On March 25, opposition-minded Belarusians celebrated Freedom Day (Dzen Voli). On that day, in 1918, the Belarusian People’s Republic (BPR) was proclaimed in Minsk, under German military occupation. The quasi-state lasted barely eight months, when, on December 10, 1918, the Red Army recaptured Minsk. The Belarusian opposition has always claimed that the BPR laid the foundation for Belarusian statehood and that without it there would have been no Soviet Belarus (Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic—BSSR). The latter, they argue, was Moscow’s response to a call for self-determination first embodied in the formation of the BPR. This year, about 1,500 people participated …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation
