This action will in no way affect the activities of the BNR Rada, its interaction with the democratic forces of Belarus and its support for Belarusian volunteers who are fighting for the freedom and independence of Ukraine.

Furthermore, the illegal decisions and actions of the Lukashenka regime, driven by its extremist ideology, including those of a pseudo-juridical nature, add to the list of actions subject to criminal prosecution once legal order is restored on the territory of Belarus.

The accusations against the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, including statements about its alleged denial of the independence of Belarus, are obviously false and absurd, especially considering that the BNR Rada first declared Belarus a sovereign state on 25 March 1918, thereby initiating the history of the modern independent Belarus.

Also, the BNR Rada reminds that it has repeatedly condemned the totalitarian regimes that committed crimes on the territory of Belarus, including the regime of the German National Socialists.

In particular, in its statement on 22 June 2021, adopted on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Nazi occupation of Belarus, the BNR Rada said the following:

“The BNR Rada stands in solidarity with the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal in condemning proven war crimes committed on the territory of Belarus by German troops and their allies, including both Belarusians, and Russian nationalists, and representatives of other countries. The BNR Rada condemns all organisations recognised as criminal by the decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

At the same time, the BNR Rada condemns the abuse of the tragedy of the Second World War by the propaganda of the totalitarian Soviet regime and its modern heirs.

The communist authorities used the trauma of the Belarusian people from the war in order to manipulate our people, to incite hatred towards other countries, to hide the memory of mass Soviet political terror and mass Soviet war crimes, as well as to strengthen their criminal anti-Belarusian political regime.

The BNR Rada declares that Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the former president of Belarus, is the only head of a modern European state who is an open ideological follower of both the Soviet and Hitler’s regimes.

A. Lukashenka publicly made anti-Semitic statements and statements about the inferiority of the Belarusian language, culture and statehood.

A. Lukashenka publicly expressed his admiration for the political practices of A. Hitler. During his almost three decades of illegal rule, he modeled Belarus’ political system on Hitler’s principles, showing contempt for democratic freedoms, human rights, and for parliamentary democracy, while consolidating absolute power.”

In addition, in its statement on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War on 8 May 2015, the BNR Rada stated the following:

“The victory over National Socialist Germany, to which the Belarusian people had made an important contribution, saved millions of people from the direct threat of physical extermination. Unfortunately, as a result of the war, Belarus did not gain freedom, but remained under Soviet occupation for almost 50 years, which was accompanied by Russification and repression against dissenters, including supporters of the state sovereignty of Belarus.

Humanity must honor the memory of the victims of the Second World War and do everything to ensure that such wars never happen again.”

Below are links to statements and publications of the BNR Rada on this topic:

Statement of the BNR Rada on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (08/05/2015, in English):

STATEMENT OF THE BNR RADA ON THE OCCASION OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF WORLD WAR II

Declaration of memory and solidarity (30/10/2016, in English):

DECLARATION OF MEMORY AND SOLIDARITY

International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27/01/2017, in Belarusian)

Міжнародны дзень памяці ахвяраў Галакосту

European Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Nazism and Stalinism (23/08/2017, in Belarusian):

Эўрапейскі дзень памяці ахвяраў нацызма і сталінізма

Statement of the BNR Rada on the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (23/08/2019, in English):

Statement of the BNR Rada on the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The memory of the Second World War should be the foundation of peace, freedom and democracy – Statement of the BNR Rada (22/06/2021):

MEMORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR SHOULD BE THE FOUNDATION OF PEACE, FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY – STATEMENT BY THE BNR RADA

(Unofficial translation from Belarusian)

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The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (the BNR Rada), founded in 1917, is the oldest active Belarusian governmental institution. Since 1918, the BNR Rada has served as the temporary supreme governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the first Belarusian democratic state whose independence was declared on 25 March 1918. The BNR Rada was forced to relocate from Belarus in 1919 due to the invasion by Soviet Russia and has been operating in exile ever since, now representing a more than a century old Belarusian democratic political tradition.

The BNR Rada emphasizes that any public conflict between Belarusians and Lithuanians is primarily beneficial to our common enemy – the dictatorial Putin’s Russia, as well as its satellite, the regime of A. Lukashenka in Belarus, which is engaged in promoting the Russian-Soviet colonial ideological and pseudo-historical narrative, hostile to the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and is purposefully engaged in the Russification of Belarus, including its Polish and Lithuanian minorities.

Our common enemies, some of whom the ancestors of the present-day Lithuanians and Belarusians opposed for centuries, are interested in such conflicts going beyond the boundaries of constructive academic, expert and public discussion and leading to mutual insults, harming the centuries-old good-neighborly relations between the peoples of present-day Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania. The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic reminds of Moscow’s past attempts to divide Belarusians and Lithuanians in the early 1990s in order to hinder the process of restoring the independence of the Republic of Lithuania. Meanwhile, the restoration of Lithuanian independence was welcomed and supported by the Belarusian democratic forces – precisely those whose identity was based on the memory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In January 1991, hundreds of Belarusians came to Vilnius and stood by the Lithuanians, defending the parliament of the Republic of Lithuania and the Lithuanians’ right to independence.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was formed, built and existed as a result of close interaction of Baltic, East Slavic and West Slavic cultures and peoples. In the battles of Grünwald, Orša, Syni Vody, banners from Minsk and Vilnia (Vilnius), Navahradak and Troki (Trakai), Viciebsk and Koŭna (Kaunas) and other cities fought shoulder to shoulder against external enemies on equal terms.

Attempts to dispute the right of any of our nations to view themselves as heirs to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and to consider historical Lithuania as their state are historically groundless, inherently destructive and only play into the hands of the aggressive regimes of Lukashenka and Putin.

The BNR Rada states that the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has become the foundation for the national identity of both modern Belarusians and modern Lithuanians. For both our peoples, historical Lithuania is the golden age of statehood. In particular, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a stage of Belarusian state building is indirectly referred to by both the Constitutional Charters of the Belarusian Democratic Republic of 1918 and the 1994 Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

The BNR Rada notes that our nations have a positive track record of peaceful and good-neighborly treatment of common history. An example of this is the joint reburial of the rebels of 1863-1864, which was excellently conducted by the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania in 2019 and was attended by representatives of the Republic of Lithuania, Poland and Belarus – all countries that honor the heroic feat of our common countrymen who died for our and your freedom. The BNR Rada welcomes the activity of Belarusian political, cultural and educational institutions in the Republic of Lithuania, which would not be possible without the support of the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania. Belarusians will always be grateful for this support, and it strengthens the long-term Belarusian-Lithuanian good neighborliness like nothing else.

In this regard, the BNR Rada warns politicians and public opinion leaders of both Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania against aggressive and destructive mutual rhetoric when discussing the interpretation of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, so that this topic, which is equally sensitive for Belarusians and Lithuanians, does not become an instrument of manipulation and provocation by our common enemies.

The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic calls on historians of Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania to formulate a balanced view of the complex and multifaceted history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which would be based on facts, be free from nationalistic contexts and provide for common interpretations that would respect the feelings of both Belarusians and Lithuanians, and respect the role which the memory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania played in the formation of modern Belarusian and Lithuanian nations.

The BNR Rada emphasizes that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is an object of common heritage and common value for Belarusians and Lithuanians, which should unite our peoples and not divide them.

(translated from Belarusian)

Belarus (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) has traditionally been a place of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence of different religious communities: the Greek-Catholic majority, as well as the Roman-Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant minorities, as well as non-Christian minorities, primarily represented by Muslims and Jews who found refuge in Belarus after exile from other countries. Tolerance and respect for diversity were, are, and will remain among the main values for the Belarusian people.

The main source of inter-religious tension in Belarus is the Russian Orthodox Church, forcibly imposed on Belarusians in the first half of the 19th century, and in its current form shaped in the Stalinist USSR in 1943 and represented today by a fully Russian-controlled exarchate under the false name “Belarusian Orthodox Church”. During its activity on the territory of Belarus, this organization showed itself primarily not as a church, but as a Russian colonial institution, an instrument of Russification and pressure on traditional Belarusian Christian churches, to which the Russian Orthodox Church itself does not belong. During the Soviet era, the Russian Orthodox Church was an instrument in the hands of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which carried out a policy of ethnocide of Belarusians and political terror against any dissidents. Many ROC hierarchs were part of the KGB, a criminal organisation, and remain agents of the secret political police of the authoritarian regimes of Lukashenka and Russia’s Putin.

In modern Belarus, the Russian Orthodox Church is one of the ideological pillars of A. Lukashenka’s regime and enjoys unjustified privileges from the authoritarian state, while many other Belarusian Christian churches suffer discrimination, confiscation of property and repression against priests. Belarusian autocephalous Orthodoxy, which is a true continuation of local Orthodox traditions in Belarusian lands from the Middle Ages and which for many years was and remains one of the spiritual supports of many Belarusians in exile, is forced to exist in Belarus under conditions of particularly severe persecution.

Contrary to the fundamentals of Christian teaching, the so-called “Belarusian Orthodox Church” does not condemn the violence, murders and torture for which Lukashenka’s regime is responsible. On the contrary, priests and activists who stand on honest Christian – and especially on democratic and pro-Belarusian – positions are systematically and purposefully forced to leave the ranks of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. For decades, the Russian Orthodox Church has been indoctrinating Orthodox Belarusians in the spirit of Russian nationalism and the so-called “Russian world”.

The Russian Orthodox Church most eloquently manifested its essence in the context of the current war between Russia and Ukraine. The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and its Belarusian Exarchate openly supports Russian military aggression and blesses Russian invaders who commit war crimes on the territory of Ukraine. The structures of the so-called “Belarusian Orthodox Church” were seen collecting material aid for the Russian aggressors.

The activities of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church should be the subject of close investigation by law enforcement and constitutional order bodies in the future democratic Belarus. The so-called “Belarusian Orthodox Church” of the Moscow Patriarchate is responsible for promoting extremist anti-state ideology, supporting Russian aggression in Ukraine and supporting the dictatorial regime in Belarus.

Traditional Belarusian churches of the Eastern rite, including the Belarusian Greek-Catholic Church and the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, have the full right to independently determine their internal organisational structure, and should enjoy all the support of the future democratic Belarusian state as institutions of historical and spiritual value.

On this day 80 years ago, the Soviet Union and Hitler’s Germany signed a non-aggression pact, the secret part of which provided for the division of Eastern Europe between these two totalitarian states. West Belarus, which at that time was under Polish control, came under the influence of the USSR, which at that time already controlled the eastern part of Belarus.

A week after the signing of the agreement, Germany attacked Poland, which was the beginning of the Second World War.

Two weeks later, the Soviet Union joined Hitler, attacking Poland from the east and de facto entering the Second World War on the side of Nazi Germany. In 1939-1941, the USSR captured West Belarus, Western Ukraine, Bessarabia and the Baltic states. Only Finland managed to defend its independence in an unequal war against the Soviet military machine.

The war between Germany and the USSR began in the summer of 1941, almost two years after the start of World War II. Belarus was occupied by German troops for three years. The German occupation was accompanied by the genocide of the Jewish population of Belarus, political terror, crimes against civilians.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact symbolizes the tragedy of our region in the twentieth century. Millions of Eastern Europeans were exterminated by the Nazis and Communists because of their political views, ethnic or social origin. Millions died in the Second World War, which the totalitarian regimes in Germany and the USSR are responsible for starting.

Being under Soviet and Nazi occupation, Belarus and other countries of the region lost decades of free development.

Belarus suffered from Nazi and Soviet occupation more than many other countries. We have still not overcome the consequences of decades of repression and propaganda, which shaped several generations of Belarusians.

Soviet inertia in Belarus is embodied by the authoritarian and corrupt regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, whose ideology and management methods are primarily based on the legacy of the Soviet regime. At the early stage of his presidency, A. Lukashenka publicly expressed his admiration for the system of power built by Adolf Hitler in Germany. The years that followed after this scandalous statement confirmed the sincerity of this admiration.

At the same time, the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact became an impetus for our neighbors to restore their independence from the USSR. These days, the Baltic countries are celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the Baltic Way – an unprecedented peaceful protest action, which in 1989 united several million residents of these three Soviet-occupied countries in demanding freedom for their countries. The freedom movement in Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania and Estonia became a strong inspiration for Belarusians as well.

Despite terror and propaganda, our nations managed to survive and to revive their independence at the end of the twentieth century. This is a great historical victory, including that of the Belarusian people.

The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic confirms its assessment of the Nazi regime in Germany and the communist regime in the USSR, given in the Statement to the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (2015), the Declaration of Remembrance and Solidarity (2016) and other documents.

The BNR Rada strongly condemns the tacit rehabilitation of Stalinism, which has been taking place in Russia and, under its influence, in Belarus in recent years. The BNR Rada draws attention to the need for a legal and historical assessment of the actions of the Soviet regime in Belarus by analogy with the existing assessment of the crimes of the Nazi regime.

The BNR Rada declares that the future of Belarus must be built according to the values of freedom and democracy, with the indisputable priority of individual rights and the value of human life.

The BNR Rada draws attention to the exceptional importance of international solidarity and resolute international resistance to dictatorial regimes based on the values of freedom and democracy – both during World War II and now. Let the experience of the twentieth century be for humanity a reliable inoculation against totalitarianism.

(unofficial translation from Belarusian)

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The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (the BNR Rada), founded in 1917, is the oldest active Belarusian governmental institution. Since 1918, the BNR Rada has served as the temporary supreme governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the first Belarusian democratic state whose independence was declared on 25 March 1918. The BNR Rada was forced to relocate from Belarus in 1919 due to the invasion by Soviet Russia and has been operating in exile ever since, now representing a more than a century old Belarusian democratic political tradition.

More than a quarter of the population of Belarus died in the war. This figure includes casualties from all sides of the front, as well as all civilian casualties. A significant part of the victims (up to 800,000) were Belarusian Jews, who were purposefully exterminated by the German Nazis.

The war began for Belarus in September 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Stalinist USSR, after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, together attacked Poland. All stages of the war were was accompanied by mass terror against the civilian population, committed by all sides of the conflict.

The victory over National Socialist Germany, to which Belarusian made an important contribution, saved millions of people from the direct threat of physical extermination. Unfortunately, as a result of the war, Belarus did not gain freedom, but remained under Soviet occupation for almost 50 years, which was accompanied by Russification and repression against dissidents, including supporters of the state sovereignty of Belarus.

Humanity must honor the memory of the victims of the Second World War and must do everything to prevent such a war from happening again.

(unofficial translation from Belarusian)