Photo by Anadolu Agency
The first leader of independent Belarus, Stanislav Shushkevich, has died in Minsk. He was 87 years old.
According to Irina’s wife, in late April he was taken to the intensive care unit after suffering from COVID-19. A few days later he was discharged from the hospital, but he became worse.
From 1991 to 1994, Stanislav Shushkvych was the first leader of independent Belarus, chairing the country’s Verkhovna Rada.
Together with the President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk and the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, he signed in December 1991 the Bialowieza Agreement on the Liquidation of the USSR and the Formation of the CIS.
Leonid Kravchuk, Stanislav Shushkevich (middle), Boris Yeltsin
In January 1994, the Belarusian parliament voted to remove Stanislav Shushkevich from the post of Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Belarus.
The main reason for his resignation was disputes in parliament over the content of the Constitution of Belarus and the powers of the country’s president. However, he was formally removed from office following a report by the anti-corruption commission, then headed by Alexander Lukashenko.
Since then, Stanislav Shushkevich has been in opposition.
In June 1994, he ran in the presidential election, but won about 10% in the first round and failed to run in the second round.
One of the reasons for the loss was called the disunity of the opposition. The Belarusian People’s Front has nominated its own candidate, Zenon Pozniak.
Then Alexander Lukashenko won, receiving more than 80% of the support of Belarusians.
Shushkevich has headed the Belarusian Social Democratic Community opposition party since 1998.
He constantly criticized the regime of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus and Vladimir Putin in Russia and spoke in favor of Belarus’ European future.
Since 2014, he has condemned Russia’s occupation of Donbass and Crimea, as well as Russia’s 2022 armed aggression.
He always believed that Belarus would gain true democracy.
“The Belarusian nation-state will be built no matter what the people who came to power today are pro-Russian, no matter what they do, but the Belarusian population will become the Belarusian people,” he told Radio Svoboda two years ago.
Want to get top news in Messenger? Subscribe to our Telegram or Viber !
