Russification of Belarus

Russification of Belarus
The Russification of Belarus is a policy of replacing the use of the Belarusian language and the presence of Belarusian culture and mentality in various spheres of public life in Belarus by the corresponding Russian analogs. Russification is one of the major reasons of low rate of adoption of the Belarusian language by Belarusians.
In Belarus, Russification was carried out by the authorities of the Russian Empire and, later, by the authorities of the Soviet Union. Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has renewed the policy since coming to power in 1994, although with signs of a "soft Belarusization" after 2014.
Components of Russification
The Russification of Belarus comprises several components:
Russification of education
Domination of the Russian language within education in Belarus
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
Narkamaŭka
Declaring Russian as the second official language, creating 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 and 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
Russification in Belarus under Lukashenko
Education
In Minsk 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 Lukashenko'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, Frunzyenski District)
Gymnasium № 9 (Siadykh street, 10 – Minsk, Pyershamayski District)
Gymnasium № 14 (Vasnyatsova street, 10 – Minsk, Zavodski District)
Gymnasium № 23 (Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, 45 – Minsk, Savyetski District)
Gymnasium № 28 (Rakasouski Avenue, 93 – Minsk, Leninsky District)
Secondary school № 60 (Karl Libkneht street, 82 – Minsk, Maskowski District)
Secondary school № 4 (Savetskaya street, 78 – Ivanava city)
See also
Russification
Belarusian national revival
Belarusian nationalism
Trasianka
Polonization
References
External links
Ніна Баршчэўская. Русыфікацыя беларускае мовы ў асьвятленьні газэты «Беларус» // kamunikat.org
Павел Добровольский. Замки, храмы и ратуши. Кто, когда и зачем уничтожил исторический облик крупных городов Беларуси // TUT.BY
Further reading
Russification
Social history of Belarus
Anti-Belarusian sentiment
Belarus–Russia relations