus The prime minister of the Republic of Belarus (; ) is the deputy head of government of Belarus. Until 1991, it was known as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as the head of the government of t ...

, 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 Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, 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- 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 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 nationa ...

and founded the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010 ...

. He was also one of two candidates in the final running for President of Belarus in 1994 but lost to current leader

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

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 Minsk Region or Minsk Oblast or Minsk Voblasts ( be, Мі́нская во́бласць, ''Minskaja voblasć'' ; russian: Минская о́бласть, ''Minskaya oblast'') is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center is Minsk ...

of Belarus). In 1958, he graduated from the engineering department of the

Belarusian Polytechnic Institute Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU) is the major technical university in Belarus. History * 1920 — establishment of ''Belarusian State Polytechnic Institute'' on the basis of a ''Minsk Polytechnic school''. * 1922 — reorganise ...

. He studied at the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus.

Death

Kebich died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

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