The Russification of Belarus (Belarusian: Расеізацыя Беларусі, Rasyeizatsyya Byelarusi; Russian: Русификация Белоруссии, romanized: Rusyfikatsiya Byelorussii) 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 insufficient adoption of the Belarusian language by Belarusians.^[1]

In Belarus, Russification was carried out by the authorities of the Russian Empire and, later, by the authorities of the Soviet Union.^[2][3][4][1] Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has renewed the policy since coming to power in 1994,^{[5][6][7][8][9]} although with signs of a "soft Belarusization" (Russian: мягкая белорусизация) after 2014.^[10][11][12]

Components of Russification

The Russification of Belarus comprises several components:

• Russification of education
  • Transfer of education in Belarus to the Russian language^[6]
• 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^[1]
  • Narkamauka
• Declaring Russian as the second official language created conditions for crowding out the Belarusian language^[1]
• Destruction or modification of national architecture^[13][14]
  • 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 by the Moscow Patriarchate (in Belarusian)
• Renaming of settlements, streets and other geographical objects in honor of Russian figures or according to Russian tradition^[15][16]
• The dominance of Russian television, Russian products in the media space of Belarus^[6]
• Lack of conditions for the use of the Belarusian language in business and documents workflow^[6]

Russification in Belarus under Lukashenka

Education

Minsk, Belarus, 2011: old street sign in Belarusian language (right) replaced with new one in Russian language (left).

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 the beginning of Lukashenka'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.^[17]

In the academic year 2016-2017 near 128,000 students were taught in Belarusian language (13.3% of total).^[18] 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.^[19]

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)

Explanations of the Russification Policy

Officially, the Lukashenka regime gives no explanation for the reasons for forcing the policy of Russification after 1995. There is suspicion in the Belarusian civil society that there is a hidden deal between the Lukashenka regime and the leadership of the Russian Federation. According to the alleged deal, the Lukashenka regime is committed to political loyalty to Russia and a policy of Russification in Belarus, narrowing the use of the Belarusian language in exchange for funds from Russia to retain power in Belarus.^[21][22][23]

A possible confirmation of the existence of such a deal could be the traditional emphasis of Russia's leadership on the expansion of the Russian language and culture to neighboring countries. The Kremlin criticized derussification in Ukraine that has been implemented since 2014, as well as derussification initiatives in Kazakhstan.^{[24][25][26][27]}