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Russification of Belarus (Template:Lang-be; Template:Lang-ru) is a policy of replacing the use of the Belarusian language and the presence of the Belarusian culture and mentality in various spheres of Belarusian public life by the corresponding Russian analogs. Russification is one of the two major reasons of insufficient adoption of the Belarusian language by Belarusians, another being the Polonization.

The policy of Russification was carried out by the authorities of the Russian Empire and, an certain times, by the authorities of the Soviet Union. It the opinion of Belarusian opposition, with the coming of Aliaksandar Lukashenka to the power in 1994, the Russification policy was renewed. However since 2014 Lukashenka started showing the signs of "soft Belarusization" (Template:Lang-ru).

In modern times, for the population of Belarus the Russian language is perceived as a trait of urban dwellers and associated with upward social mobility since the times of Russian Empire, and the value of fluency in Belarusian remains questionable.

Components of Russification

The Russification of Belarus comprises several components:

• Russification of education
  • Transfer of education in Belarus 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
• 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 (in Belarusian)
  • List of historical and architectural monuments of Belarus, destroyed by Soviet authorities (in Belarusian)
  • List of historical and architectural monuments of Belarus, destroyed the Moscow Patriarchate (in Belarusian)
• 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

Russification in Belarus under Lukashenka

Education

In the 1994-1995 academic year, 58% of students in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language (Minsk city). After gaining to power of Lukashenka 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 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.

Concerning to the cities, there are only seven Belarusian-language schools, six of which are in Minsk, the capital of Belarus (in 2019). Thus, the capital city, regional and district centers of the Republic of Belarus has six Belarusian-language schools in total:

1. Gymnasium № 4 (Kuntsaushchyna street, 18 – Minsk, Frunzyenski District)
2. Gymnasium № 9 (Siadykh street, 10 – Minsk, Pyershamayski District)
3. Gymnasium № 14 (Vasnyatsova street, 10 – Minsk, Zavodski District)
4. Gymnasium № 23 (Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, 45 – Minsk, Savyetski District)
5. Gymnasium № 28 (Rakasouski Avenue, 93 – Minsk, Leninsky District)
6. Secondary school № 60 (Karl Libkneht street, 82 – Minsk, Maskowski District)
7. Secondary school № 4 (Savetskaya street, 78 – Ivanava city)

See also

• Category:Russification
• Belarusian national revival
• Belarusian nationalism
• Trasianka
• Polonization

External links

• Ніна Баршчэўская. Русыфікацыя беларускае мовы ў асьвятленьні газэты «Беларус» // kamunikat.org (in Belarusian)
• Павел Добровольский. Замки, храмы и ратуши. Кто, когда и зачем уничтожил исторический облик крупных городов Беларуси // TUT.BY (in Russian)

References

1. ^ Yuliya Brel. (University of Delaware) The Failure of the Language Policy in Belarus. New Visions for Public Affairs, Volume 9, Spring 2017, pp. 59—74
2. Early Belorussian Nationalism in
3. Stalin and Russification in
4. Why Belarusians Don’t Speak Their Native Language? // BelarusFeed
5. Belarus has an identity crisis // openDemocracy
6. ^ Vadzim Smok. Belarusian Identity: the Impact of Lukashenka’s Rule // Analytical Paper. Ostrogorski Centre, BelarusDigest, December 9, 2013
7. Нацыянальная катастрофа на тле мяккай беларусізацыі // Novy Chas (in Belarusian)
8. Галоўная бяда беларусаў у Беларусі — мова // Novy Chas (in Belarusian)
9. Аляксандар Русіфікатар // Nasha Niva (in Belarusian)
10. "Belarus leader switches to state language from Russian", BBC, July 10, 2014
11. "Belarus in the multipolar world: Lukashenka bets on himself"
12. Ivan Prosokhin, "Soft Belarusization: (Re)building of Identity or “Border Reinforcement”?" doi:10.11649/ch.2019.005
13. Страчаная спадчына. — Менск, 2003. С. 54. (in Belarusian)
14. Волкава В. Мінск 21 лютага 1918 г. вачыма нямецкага салдата (па матэрыялах газеты "Zeitung der 10. Armee") // Беларускі гістарычны часопіс. № 2, 2018. С. 11. (in Belarusian)
15. Соркіна І. Палітыка царызму адносна гарадоў Беларусі ў кантэксце гістарычнай памяці і ідэнтычнасці гараджанаў // Трэці міжнародны кангрэс даследчыкаў Беларусі. Працоўныя матэрыялы. Том 3. 2014. С. 376. (in Belarusian)
16. Kapylou I., Lipnitskaya S. Current status and related problems of national toponyms standardization in the Republic of Belarus // Studia Białorutenistyczne. Nr. 8, 2014.
17. Антонава Т. Моўныя пытаньні ў Беларусі // Зьвязда, 10 красавіка 1999 №59 (23660), 4–5 pp. (in Belarusian)
18. Марціновіч Я. Моўная катастрофа: за 10 гадоў колькасць беларускамоўных школьнікаў скарацілася ўдвая // Nasha Niva, May 31, 2017 (in Belarusian)
19. Алег Трусаў: Скарачэнне беларускамоўных школ можа прывесці да выраджэння нацыі // Берасьцейская вясна (in Belarusian)
20. Вучыцца на роднай мове. 8 фактаў пра беларускія школы // Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (in Belarusian)

v t e Russification policy in the territories occupied or annexed by Russia in the 18–21st centuries
By annexed territories	Azerbaijan Belarus Bessarabia/Moldova Finland February Manifesto Great Russification program Latvia Lithuania Manchuria and Xinjiang Poland Ukraine Crimea
Organizers of Russification	Nicholas I Alexander II Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky Pyotr Valuyev Alexander III Nicholas II Nikolay Bobrikov Joseph Stalin Nikita Khrushchev Leonid Brezhnev Alexander Lukashenko Vladimir Putin
Anti-Russification activists	Kastus Kalinouski Leo Mechelin Eduard Polón Pehr Evind Svinhufvud Oleksa Hirnyk Vasyl Makukh Albert Razin Zianon Pazniak Atner Khuzangai Romas Kalanta
Other	Belarusian orthography reform of 1933 Child abductions in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Ems Ukaz Lithuanian press ban Russification in modern Russia Surzhyk Trasianka Ukrainian orthography of 1933 Valuev Circular
Category

• Russification
• Social history of Belarus
• Anti-Belarusian sentiment
• Cultural assimilation