Belarus (magazine #7 2015) by BELARUS Magazine

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Belarus — Russia

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No.7 (982), 2015

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Беларусь.Belarus Monthly magazine No. 7 (982), 2015 Published since 1930 State Registration Certificate of mass medium No.8 dated March 2nd, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus

Founders: The Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus “SB” newspaper editorial office Belvnesheconombank Editor: Viktor Kharkov

Independence Day

Executive Secretary: Valentina Zhdanovich

Design and Layout by

Land under white wings

Innovations from scientist

For the sake of kindness and mercy Belarus venerates the memory of all

Japanese pirouette Takatoshi Machiya-

victims of the Great Patriotic War, as confirmed at launch of Trostenets Memorial Complex

In commemoration of tragedies

36 Summer with ballet

Diary of a soldier The Great Patriotic War

Life-giving waters of Gerasim Bogomolov

18 20

ma was born in Osaka, Japan. He graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg and has been dancing for four years at the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre. Recently, he became its leading soloist and, now, not without pride, he notes that he is the first foreigner to dance leading roles at the Belarusian Bolshoi

Girl with spice Belarusian model Angeli-

na Wales is often featured by the foreign press. While Belarus has plenty of beauties, few with cerebral palsy manage to make their mark in this elite profession. Perhaps Angelina is the only one

The parallel world Artist Victor Alshevsky is trying to outrun time

cha National Park is to become even more attractive to tourists

Notes on guide’s margins Belarus is often mentioned as being attractive to international tourism

беларусь.belarus 2015

Беларусь.Belarus is published in Belarusian, English, Spanish and Polish. Distributed in 50 countries of the world. Final responsibility for factual accuracy or interpretation rests with the authors of the publications. Should any article of Беларусь.Belarus be used, the reference to the magazine is obligatory. The magazine does not bear responsibility for the contents of advertisements.

Publisher: “SB” editorial office This magazine has been printed at State Entertainment “Publishers “Belarus Printing House”. 79 Nezavisimosti Ave., Minsk, Belarus, 220013 Order No. 1775 Total circulation — 1871 copies (including 724 in English).

Write us to the address: 11 Kiselyov Str., Minsk, Belarus, 220029. Tel.: +375 (17) 290-62-24, 290-66-45. Tel./Fax: +375 (17) 290-68-31.

veteran Alexander Andreichikov offers unique historical evidence

Visa free entry The Belovezhskaya Push-

Vadim Kondrashov Nadezhda Ponkratova

www.belarus-magazine.by E-mail: mail@belarus-magazine.by

Subscription index in Belpochta catalogue — 74977

Medal standings

For future foreign subscribers for ‘Belarus’ magazine, apply to ‘MK-Periodica’ agency. E-mail: info@periodicals.ru Telephone in Minsk: +375 (17) 227-09-10.

editor's note

ur July 3rd celebration never fades in significance, reflecting such an important facet of our life. Belarus paid a high price during the Great Patriotic War, to preserve its place among the family of other USSR republics. People showed true courage and heroism in resisting the merciless enemy and, ultimately, defeating the Nazism. All honour to the victors! In this respect, July 3rd marks our eternal gratitude towards those who liberated Belarus from the Fascist invaders in July 1944. However, July 3rd also marks our Independence Day, as well as being the anniversary of Belarus’ liberation. The Day of the Republic is our country’s major state holiday. On the eve of the great holiday, on July 2nd, the head office of SB-Belarus Segodnya Media Holding was attended by diplomats and military attachés from embassies accredited to Belarus. I was honoured to attend, telling the audience about Belarus magazine and its role in communicating with foreign readers. In my opinion, everything was interesting for both sides. Canadian diplomat Craig Fowler shared his impressions of Belarus, having newly arrived from Moscow and having watched Alexander Lukashenko’s speech on television, as well as a festive concert dedicated to Independence Day, in the evening in Minsk. Mr. Fowler was amazed by the solemnity and beauty of the moment, noting that Canada lacks a long and distinguished history, like Belarus. His objective viewpoint was certainly pleasing. People in Belarus cherish and will always commemorate the memory of the Great Patriotic War victims, as was proven by the recent cer-

By Victor Kharkov

Vitaliy Gil

Pleasant point of view

emony held to mark the unveiling of the Trostenets Memorial Complex, near Minsk. The largest death camp on the occupied territory of the former Soviet Union was located near the Belarusian village of Maly Trostenets, being the final destination of over 200,000 people: among them war prisoners, partisans, old people, women and children. Various nationalities and confessions were brought in huge numbers: not only our compatriots but those from such European countries as Poland, Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. It was a dire conveyor of death. There were about 250 camps for Soviet war prisoners, as well as 350 detention facilities for the civil population and 186 Jewish ghettos within Belarusian territory. Undoubtedly, the Trostenets memorial is a symbol of our condemnation of the Nazis’ inhumane policy towards peaceful Europeans. The memorial complex is still being constructed, and architects face the challenge of commemorating victims, while preserving the historical truth and creating a full picture of the torture endured, providing evidence of the terrible tragedy, which unfolded at the centre of Europe, on Belarusian land. Read For the Sake of Kindness and Mercy and In Commemoration of Tragedies to learn more. Of course, other materials in the issue also deserve attention.

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panorama Presidential elections scheduled on October 11th

Resolution of the National Assembly’s House of Representatives #603–П5/VII

‘On Appointing Elections of the President of Belarus’

Sessions of the National Assembly’s both houses are over, with special attention paid to the House of Representatives’ work. Following the Central Election Commission’s proposal, Presidential elections are to take place on October 11th.

In line with Part 3 of Article 81 and Clause 3 of Part 1 of Article 97 of the Belarusian Constitution, as well as Clause 1 of Article 23 and Part 1 of Article 56 of the Belarusian Electoral Code, the National Assembly’s House of Representatives decrees:

ctually, the major election campaign of 2015 has been announced. Documents to register candidates should be applied to the Central Election Commission from August 22nd to September 5th, with the registration closing no later than September 15th. Afterwards, the period of pre-election canvassing will start. Pre-scheduled voting is scheduled on October 6th-10th.

1. To appoint elections of the President of Belarus on October 11th, 2015. 2. The Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding Republican Referenda is to organise elections of the President of Belarus (in line with its powers) and to ensure control over the fulfilment of electoral legislation. 3. State bodies and other organisations are to ensure fulfilment of actions under their responsibility — dealing with preparation and holding of Presidential elections in time set by the Belarusian Electoral Code.

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4. Belarus’ Council of Ministers is to ensure financing expenses on preparation and holding of Presidential elections — meeting the funds envisaged by the Republican budget (for these purposes).

 High degree of optimism Despite the fact that many Belarusians are on holiday today, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine, figures show that a large percentage of the population has an active civic responsibility. This is confirmed by figures from the latest opinion poll commissioned by the Centre for Sociological and Political Research at the BSU. The poll shows that 72.9 percent of voters plan to participate in the forthcoming presidential election. The director of the centre, David Rotman, pointed out that this is likely to increase even more as the event draws closer.

lthough the accuracy of this rather large figure cannot be relied upon, Mr Rotman has expressed confidence in the new polling technologies used. He is certain that the forecast is a reliable indicator of a large turnout.

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5. The present Decree comes into force on day of its official publishing. Chairman of the Belarusian National Assembly’s House of Representatives, V. Andreichenko June 30th, 2015, Minsk

When broken down, the results show that just 8.1 percent of those asked have no plans to vote, a further 19 percent of respondents are undecided. David Rotman has also c o m m e nt e d o n the level of trust revealed between the party in power and the opposition. In the range from -1 to +1, the level of trust in the party in power is nearly 0,5, while for those in opposition it is -0,5, showing, in political terms, a significant difference in favour of the r u l i n g party at this stage. According to the sociologists, an increase of trust in the existing party in

power can be explained by a variety of factors, including the events in Ukraine. When asked about the possibility of a change in power to solve some of the nation’s problems, 2.3 percent of respondents support change by means of elections, 0.3 percent by means of strikes, 0 percent through the use of military force. This is a clear indicator that there is no will amongst the people for any violent protest. “We do not even need to consider the possibility of a colour revolution here,” David Rotman emphasised. “Despite our difficulties, the people of Belarus retain a high degree of optimism towards the future.”

HOLIDAY

Independence

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resident of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, laid wreath at the Victory Monument in Minsk on the Independence Day. Participating in the ceremony were the country’s top-ranking officials, heads of government bodies, representatives of public organisations and the clergy, as well as veterans and diplomats. They also laid flowers and wreaths at the monument. Those present at Victory Square honoured the memory of the war victims with a minute of silence; 20 strokes of metronome were heard in silence. After the national anthem the Guards of Honour and the Orchestra of the Guards of Honour of the Military Commandant’s Office of the Armed Forces of Belarus solemnly marched along the square. Alexander Lukashenko talked to the heads of the diplomatic missions, and warmly greeted the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. “You do remember our contract, do you? You agreed that you would do your best to live as long as you could. We really need you,” said the Head of State when speaking with the veterans. He wished them health and happiness and thanked for their support.

President of Belarus sends Independence Day greetings Dear compatriots! I cordially wish you Happy Independence Day. This holiday is by right one of the most important holidays for our people. It is the source of the biggest spiritual uplift and unity of those who cherish the glorious history of the Homeland and who believe in its noble future. In the post-war years Belarus restored its national economy from ruins and ashes in spite of big human losses, financial difficulties and deprivation. Within a historically short period of time Belarus secured an impressive breakthrough in its development, fulfilling the dream of many generations about a sovereign and independent state. Our achievements rely on the courageous spirit, diligence and perseverance of the Belarusian nation. The main objective for us today is to stand tall and proud, to pass the historical baton which we received from the generation of victors and creators to our children and grandchildren, to maintain peace and accord in our native land. I sincerely wish you happiness, good health, every success and new professional achievements for the benefit of the Fatherland! Alexander Lukashenko

Festive celebration in Vitebsk, dedicated to Independence Day, started at Victory Square, with around 8,000 people taking part in the meeting and solemn laying of wreaths and flowers to the Monument to Liberators, Partisans and Undergrounders.

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Day

HOLIDAY On July 3rd, the Brest Hero-Fortress Memorial hosted a meeting, dedicated to Independence Day, involving veterans, heads of the region and the city, as well as representatives of diplomatic missions, religious confessions, Brest residents and guests of the city. Those present honoured the memory of the soldiers who didn’t come back from battlefields with a minute of silence at the Ceremonial Square while also laying wreaths and flowers to Eternal Flame.

Gomel hosts festive march of veterans, labour groups and public of the city on Independence Day. Folk celebrations near the Sports Palace in Belarus on Independence Day. In the photo: The Town of Masters.

Festive events in Mogilev, devoted to Independence Day, start with a meeting at legendary Buinichi Field Memorial. Festive salutes in Minsk, regional centres of the country and the Brest Hero-Fortress finish the Independence Day celebrations.

Solemn meeting to honour Independence Day hosted by Lenin Square in Grodno, on July 3rd, followed by the awards ceremony of winners of the Person of the Year of Grodno Region award and laying of flowers and wreaths to the Eternal Flame in Gilibert Park.

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VISIT

espite a day-off, the Belarusian President welcomed his distinguished guest, demonstrating him the halls of the Palace of Independence. During their hearty talk by a fireplace, Mr. Lukashenko sincerely told the Patriarch that no problems in believers’ interrelations are observed in our country, “We highly appreciate this and would cherish this as much as we can. We do our best to ensure people feel comfortable and anyone is able to find his own path to the church.” The Head of State stressed that Belarus' peace-making mission in the regulation of the situation in Ukraine is well known. “Fraternal peoples of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have the same roots. It hurts when our brothers are in trouble. We will do everything to de-escalate the situation and, if possible, to stop this fratricidal war,” Mr. Lukashenko said. In turn, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia named the events occurring in the fraternal country ‘a major sorrow’. “This is truly a wound on our heart. At present, our church is a single organisation in Ukraine and a sin-

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Land under white wings Belarus was welcoming a top guest for three days. On arriving to Minsk, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia admitted that he always comes to our country with warm feelings. However, his recent visit was truly special. “My visit is timed to the 1000th anniversary of the Repose of the Holy Equal-To-The-Apostles Prince Vladimir who baptised Rus and laid the foundations of the Christian civilisation for Eastern Slavs, connecting fraternal nations with the Christian faith. With this in mind, visiting Belarus — which is a precious stone in this wonderful crown of Eastern Orthodox nations — is extremely important for me and I’m personally very happy,” the Patriarch said.

gle force which has preserved its peace keeping potential — since it failed equal itself to any side,” he said, adding, “It’s impossible to divide congregation under a political principle.” A kind hearted exchange of presents contributed to the warmth of the meeting. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presented the Order of St. Seraphim of Sarov 1st Class (in different times, presented to famous state, public and religious figures) and the Icon of Equal of the Apostles Great Prince Vladimir to the Belarusian President. In turn, Mr. Lukashenko presented the Icon of Guardian Angel — made by Gomel’s masters — to the Patriarch.

***

After meeting with the President and laying wreaths to the Victory Monument, Patriarch Kirill met congregation at the Holy Spirit Cathedral. When the solemn divine liturgy and sermon (broadcast on a large outdoor screen) ended, Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl, Pavel, solemnly cancelled a stamp honouring the 1000th anniversary of the Repose of the Holy Equal-To-TheApostles Prince Vladimir who baptised

Rus, also taking part in the opening of a new Spiritual-Educational Centre of the Belarusian Orthodox Church and consecration of the Finding of the Mother of God’s Icon sculptural composition. This icon disappeared in Kiev in August 1500 but later miraculously rose to the Svisloch’s surface, near the ancient Minsk citadel. Since then, it’s known as Minskaya and has never left the city — being kept at the Holy Spirit Cathedral.

***

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill continued his visit in Brest where he held a Sunday divine liturgy at the Host Resurrection Cathedral — attracting several thousand people, including heads of the region and city and the clergy. On June 22nd night, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the Brest Fortress, reading a mass of the resurrection at the Nikolaevsky Garrison Church to honour the memory of the killed warriors. Later, he took part in the meetingrequiem. The Patriarch presented the Consolation of All Sorrows icon — with the Mother of God’s face depicted — in memory of his staying in Brest. By Maxim Osipov

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UNFORGETTABLE

For the sake of kindness and mercy Belarus venerates the memory of all victims of the Great Patriotic War, as confirmed at launch of Trostenets Memorial Complex

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he largest death camp in the former Soviet Union was located near the Belarusian village of Maly Trostenets, being the final destination of over 200,000: among them war prisoners, partisans, old people, women and children. Speaking at the opening ceremony, President Alexander Lukashenko shared his deepest feelings, saying, “Our hearts shrink in pain at the thought of Nazi atrocities and crimes committed against humankind. Various nationalities and confessions were brought here in such large numbers; among them were not only our compatriots but those from other European countries: Poland, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. This place was a dire conveyor of death. Some wounds time cannot heal. The memory of those countless victims of the Great Patriotic War remains an open sore: the years of Nazi occupation have left an indelible mark on our land. Burnt villages and destroyed cities, and inhuman ‘death factories’ aimed to destroy our nation. Belarus was destroyed almost completely.” There were about 250 camps for Soviet war prisoners, as well as 350 detention facilities for the civil population and 186 Jewish ghettos within Belarusian territory. Mr. Lukashenko stated, “We venerate and will always remember the victims of that war. With this in mind, constructing Trostenets Memorial has been a matter of honour for Belarusians.” The Trostenets Memorial is Belarus’ symbol of condemnation for the Nazis’

inhuman policy towards peaceful Europeans. Architects faced the challenge of commemorating victims, while preserving the historical truth and creating a full picture of the torture endured, providing evidence of the terrible tragedy, which unfolded at the centre of Europe, on Belarusian land. “The monument’s erection has been a truly nationwide project, funded from charity donations, from individuals and organisations. Meanwhile, the nationwide day of voluntary work (subbotnik) helped build the monument,” Mr. Lukashenko added.

According to the President, various nationalities share the pain of Trostenets, resulting in the project attracting many foreign sponsors. “The memorial in Trostenets is a symbol of our condemnation of inhumane Nazi policy towards the peaceful population of Europe. The motto of ‘No One Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Forgotten’ unites us all. We are enormously grateful to those who’ve made this major project reality and to those who’ve provided, and continue to provide, all-round assistance in its implementation,” Mr. Lu-

kashenko emphasised. “Let this memorial help unite people in the name of kindness and mercy. Let it remind us, as well as our children and our grandchildren, of the importance of protecting peace and public accord. Let it prevent us from forgetting what heinous tragedies can stem from the ideas of the Nazism, and intolerance, and the intention to impose your will over another’s, using the power of weapons.” The President warned against attempts to rewrite the Great Patriotic War history, saying, “In recent times, we often hear people saying: ‘Why do we need this? Just forget everything’. A hideous thing hides behind these seemingly harmless words: the attempt not only to forget but to rewrite the history of the war, taking away the deeds of our people. We must not forget; we must not give away this Great Victory, which stands in testimony to the greatness of the Soviet people, from whom we are descended. Today’s Europe and the entire world should be grateful to our fathers and grandfathers, who sacrificed their lives, for us.” According to the President, memorials are more than tributes to victims, serving to remind us of the horrors of war. “We should understand that there is no place for war on this heavily populated planet. We, in Belarus, will do our utmost to prevent this tragedy from repetition. These sacred places will remind us of the horrors of that war and the inadmissibility of its repetition today.” The President thanked everyone who attended the ceremony, saying, “Thank you for coming, and proving that we’ll never betray the deeds of our fathers and grandfathers, and of our mothers, as well as those innocent children and the elderly, who perished on this land.” Mr. Lukashenko also chatted to war veterans after the ceremony, wishing them health and long life, urging them to continue living, standing as ‘living witnesses to the events of the Great Patriotic War’. He noted, “We must keep peace in our country and you, veterans, are a guarantee of this peace.” By Veniamin Mikheev

In commemoration of tragedies

elitsky Street, in Minsk suburb of Shabany, has a 10m tall bronze sculpture entitled 'Memory Gate', featuring emaciated prisoners from a Nazi concentration camp. Bodies of victims intertwine with leaves and barbed wire, symbolising the impossibility of escape. A camp was located here during the Second World War. The sculpture is a central part of Trostenets memorial complex, the construction of which began after the President’s visit on June 8th, 2014. At that time, Mr. Lukashenko laid a capsule bearing a message to our descendants, under a commemorative rock, calling it a ‘memory tribute to those who suffered hardships and ordeals in the 20th century’ as well as a place where those who ‘appreciate humanitarian values and a peaceful future’ might gather. On May 14th, 2007, the Council of Ministers included the territory of the former Trostenets death camp onto the state list of historical and cultural monu-

ments, covering Blagovshchina Tract (a place of shooting), the camp near the village of Maly Trostenets, located in Selitsky Street, and Shashkovka Tract (a place of burning prisoners). Institute Minskproekt helped erect the architectural-sculpture, under the supervision of Anna Aksenova. The Memory Gate is the work of Konstantin Kostyuchenko, whose design was chosen in 2010, following a nationwide competition. A whole brigade of masters has worked on creating the memorial. An Avenue of Memories leads from Selitsky Street to the Memory Gate. One year ago, there was no more than an open field and the ruins of the former concentration camp, where the ashes of thousands of people burnt by the Nazis lie in the soil. Now, at last, those victims of genocide have been immortalised. Information plaques stand along the Avenue, giving details of Belarus’ largest concentration camp. Symbolically, citizens of Germany were the first to visit, in early May this year.

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UNFORGETTABLE

MEMORY The camp near Maly Trostenets was created by the Minsk security police and security service in early 1942, located on 200 hectares of pre-war collective farm, named after Karl Marx. Prisoners built a house for the commandant, as well as premises for guards, and a garage, and laid a narrow road from the Mogilev highway to the camp, along which young poplars were planted. The camp was fenced with electrified barbed wire and guarded round-the-clock by guards in towers, armed with machine guns and submachine guns, along the perimeter. A large farm began work in May 1942, as did a mill, sawmill, a metal workshop, a joiners shop, a shoe shop, sewing workshops and other places of work. From spring 1942, the Nazis began to bring citizens of various nationalities to Trostenets, twice a week. Some arrived at

tanks were also positioned along the embankments. It was a fortress behind the walls of which people were destroyed. During the years of occupation, Trostenets saw the massacre of Minsk undergrounders and partisans. Those arrested were taken first to the prison in Volodarsky Street (‘Pishchalovsky prison castle’), for interrogation and torture, before being sent to the camp in Shirokaya Street, and then to Trostenets. Shortly before the liberation of Minsk and its vicinities, two big ditches were dug at the camp, with long barracks-dugouts at the bottom, where the Nazis kept those who were sentenced to death. When Nazi cars arrived to take these people, they tried to barricade the door, resulting in grenades being used. The Nazis used not only fixed gaschambers but those which were mobile,

It will be a memory tribute to those who suffered hardships and ordeals in the 20th century as well as a place where those who appreciate humanitarian values and a peaceful future might gather the station in Minsk, but most were transported via a special branch line, almost to Trostenets itself. They were unloaded onto the platform; their belongings were removed, and they were given receipts (to avoid a commotion and to convince people that resettlement was imminent). Those with skills, such as electricians, mechanics, joiners, tailors and shoemakers were sent into the camp, while others were sent directly to die within the crematoriums. The number of prisoners rose quickly, inspiring the need for greater protection. Barracks were dug deeply into the ground, with very narrow windows, and were filled with plank bunk beds. Each was surrounded by three rows of barbed wire (the middle one being electrified) and had an earthen floor. At the corners of the fencing were towers for guards with machine guns and earthen ramparts surrounded the camp. Several

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on specially equipped cars, with a canopy body, galvanized walls and tightly closed doors. These were used to deliver prisoners from the prison in Volodarsky Street and from the concentration camp in Shirokaya Street to Trostenets. The Trostenets death camp was operational constantly. Even at the end of June, in 1944, some days before the liberation of Minsk by the Red Army, 6,500 prisoners were brought from the prison in Volodarsky Street and from the camp in Shirokaya Street, to be shot at the camp. This took place in the former collective-farm shed and then the bodies were burnt. Only two people escaped: Stepanida Savinskaya and Nikolay Valakhanovich. Trostenets remains a sacred place of memory and repentance for the whole world. Minskproekt is now working on the second phase of the memorial.

By the way: Archaeologists from the History Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus have been excavating the former concentration camp site since May 2014, finding many artefacts which throw light upon events from those times and earlier: a considerable number of human remains, including fragments of skulls and burnt bones and ashes. They have unearthed fragments of footwear (men’s boots and puttees, and women’s shoes), as well as buttons, spoons, a fork, and spectacle lenses. All are evidence of the atrocities committed at the camp. In late June, 1944, the Nazis destroyed and then burnt a great many people. Building remains have been dug up and placed into storage. Vadim Koshman, who heads Archaeology of the Middle Ages and Modern Times, at the Institute of History, notes, “Examination of these foundations shows that the buildings date not from 1942-1944, when there was a concentration camp, but from the 15th-18th centuries, being made from stone and red-brown block bricks, which were common to those times. We’ve also found tableware and ceramic tiles from the late 18th and early 19th century. Possibly, the site was home to a noble family, with the upper floors of the building being wooden. Early 20th century maps contain information on the ‘folwark of Yarlov’ (the estate of Yurlov). Perhaps, between 1930 and 1941, the house was used by the Karl Marx collective farm. Later, during the occupation, the Nazi administration of the Trostenets death camp took over.”

By Viktar Korbut

Nadezhda Ponkratova

AS WAS THE CASE

Diary of a soldier The Great Patriotic War veteran Alexander Andreichikov offers unique historical evidence

is diary begins: ‘The war ended long ago but, at night, my mother secretly mourns me, her son without legs.’ The Great Patriotic War veteran Alexander Andreichikov, from Gomel Region, went to the front near Leningrad, aged 17. He survived the blockade unwounded but for a small injury: a fragment of shell in his liver, which brought infection and resulted in him having his leg amputated. He was one of millions of soldiers fighting not for glory but from a sense of duty and patriotism. He had no heroic aspirations. Some years later, he began to recall events at the Front, and recorded

them in diary form not for publication but to preserve those memories. In the 70th anniversary year of the Victory, his widow, Olga Andreichikova, from Baranovichi, brought the book to us and we here offer extracts for your enlightenment. The words are personal and intimate, being unintended for public consumption. In fact, this makes them, significantly, objective.

Fragments from the diary of Alexander Andreichikov I was born in 1923, in Chechersk District (now Buda-Koshelevo District) in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, in the settlement of Bashitsa.

Before the war, I worked in Ukraine, at a mine in Sumy Region. Then, on holiday, I visited my uncle in the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. I became caught up in the Great Patriotic War and couldn’t return to my homeland, since Belarus was occupied by Germans. Being just 17, I was prevented from going to the Front; it was necessary to be 20. Others tried to escape from the war by inventing various tricks but I didn’t understand them. I returned on July 22nd, 1941, to the District Military Commissariat, to go to the Front, and was enlisted as a volunteer-Komsomol member in the Red Army. I was directed to the artillery regiment of an army camp near Leningrad. There, I graduated from a regimental school and

2015 беларусь.belarus

AS WAS THE CASE was given the rank of sergeant. At first, I was a gunner for a 76-milimeter cannon; then, the cannon commander. I helped fight for control of the River Neva, as well as for the towns of Pushkin, Gatchina, Petergof, Krasnoe Selo, and Oranienbaum. ***

Many civilians escaped the Germans, driving herds of farm cattle away from the Nazis. Roads and roadsides were covered in slaughtered cows and sheep, and horses with split bellies. Among them were human corpses. You couldn’t walk or drive through. ***

Several times, I looked death in the face. I was bombed by Nazi planes, including a Messerschmitt, with its muffled roar; it fired its machine-gun on me. I was repeatedly under artillery fire. ***

How did we fight in 1941? Horses pulled weapons and gunners roosted anywhere. In winter, soldiers continued without valenki, jerseys, cotton pants or warm linen. We only washed occasionally. ***

We fought and starved in the harsh conditions of Leningrad’s Front. We didn’t eat for days. They threw breadcrumbs from a plane, which we shared, taking one a day. There was a lot of boiling water though. The norm was for 200 grams of bread daily, but it was mixed half with sawdust and other rubbish. We ate dead horses, and gathered rotten potatoes from the fields, while under fire. In summer, we ate sorrel, nettles, berries and mushrooms. ***

When our battery was broken by the Nazis, we escaped as best we could. I might have been captured and died, perhaps burnt in a crematorium, but I survived. I crawled on my belly for 2–3 kilometres, to find our soldiers. I continued fighting, again with the artillery. ***

While fighting near the walls of besieged Leningrad, I was twice wounded. On September 11th, 1942, in the battle for Oranienbaum, fighting for Kolokolnya Hill, near Gostilitsy, I lost my right leg, following my liver being punctured by a shell

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fragment. I regained consciousness some hours later, when the infection had already taken hold and gangrene had set in. My leg was amputated and a military ship took me through the night, across the Gulf of Finland, to besieged Leningrad. The Nazi bombs were exploding around the ship, sending spumes half a kilometre in the air. I was placed with an evacuation hospital in hungry, cold Leningrad. Then, they drove me, still wounded, on a military ship across Lake Ladoga, before placing me on a train to a hospital in the Urals, in the town of Molotov (Perm). I was there until February 1943. ***

My severe wounds brought heart complications. Of course, to destroy a Nazi tank you need to be within 200-300m. It’s like a duel! I would fire my armour-piercing shells and then submit to return fire. I destroyed two tanks with direct fire, and various enemy equipment. From those ‘tigers’, with their black crosses and caterpillar tracks, the towers and cannon trunks flew into the air! ***

In 1943, they sent me to transport spies. Time and again, I delivered German prisoners for interrogation at our headquarters. ***

My father, Filip Yefimovich, fought for Petrograd in 1918, against Denikin. In 1941, he took part in the Great Patriotic War, helping liberate Gomel, Zhlobin, and Rogachev, and taking Koenigsberg. He reached Berlin, and then beat the Japanese in the Far East. Only in September 1945 was he demobilised. ***

In 1944, I told my mother, by letter, that I was alive. I wrote: ‘I’m alive. I’ve defended my native Leningrad. My head and hands are intact. They will sew up my leg or give me a new one, made of iron.’ Then I returned home — to my home village of Bashitsa — without my right leg and with a wound in the abdomen. Nobody was astonished. The villagers even envied me. I began to work as an accountant for the kolkhoz; the old Demyan was the

chairman: a drunkard. He was the only man in the whole village, besides me, an invalid. There was only one horse in the village, left by Soviet soldiers during an attack on the West. The German Nazis drove away all other animals and birds. From the garrets of houses, the chairman of our kolkhoz and I took ploughs, harrows and collars. To tell the truth, it caused fights and scandal, but we took the things. We began spring sowing early, ploughing the soil. Women were harnessed to the plough and the harrow, and the chairman of the kolkhoz operated the plough. When mowing time arrived, old men riveted braids, and women mowed. ***

Victory Day, on May 9th, 1945, saw everyone crying with joy. Those who were not crying were gloomy and depressed. How much grief there was in every house: sons and husbands dead. ***

October 1965: My whole blooming youth was destroyed by the war. I am very thin and pale as a wall. I’m jealous of just one person: a dead soldier, since he does not suffer anymore. His suffering was not in vain, since he ensured freedom for those who came after him. Unfortunately, his severe war wounds prevented Alexander from living a long life. He died in 1974 and, in 1975 (symbolically, on May, 9th) his first grandson was born, and named in his honour. Alexander Gil, and his brother Vadim, never met their grandfather. This year, on May 9th, they joined their mother, Helena, and their aunt Alla, daughters of soldier Andreichikov, in going to St. Petersburg (the former Leningrad). There, they visited the places where their grandfather fought. They climbed Kolokolnaya Hill, reading his diary, so that they might try to imagine events there, more than 70 years ago. People say that the war is remote and events fade from memory. However, families do preserve those memories, for passing onto successive generations. By Viktar Korbut

CHRONICLE OF LIFE

Life-giving waters

110 years

nline, you can read a great deal about his achievements, creating geological and tectonic maps of Belarus, and helping discover our deposits of potassium and rock salts and oil. His life was full of discoveries, inspired enlightenments and wonderful findings. He managed to discover the real treasures! Discovery and prospecting of Starobinskoye potassium salts deposit earned him the State Stalin Prize in 1952. In 1972, he received the State BSSR Prize for discovering and prospecting oil in Belarus. Minsk has almost two million residents today, who drink pure, fresh-tasting water from artesian springs found during those pre-war years, under the direction of young Gerasim Bogomolov. Yuri Bogomolov, Gerasim’s son, is also a hydrogeologist. Online, we found an interview with him, which states: ‘My father graduated from the University of Mining in 1929. From 1927-1928, he came to Minsk

Well-known hydrogeologist Gerasim Bogomolov, from a humble Smolensk family, began by working in Minsk and, in 1947, was elected a member-correspondent of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus. In 1960, he was given the title ‘academician’. He discovered Minsk mineral water, heading Minsk’s hydro-geological team before WW2, and made the first state geological map of the primary deposits of Belarus. In his explanatory memorandum, he gave the first forecasts for deposits of potassium salts and oil. Belarusians’ respect for him is revealed in the naming of a Soligorsk street in his honour: the city of potassium salts workers.

to develop the water supply. All the drinking water in your capital was his brainchild (1927-28). The first well of mineral water was widely known as 'Minskaya-4', and was drilled from 1928-1929’. Belarusian Frantsiska Vrublevskaya, a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, married Gerasim. Also from Smolensk Region, ethnically close to Belarus, being once part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Belarus held a special place in their hearts. It may have been Gerasim’s ‘heaven blessed’ work that protected him in the difficult years of his life. We could write a whole book on the subject. His name was and is well-known and respected among geologists and ecologists across the post-Soviet territory, and among the wider world community of hydrogeologists. This outstanding scientist, an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian SSR, enjoyed a life filled with discoveries and achievements connected with Belarus. We’ll start from one characteristic episode.

In the face of war Professor Gerasim Bogomolov left Brest on the fast night train to Moscow on June 21st, 1941. Brest railway station is located on the right bank of the River Bug and, of course, the invasion of the Soviet Union began just hours later. The

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CHRONICLE OF LIFE

Chronicle of life of academician Bogomolov

of Gerasim Bogomolov 45th infantry division of Germany stood poised to force a crossing, strengthened by main command artillery and assault field engineer battalions. At dawn, on June 22nd, the armed forces of the Wehrmacht crossed the State Border of the USSR near Brest. Professor Bogomolov was already on the Smolensk-Moscow trainline and learnt about the events in Brest only when he reached Kaluzhskaya Square (now Oktyabrskaya) in Moscow, from a speech given by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, Vyacheslav Molotov. At that time, the mood was positive, with people believing that the war would be short, and the enemy defeated quickly. However, the 36-year-old professor was under no illusions, and felt depressed, understanding the cruel tests ahead, for the Soviets and Germans. In the 1930s, he had trained in Germany so understood the German psyche, with its high culture and traditions. Invisible forces had caused a clash between our two civilisations: our two mighty spirits. He reflected sorrowfully that they would do better to be enriched, rather than destroy each other.

Rod in the stream of biological currents Having ‘escaped’ in those last hours before the war, Gerasim turned to ap-

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plying his expertise with the engineer corps, rising to the rank of colonel. He fought at the Front, finishing the war in Berlin (his name is signed on the wall of the Reichstag!) and became deputy head of the Home Front of the Red Army. During those hard years, he went repeatedly to the Urals, helping the many enterprises working for the Front, in his capacity as a consultanthydrogeologist. In 1942, in the North Urals, he helped at the bauxite mines at the 'Red Riding Hood' deposit, solving a difficult technical problem, and even rescued a number of mine heads from tribunal execution. During The Battle of Stalingrad, when aluminium was essential for aviation and the construction of aircraft, a catastrophic flood unexpectedly occurred at the mine. Now, as director of the USSR Research Institute of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology (known as VSEGINGEO), Gerasim headed the governmental commission sent to overview the proceedings. Well-known hydrogeologist Prof. Arkady Gaev, from Perm, wrote, “It was war time and punishment in such cases was quick. In this vital episode, Gerasim Vasilievich showed not only the bright talent of a scientist and organiser, but exclusive courage and fairness. His rare ability helped him perceive the nuances of biological currents

relating to ore, water streams and metal conductors. To find the underground source which had flooded the mine, he took a willow rod, holding it almost outstretched, as a divining rod. He walked methodically reading the movement of the rod to find an unexpected and previously unknown karstic cave abundant in water, which had caused the flooding. The mine heads would have been shot, as was the norm in wartime, and those speaking on their behalf risked the same punishment. It showed huge courage for Gerasim Vasilievich to do so. The mining operation was suspended for nearly a whole year while further karstic caves were revealed. The Vagran River and other waterways were then enclosed in pipelines, but the large water flow brought many problems for miners. Georgy Maximovich created a world famous school on karst science and speleology at Perm University in the years that followed.”

From Smolensk Region to Moscow, on foot This year is the 110th anniversary of the birth of Gerasim. On March 17th, 1905, he was born to a peasant family, in the village of Sliznevo in Smolensk Province (now Novodugino District of Smolensk Region). Those who’ve

CHRONICLE OF LIFE visited the area know how beautiful it is, with the great Dnieper, the Western Dvina, and the Vazuza River (a tributary of the Volga). The Vazuza played an important role in his choice of future life, having noticed, at the age of just 3-4 years, that the small stones he marked on the bank of the river had been carried downstream the next day. He probably recollected that river many times over the years. Shortly before his death, in April 1981, he told his wife, son and grandchildren, softly but distinctly, “Life was not for nothing. I have to prepare for a long journey. You will live on; the 21st century will be fascinating scientifically. It will be possible to try to understand how the Christian spirit, senseless to pagans and Pharisees, prevailed over logic and law in the Roman Empire.” The scientist and communist was suddenly speaking about Christian spirit. It seems a paradox. The surname Bogomolov means ‘one who worships God’. He was revealing his respect for God. Probably, he was brought up in such a spirit, which might explain his disapproval of Stalin’s decision to demolish Christ the Saviour Cathedral. Only those close to him knew of his true feelings. Nevertheless, this sincere belief did not prevent him from being a true communist, serving the party for more than half a century. He believed that a strong party would prevent state collapse and his foresight was prophetical. In due time, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted, “Those who believe that the USSR can be restored are not thinking rationally; those who fail to lament its demise have no heart.” One episode from Gerasim Bogomolov's life gives us an interesting parallel. After finishing school and agricultural technical college (in 1922) he went to Moscow, on foot, wearing bast shoes, and carrying his boots on his shoulder. He entered the Moscow State Mining University, having worked his way from Smolensk Region. His ‘Lomonosov way to science’ shows his determination of spirit, like Mikhail Vasilievich, who

managed to reach St. Petersburg, from the far north. As a student, in 1928, Gerasim, at just 23, was heading the organisation of the water supply in Minsk. He drilled the 'Minskaya-4' well, with its huge stocks of spring water, which now satisfies the largest centre of population in Belarus. The world knows very few such youthful discoveries. At the same age, Mikhail Sholokhov wrote And Quiet Flows the Don; in 1912, Igor Sikorsky, also aged 23, as an outstanding Russian scientist and inventor, designed and created the ‘Ilya Muromets’ aircraft. Those

who can say what great discoveries may have taken place without such disruption? Prof. Gerasim Bogomolov lived through three Soviet leaders: Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev. This doctor of geology and mineralogy died in Moscow at the age of 76, on April 8th, 1981. The scientific world remembers him as a founder of the geological service and hydro-geological school of the USSR, as a triple laureate of state prizes of the USSR and the BSSR, as a public and state figure, and the first (and only from the CIS) Honourable President

In Soligorsk potassium mines

were times of courageous aspiration! The Soviet age was perhaps the most ambiguous in the history of mankind, giving us thousands of outstanding politicians, artists, scientists and athletes. Academician Gerasim Bogomolov stands proudly among them.

Between the Earth and the sky We can only ponder what might have been achieved if the world had remained peaceful, as the poets of the Revolution promised. What price war: civil and international? Meanwhile, Perestroika (reorganisation) led to rapacious privatisation of state property;

of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). Heads of state changed and the land endured upheaval in various forms but he remained engaged in his beloved work. Though the days of Stalin, denunciations were made against him. Fortunately, no serious consequences arose, as if Heaven were protecting him. The discovery of large deposits was convincing proof of his loyalty. How wonderful it would be to gather recollections from all who knew him! We have heard the words of talented scientist Arkady Gaev. Well-known sculptor, People's Artist of the USSR Zair Azgur, from Minsk,

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CHRONICLE OF LIFE tells us, “Recently, I finished a bust of G.V. Bogomolov. With all his being, he brought light and love to people, but he doubted that it would help subvert evil. His great energy allowed him to understand this contradiction: encapsulating the idea of the ‘mysterious Russian soul.”

Founder and director of VSEGINGEO Those who perform great deeds usually gain recognition, but how did Prof. Bogomolov come to found, and become the first director (from 1939

number of outstanding scientists, who founded the sphere of hydrogeology and engineering-geological science. He created VSEGINGEO in 1939, aged 34, having had experience of heading large collectives of hydrogeologists. He had suggested the creation of such an institute at the first USSR Hydrogeological Congress, in 1931. Later, he made various applications to higher authorities, including addressing the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, V. Molotov: an application which accelerated the development of the institute.

#2, was issued in just five weeks! (21 days before the First World War began, on September 1st, 1939). Prof. Bogomolov defended his thesis to become a Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences on January 26th, 1940, in Leningrad, to the Academic Council of Leningrad’s Mining University. His defence was excellent. Meanwhile, near the city, there raged the Winter War (between the USSR and Finland). He presented not just a set of scientific works (as was earlier accepted from well-known hydrogeologists) but a complete study, entitled, ‘Artesian and underground waters under conditions of powerful development of quaternary deposits in the territory of the western part of the USSR’. He further developed his studies at the Laboratory of Hydrogeological Problems of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, created during the war, in 1944.

‘An outstanding expert on the geology and hydrogeology of Belarus’

Unusual landscapes around Soligorsk city

until 1950) of the USSR Research Institute for Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology (VSEGINGEO)? There were other worthy scientists, and this was the first such research division. He also worked as Deputy Minister of Geology for three years (1950-1953). After graduating from the University of Mining, he became a senior geologist, heading the Bureau of Underground Waters at the Institute of Construction. Later, at the Moscow Geological Prospecting University, and at the AllUnion Scientific Research Institute for Engineering-Construction Hydraulics and Hydrology (1931-1935), and then VSEGINGEO, he brought together a

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The authorities realised his talent in objectively assessing situations and people, clearly and accurately identifying his own position, and taking responsibility, as well as his infinite patience with others and ability to unite people in their labours. He was able to harness others’ hard work for the good of all. Was he lucky? Perhaps he made his own luck, never shirking his duty or sitting back in leisure. Looking through archival documents, I notice that Resolution #977 of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, in 1939, which dealt with the creation of VSEGINGEO and orders for institute #1 and

Colleagues valued his work, and saw him as a talented scientist and organiser. One wartime document, signed by member-correspondents and professors from the USSR Academy of Sciences, in spring, calls him an ‘outstanding expert on the geology and hydrogeology of Belarus’. It notes his activity ‘as head and organiser of research into hydrogeology and engineering geology in our country, solving major problems’ and notes that this ‘should be especially marked’. It commends him for ‘finding a method of chemically consolidating bottoms and practically developing this method in the USSR’, saying that Bogomolov had followed the instructions of S. Ordzhonikidze [People’s Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR, from 1932-1937]. It states: ‘He pays close attention to the work of scientific personnel, puts forward and advances new and progressive ideas, carries out major pedagogical work, and possesses initiative and creative abilities’.

CHRONICLE OF LIFE From these lines, it is clear that his success was due to merit, not luck. He brought together like-minded people in creating VSEGINGEO: working hand in hand, more than a hundred eminent hydrogeologists, engineer-geologists and doctors of sciences were responsible for many of today’s most useful developments. These outstanding scientists in the fields of hydrogeology and engineering geology worked in Moscow until 1961, in the Golden Age of hydrogeological science. VSEGINGEO was then transferred to Moscow Region and the well-known Moscow Laboratory of Hydro-geological Prob-

lems (honouring Fiodor Savarensky) was dissolved.

‘Swan Lake’ and Georgian accent

Various interesting stories connect Bogomolov with lakes, rivers and underground water sources. The Director of VSEGINGEO was made Deputy Minister of Geology in 1950. Attending Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre, with his wife, a plain-clothes officer approached them in the first act, telling the geologist’s wife that he needed to ‘take away’ her husband. At those times, such a phrase would render you speechless with fear, and she nearly cried out in the stalls, trying to protect her husband from danger. She challenged the man with knowing where her husband was being taken, but he calmly reassured her that he’d return Bogomolov after just half an hour. Gerasim was taken to the Kremlin, and guided through the corridors, until he heard the characteristic Georgian accent of Stalin through an open door. He was told, “You are appointed Deputy Minister of Geology of the USSR. That's all!” He was back in the theatre before the interval. After taking a new post, he supervised the search, prospecting and exploitation of oil and gas deposits and underground waters across a huge territory: from Moldavia to Kamchatka. This created the groundwork for the future. It is said that Gerasim was always available, despite his high position, and behaved in a sympathetic fashion, rather than being selfseeking. In 1950, he headed a Soviet delegation sent to celebrate the centenary jubilee of the geological service of India, meeting the Prime Minis-

ter of India, Jawaharlal Nehru: a first in the history of our two countries. This marked mutual interest in research of oil deposits in India.

Scale of personality Soon after Stalin's death, the Ministry of Geology was abolished, and Bogomolov returned to his previous research activity. His knowledge, experience, and intuition found use in the Soviet Union and abroad. He carried out field studies in such countries as India, Pakistan, Chile, Germany and France, and across the Middle East, North Africa and Australia. He was the first to prospect for oil in India, and for ground waters in the Northern Sahara. He wrote more than 300 scientific works (including 55 monographs) and his textbook, entitled Hydrogeology Based on Engineering Geology, for institutions of higher education and technical colleges, was reprinted three times in the USSR (and translated into seven languages). He taught at Moscow’s Geological Prospecting University (MGPU) and at the Belarusian State University (BSU) for more than 30 years, training 13 doctors and 33 candidates of science. Moreover, he was the laureate of state prizes and was awarded various orders and medals. Even without knowing much about his academic work, his contacts spoke volumes: Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Abdel Nasser, Salvador Allende Gossens, and Mohammad Ayub Khan. He conversed with many other world level scientists, learning something from each meeting. Nehru's views on co-operation had a strong influence on him, as did those of 19th century Russian philosophers Piotr Kropotkin and Ivan Ilyin. In his lectures and public discussions, he often returned to these ideas, giving additional proofs of their viability.

Water will always find a path In 2005, Moscow and Minsk hosted conferences devoted to the centenary

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CHRONICLE OF LIFE

jubilee of academician Gerasim Bogomolov, gathering outstanding scientists in the field. Belarusians and Russians who had known him spoke at the conference, and the media gave wide coverage of the event, with publications issued in various languages. The 50-volume monograph on Hydrogeology of the USSR was released in tribute to his memory, conveying the results of many years of VSEGINGEO research. It was released twice before the close of the 20th century. Candidate of Science Gerasim Bogomolov helped the editorial board prepare the first edition in 1938. Symbolically, in March 2005, UNESCO launched the international Water of Life project, bringing to the fore water security within the CIS. Discussions took place at various levels, including at the United Nations, and in the spring of 2007, the International 'Future of Hydrogeology: modern trends and prospects' conference was held in St. Petersburg. Participants noted that research in the field of hydrogeology is more important than ever today, since society’s needs are only growing, including the need for drinkable water. On May 14th, 2010, the Russian hydro-

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In Minsk there is a monument to the first well of mineral water 'Minskaya-4.' It is symbolically that the son and the grandson of famous geologist Gerasim Bogomolov came to its unveiling from Moscow

geological community founded the Union of Hydrogeologists of Russia, which is open to foreign members of the CIS. As we see, the work of the academician lives on.

Descendants with Belarusian flesh and blood Gerasim’s descendants have proven successful in various spheres. His son, Yuri, is also a geologist, working as a laboratory assistant at the Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He defended his thesis at Moscow’s State University, and has worked in Africa, and in the Middle East. In one interview, Yuri admitted that, as a child, he listened to stories of his father in his years with an engineer battalion, following the troops, clearing springs from contamination, to ensure a good water supply for the troops. Researchers Sochevanov and Kekhvishvili worked with his father in seeking out ground springs with a divining

willow rod (unrecognised as a scientific method). Yuri notes, “During battle, you need to make decisions quickly, so the question of methods was overlooked. Father found water by using a rod, which moved in his hands in the presence of water. He was a scientist, so he understood that where no scientific substantiation exists, a method should not be advertised. Yet, he continued to use this method.” One of Gerasim’s grandsons is a successful banker, with three diplomas of higher education. One granddaughter, Maria, is the director of an international auditing company. Another, Yekaterina, heads the juridical department of a large corporation; she has two diplomas of higher education. One great-grandson, Maxim, works for a Russian committee of inquiry. Another teaches science to children of school and pre-school age. It seems that his determination and hard work have been passed through his genes. Yekaterina, one of his granddaughters, has been professionally engaged in swimming and basketball (as a master of sports, and as a European champion). It’s well-known that sporting success tends to run in families. One grandfather was an academician, while the other was a lieutenant general (Davyd Bedinsky). Both died long ago and were unable to help their granddaughter in her career. She has achieved everything herself, sometimes asking for advice from her father. Certainly, she must have the right nature, but her genes may have helped. Lieutenant General Bedinsky’s wife, Maria Gusakova, worked on creating fuel for ‘Katyusha’ missiles. In October 1941, in Dzerzhinsk, in Moscow Region, Professor Bogomolov was in Moscow, helping evacuate enterprises, and organising special detachments of self-defence. Bogomolov received the first Order of the Red Star in 1943, and finished the war in Berlin. His grandchildren and greatgrandchildren are following his example of success and victory. By Yuri Vrublevsky Moscow-Minsk

TOURISM

Visa free entry The Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park is to become even more attractive to tourists

he Bialowieza-Pererov simplified pass allows foreign citizens to travel from the Polish Pushcha to the Belarusian side, staying for up to three days. Border guards at this checkpoint already offer a free New Year’s pass, which may have inspired the new visa free idea. Actually, 72 hours are enough to enjoy all the local sights, although there’s plenty to do. You can use the services of a guide to travel by car, from Tsarskaya (Tsar) Avenue, or go as a group. Over

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha covers over 150,000 hectares, with some areas dating back 250 to 350 years. There are even some 500 and 600-year-old oaks and pines. The first law on the Pushcha’s protection came into force in the 16th century, instigated by King Sigismund I the last weekend of May, hunters from nine European countries gathered for a competition: the first such not only in Belarus but across the Union State. The Museum of Folk Custom and Ancient Arts is certainly worth a visit, with

its wooden frame house, situated amidst centuries-old oaks. The air is pure and fresh. You can also try locally distilled gin, since the Pushcha has its own license, or try rug weaving (as included on the List of Belarus’ Non-Intangible Heritage).

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Belta

TOURISM

Father Frost’s residence is the next stop; it’s even more attractive in summer than in winter, since there are fewer crowds, and Father Frost has more time to devote to his guests. The Museum of Nature is nearby: a truly interesting, educational and beautiful place. There are open-air cages in the Pushcha but it’s definitely better to observe animals in their wild surroundings. Why not visit aurochs and wild boar via one of four cycle routes, which cover 10-27km each? A special 45km route takes tourists from Poland through the Bialowieza-Pererov checkpoint, to Lake Lyadskoe, and a monument to local victims of a massacre, conducted during the Great Patriotic War. It also takes in Tsarskaya (Tsar) Road, as well as deer, aurochs and many other attractions. A simple 1km walking route, through the Yazvinskaya Dubrava (Oak Forest) passes through centuryold trees: each a natural monument. Alternatively, you can enjoy a two-day

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hike of 21km, or take your camera on an eight-hour photo safari. The National Park has created good conditions for tourists coming for several days and needing to spend the night. There’s the Kamenyuki Hotel (having three blocks), and a hotel near the museum, as well as several guesthouses run by the forestry. Several agro-mansions offer rooms near the Pushcha, at prices more affordable than local hotels. Oksana Bogoleisha, the Head of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park’s Tourist Department, tells us that pro-

grammes for foreign tourists have already been developed. She comments, “We offer excursions lasting one, two or three days, taking in local sites. Guests from Poland can come on bicycles, through our simplified checkpoint, or you can hire a bike or car here, collecting them from near the checkpoint if necessary.” Not long ago, Belarusians arranged a two-day tour for Polish businessmen, with foreign guests being most impressed by the Pushcha’s lakes, having none such on the Polish side. By Valentina Kozlovich

By the way:  Foreign tourists need to show their passport on entering the Belovezhskaya Pushcha (or another document accepted internationally). A document allowing entry to the National Park can then be issued directly, without aid from tourist organisations. Foreigners can register online, on the Park’s site, after paying for tourist services, and visitors are free to use all cycle and foot paths, as well as roads approved by the administration.

IMPRESSIONS

Notes on guide’s margins Belarus is often mentioned as being attractive to international tourism, with almost 40 percent of Russians viewing our country as the best holiday destination and Western magazines and specialised editions paying ever more attention to our tourist infrastructure. A Belarusian language guide (now in its third edition) has a special role to play, authored by Nigel Roberts.

Nigel, tell us about yourself and your guide to Belarus, which is proving a great success in English-language Europe… I worked as a lawyer in England for 30 years and am now travelling and writing my impressions. I first visited Belarus in November 2001 and, after three short trips, I wondered why no guides existed in Europe. I decided to become the first to compile one, and the first edition was ready in 2008: 405 copies sold. In 2011, the second edition was released, with the same circulation, and also sold successfully. Not long ago, the third edition was published and is now the primary guide to Belarus in the English language. I hope my book will become a window through which foreigners may view your country. You really have sights worth visiting. Nigel, there is another guide to Belarus published in the EU, compiled by Michel Renaud: a French journalist and founder of Association Il Faut Aller Voir (France’s Association of Travellers). Belarus is explored alongside Russia and

Ukraine. Your guide differs in being fully devoted to Belarus. Can you tell us the reason? I wanted to present Belarus as a unique country. When I came here for the first time, I was reminded of the USSR, which I visited in the early 1990s. However, I soon realised that Belarus has its own zest: much can be seen here which exists nowhere else — including Russia. No doubt, such a country deserves its own guide. Belarus is changing and I’m getting to know it better over time. Its tourist infrastructure has also improved. There are other indications that foreigners are demonstrating increasing interest in Belarus. Not long ago, British Business Insider compared Belarusian restaurants and cafes favourably with Italian. Do you agree? Partially: many Belarusian cafes and restaurants worthily rival those in Europe. Of course, some lag behind, as happens everywhere — including in Paris, London and Berlin. However, I

should stress that the standard in Belarus is high. What should be done, in your opinion, to enhance Belarus’ attractiveness to foreigners? From my own experience, it’s necessary to provide open and accessible information to the rest of the world: literature devoted to the country, facts on museums and historical sights, and all sorts of brochures. You do have some but more are needed. Much information can be found online but you should look at how IT has promoted tourist infrastructure for other countries, learning from their example. The High-Tech Park in Belarus is home to companies developing technological solutions to spheres of public life: Minsk’s public transport system is now completely automated, offering passengers detailed information on routes and transport schedules. Do you think we need a similar high-tech system for tourist infrastructure?

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IMPRESSIONS That’s a great idea. Modern tourists always want access to the latest information. Walking along the street, they use their phone to locate what’s available nearby and the opening hours. My book offers general information on these places; found on Google and my publisher’s site. However, we often need more information and IT is a great help. Mr. Renaud, whom I knew well, loved to say that he appreciated the ‘spirit of the country’ today more than cold stones of historical buildings. This can be felt not only in Minsk but in remote Belarusian districts. In recent times, our Government has focused on developing agro-tourism. Do you see good prospects in this field?

Definitely. I love Minsk but like Gomel Region even more. After a five-hour train ride to the region, I felt that I’d arrived in the heart of the country. In improving tourist infrastructure, you need to be careful not to lose your unique atmosphere. Vetka, near Gomel, is an ordinary provincial town but has a world-class museum, with a rich collection of icons, old books and rush-

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niks. Many interesting things can be found beyond large cities and I hope my guide will help tourists in this respect. Meanwhile, monuments also play their role. The cover of my recent edition features Brest Fortress: perfectly symbolising the spirit of the Belarusian nation. One of the High-Tech Park’s tasks is to promote Belarus as a country with advanced technologies, moving along a path of knowledge development. Our achievements in this field have been recognised by many high-tech companies. Do you think others beyond business circles may believe this image? Belarus does some things better than elsewhere globally — including the European Union. It’s vital to spread the word

with wise media coverage. This can greatly influence how you are treated. With this in mind, I’m happy to hear that high technologies are successfully developing in your country. I’m convinced that your achievements will be recognised. You are among those who reveal the real image of our country. As your guide is now in its third edition, we can assume it’s popular in the UK. Are prospects for closer co-operation opening up between our country and the EU? I’m convinced that this is the case. One of the aspects really enhancing Belarus’ reputation in the West is the role played by your country in aiming to reach a peaceful settlement for the Ukrainian situation. Having provided Minsk as a venue for talks between participants of the conflict and the region’s leaders, your President topped world politics. Such recognition of the leadership’s significance benefits the country. It’s now vital to build upon this success, allowing foreign investors to participate in joint projects and jointly develop promising avenues for mutual benefit.

We m a y n e e d to publish business guides… This would be beneficial, especially if available online. Nadezhda Ponkratova

By Roman Dubovets

panorama  Open debates at Vybirai.by! venue Youth acquires a new opportunity to share opinions, discuss serious issues and search for possible solutions — Open Debates: Vybirai.by! project

Belarusian people cherish living folklore traditions, notes President Alexander Lukashenko during Kupalie holiday (Alexandria Gathers Friends)

he Head of State took part in the celebrations and attended the Paparat Kvetka (Fern Flower) youth musical. When opening the holiday, Mr. Lukashenko emphasised that Belarusian people don’t forget their songs, fairy tales and customs which have been passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. “This is our great legacy,” asserted the President. “This tradition is living as long as it takes something new from today. Every year the festival in Alexandria showcases huge potential of Belarusian traditional culture and offers vast opportunities for creative searches.” Over the years of festival’s existence, the event welcomed many bands and singers from various countries and regions of Belarus. “Traditional folk art is the most democratic. It has a place for everyone who did their best to reach genuine mastery,” added the President. The Head of State accentuated that ‘folk art is close to everyone as it comes from people’s souls’. It is not accidental that the stage in Alexandria brings together renowned professional and amateur art groups, as well as acknowledged artists and children’s ensembles. In addition, Mr. Lukashenko wished happy Kupalie to all guests and expressed hope that this festival will be a bright and memorable event.

Belta

 The most democratic art

ebates have become a popular enhancement to open dialogue. The format of an organised debate allows the participants to share their thoughts and ideas and also to defend their views in the face of opposition. During the debate, the candidates may present their ideas using a variety of methods, some even preferring to use the language of film or singing! Often social networking sites are used to gather support and open the debate to a wider audience. Schoolchildren and state officials are invited to take part in competitive debates, acting independently or in teams. The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, Andrey Belyakov, explained the choice of theme, “As important public political events are approaching, we’ve decided to remind our youth that the country’s future depends on them. It’s crucial to be able to defend a point of view, finding the necessary arguments and appreciating the many complexities of some problems. We hope that Vybirai. by! will become a discussion

venue for both Belarusian youth and the international community.” When discussing Belarus’ burning issues it seems sensible to listen to the opinion of experienced and recognised personalities. The first session is to be attended by the Information Minister Lilia Ananich, the Aide to the President for Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism Development Maxim Ryzhenkov, and the Editor-in-Chief of the Sovetskaya Belorussiya newspaper Pavel Yakubovich. The media’s attention to the project is not accidental. Ms. Ananich has named Vybirai.by! a new venture in the history of the youth movement and mass media who share a common goal of promoting the state’s true values. Topics for future meetings are already being prepared. A BSU student, Alexander Pashkevich, plans to discuss the development of small cities. Born in Slutsk, he is interested in supporting talented young people and the development of youth sports. Mr. Yakubovich, in turn, is concerned with the two issues of ‘nationalism and internationalism’ and ‘youth and mass media’. He is ready to participate in their discussion. The project will last for six months, with open debates to be hosted by organisations, enterprises, schools, colleges, universities, public associations and military unions. They will later move to districts and cities, with regional centres and the city of Minsk coming next. The most talented and skilful opponents will meet in the finals, scheduled for this autumn.

Vybirai.by! will be a discussion venue for Belarus and the international community

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Soyuz

Belarus — Russia

Telling the truth

Media forum in Minsk names major orienting points of contemporary information space

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Alexander Ruzhechka

insk has hosted the Belarusian International Media Forum for tenth time under the purposeful slogan ‘Partnership for the Sake of Peace’. The Standing Committee of the Union State, headed by the State Secretary Grigory Rapota, took an active part in the development of its programme. Hundreds of famous journalists, scientists and teachers, alongside experts and diplomats from 20 countries, have arrived in the Belarusian capital for three days, with Belarusian and Russian delegations being the most representative. The participants of the forum were addressed by the General Director of TASS News Agency, Sergei Mikhailov, Russian anchorman Leonid Mlechin, Editor-in-Chief of the Sovetskaya Belorussiya newspaper, Pavel Yakubovich, and other prominent media persons. Moreover, the President of Belarus and Chairman of the Supreme State Council of the Union State, Alexander Lukashenko, also sent his greeting, wishing fruitful work to the participants of the forum. The heritage of the Great Victory of the peoples of the former USSR in the Great Patriotic War became the major topic of the forum. The 70th anniversary of Victory over German fascism is an especially important date for Belarus and Russia, as noted by the State Secretary of the Union State, Grigory Rapota, during the opening of the forum, “The Great Patriotic War has become a bright and simultaneously sorrowful page of our common history. Belarus has become a place of the greatest tragedy and triumph. The Red Army suffered the greatest losses here, yet the highest professionalism of our troops was also shown on this territory… Much is being done to preserve memory about war, including the Fund of Memory of Commanders and the Immortal Regiment event. Recently, a press tour of the Union State media representatives took place, with visits organised to the places

of the most blistering battles near Rzhev. The Union State mass media always pay much attention to military topic. In 2014, a memorial sign to honour the Bagration Operation was unveiled with the support from the Union State Standing Committee.” A separate panel discussion was dedicated to the topic of the Great Victory at the Minsk forum, with Mr. Rapota taking part as an expert. The common opinion is that joint participation in the struggle against Hitler fascism continues to play a big uniting role for the nations of Belarus and Russia. However, the experience of Victory is interesting for journalists from various countries of the world while also being important from the point of view of apprehending the role of personality in the history and understanding many public-political processes, happening on the post-Soviet space and in Europe. Before opening of the plenary session the Chair of the forum’s organising committee and Belarus’ Information Minister, Lilia Ananich, noted, “We see that the world is in the cruellest conflicts which

lead to bloody wars. Belarus has become an acknowledged negotiation venue where the destinies of the world are solved. The Belarusian mass media treat with due care towards preservation of this constructive dialogue. We see that the topic of the Great Victory has come to the forefront this year. However, aggressive attempts have also appeared to take away our victory. Mass media should insist that history can’t be re-written and its lessons shouldn’t be forgotten. Otherwise, history shoots point-blank.” The Union State Standing Committee does much to ensure closer interaction between Belarusian and Russian journalists who write on military-patriotic, historical and integration topics. It was mentioned at the forum that an informal pool of such journalists had been formed who know, understand and help each other. Moreover, the forum provided new opportunities for such interaction, since the Union State Standing Committee invited outstanding historians, exploring the topic of the great Patriotic War, as well as descendants of great Soviet commanders. Communication with them has definitely brought much useful to journalists. This example eloquently testifies to the fact that even under the conditions when the whole world is ‘grabbed’ by the Internet and other information technologies, direct communication with each other considerably facilitates understanding. Journalists from various countries actively responded to the invitation to take part in the forum, showing that there’s evident need in such personal communication. Nevertheless, wide spread of information technologies requires constant update from journalists, since up to 90 percent of current youngsters take information from the global information network, notes Deputy Head of Presidential Administration of Belarus, Igor Buzovsky, “This makes public organisations and people, who are involved in youth policy, think how to influence on the prospects of development of our states, because the younger generation will realise ideas and plans, which are laid open by us in mass media.” The Internet has actually wiped away inter-state boundaries on the information space, and various opinions have been voiced at the forum regarding this situation. For example, such positive feature was mentioned as wider access towards positive, useful and substantial information. However, there’re also enough negative and often truly provocative stove-piping with far-reaching intentions. Remarkably, but this was told from a rostrum by journalists and the military: tendentiously selected information has become an element of so called hybrid wars. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the National State TV and Radio Company of Belarus, Gennady

Davydko, emphatically asserted behind-the-scenes, “It’s time to call things by their proper names. The third world war is going on — information war. It comes through human brains and souls but the goal is the same — redivision of the world.” The participants of the forum discussed the contemporary world in the epoch of new geopolitical realias during a panel discussion. According to Editor-in-Chief of the Sovetskaya Belorussiya, Pavel Yakubovich, popularisation of the world leads to atomization. New challenges come as a surprise for society. The role of mass media significantly enhance, since people receive information from global media, which try to service the interests of some forces. Director General of Rossiyskaya Gazeta FSBI, Pavel Negoitsa, told us how to work under such conditions. Western press slops much negative information over Russia. Nevertheless, it actively publishes objective information about Russia’s role in the Second World War… on commercial conditions. Such collaboration is conducted with 30 editions in 24 countries of the world. However, it’s evident that these media wouldn’t publish the content contradicting their editorial policy not for all money of the world. “The world is much more complex than we can imagine,” noted Mr. Negoitsa. “Journalists often ‘skate’ along the surface and don’t have time to penetrate deep into history, so we can’t do without gathering smart interlocutors around the newspaper.” In total, the Belarusian International Media Forum proved that it remains a recognised discussion venue for media representatives of the post-Soviet space. It hosted the session of the heads of state news agencies of the CIS. The forum adopted a resolution which calls on towards objective coverage of public issues, aimed to reach dialogue, in order not to allow skating into the abyss of information wars of ‘every one against every one’. Nevertheless, the resolution of the 10th Belarusian International Media Forum noted that information provocations have become a daily routine. The volume of disinformation considerably surpasses the volume of objective data, coming through mass media. This may lead to discrediting of the profession of journalists and loss of trust towards words. The resolution notes that it can be prevented through observing the norms of journalism ethics, developed on the basis of long-term experience, corporate solidarity and minimization of influence of up-to-the-minute political situation on the editorial policy. Moral and social responsibility of journalists acquires the most vital meaning. In other words, the importance of professional journalism rises repeatedly.

The heritage of the Great Victory of the peoples of the former USSR in the Great Patriotic War became the major topic of the forum

By Vladimir Bibikov

2015 беларусь.belarus

Deputies of Parliamentary Assembly discuss priorities of Union State development

he 70th anniversary of the Great Victory was the leitmotif of the 48th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, recently hosted by Grodno. Taking part were deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly, representatives of the Standing Committee of the Union State, representatives of ministries and departments of both countries, and heads of Grodno Regional Executive Committee. On the eve of the session, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly, Sergey Naryshkin (also Chairman of the Russian Historical Society), met Grodno historians to discuss how best to preserve the memory of the First World War and the Great Patriotic War events in Belarus and Russia. They discussed unfairly forgotten lessons from the First World War, the necessity of joint research, and the need to strengthen our national economies and defence capability. In course of the dialogue, Belarusian historians suggested that Mr. Naryshkin consider creating a regional branch of the Russian Historical Society, at Grodno State University. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly agreed, promising to look into the idea soon. In turn, the Chancellor of the Russian State University for the Humanities, Yefim Pivovar, suggested signing agreements between his own university and Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, to allow joint Master's and graduation projects, and to expand scientists’ access to archives. Mr. Naryshkin promised that Union parliamentarians will try to set aside funds from next year's budget to pay for

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Belta

Topical tasks against historical backdrop

the erection of a monument to heroes of the First World War, in Smorgon: there, 100 years ago, the Russian imperial army clashed with that of Germany. Mr. Naryshkin underlined, “The session is focused on identifying priorities and primary tasks for the Union State in the midterm: 2014-2017. Among our basic directions are trade and economic co-operation, a co-ordinated industrial policy, development of the agro-industrial sector, and a uniform scientific and technical policy. The latter encompasses 12 programmes and 18 projects, with a budget of 3.181 billion Roubles. These include the formation of a uniform migratory policy and an integrated transport system.” The First Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarus-Russia Union State, Vladimir Andreichenko, mentioned some challenges of recent years, saying, “Priorities for Union State development, confirmed in March, aim to increase mutual trade. Although little time has passed since the adoption of this document, the Parliamentary Assembly is already anxious that targets won’t be met. For example, goods turnover in the first quarter of this year fell by 30 percent (in comparison with the similar period of last year). Terms are frustrated and there are delays.” Participants of the session agreed that it is necessary to strengthen control over head of states’ decisions and to focus more on national draft laws, to ensure they conform to the Union State creation agreement. Union deputies also summed up the results of 2014 and made plans to hold the next, 49th, session of the Parliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg. Those gathered finally took part in a solemn ceremony of laying wreaths and flowers at Grodno’s Eternal Flame, in the city park, where Soviet soldiers, partisans and anonymous ‘fallen’ from the Great Patriotic War are buried. By Katerina Charovskaya

Union State programmes ensure stable portfolio of orders for Belarusian enterprises, in addition to three-shifts daily and high salaries

he economies of Belarus and Russia are experiencing hard times, obliging production volumes to be reduced and shorter shifts to be introduced for employees. Against this background, Minsk’s Integral JSC is demonstrating stable results and confidence in the future. One of the Union State’s leading microelectronics plants, it boasts an almost complete portfolio of orders, operating three shifts five days a week: even sometimes working at weekends. Some customers are obliged to wait for their orders, making payments in advance. The plant’s success is evident, as Integral’s Deputy General Director for Marketing and Sales, Alexander Dudkin, underlines. He believes that his enterprises’ success is founded in the sci-tech programmes which have been financed by the Union State budget, and in which his enterprise has taken part several times, each project running for 3-4 years. These considerable investments into new developments and technologies are allowing demand to be met for domestic micro-electronics: a clear goal of Belarusian and Russian leaders, to ensure the technological security of the Union State. Until recently, around 75 percent of the micro-electronics market was served by foreign supplies: an alarming trend. Since Russia and Belarus boast a history of producing rocket and nuclear weapons, and nuclear energy, and have a well-developed space industry, it makes no sense to be reliant on imported electronic components. Union State programmes aim to resolve the situation, supporting co-operation between Belarusian and Russian companies and scientific-research institutions. As a result, Mr.

VITALIY GIL

Basis for success

Dudkin believes that Integral’s exports to Russia are likely to rise by around 30 percent in 2015. Integral is a pioneer in developing Union State sci-tech programmes. Corresponding member of Belarus’ National Academy of Sciences Anatoly Belous, the Deputy Director of the Belmicrosystems Sci-Tech Centre (a branch of the company), explains, “Among the first Union State programmes were Baza (with 50 new microcircuits developed), and Osnova (developing microcircuits and highly-accurate devices for the space and nuclear industries). Both programmes were successfully realised, leading to over 80 Russian enterprises using our micro-devices.” The Osnova (Foundation) Union State programme was fulfilled between 2010 and 2013, involving around 40 Belarusian and Russian partners. Their joint work resulted in several years of planning for new production. Belarus alone developed and mastered batch production of 62 new types of microcircuit, eight types of transistor and 16 types of stabiliser. The Russians have also demonstrated progress: using Belarusian components, they are producing high-tech devices and mechanisms. Importantly, their products are now durable under the most extreme conditions, able to remain functional for years, despite temperature and pressure fluctuations, and under the influence of space radiation. Microelectronic devices based on Osnova developments are being applied at over 80 enterprises across Russia, Belarus and other CIS states. The Soyuzny Teplovizor sci-tech programme aims to develop and master production of new generation thermal cameras, for application across various spheres, including engineering.

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Russian and Belarusian radio-electronic companies are already placing orders (for fulfilment through until 2017), confirming the need for integral microcircuits and semiconductor devices. These high-tech products will be used to manufacture over 120 new calculating and radio-electronic systems, with diverse application — including for the spheres of nuclear energy and space-research. Many Belarusian and Russian electronic engineers’ developments are truly unique, as confirmed by applications to register new technologies in Belarus and Russia. Over 40 registration certificates have been received for chip layouts, although only seven or eight enterprises exist within the former Soviet Union producing microcircuits and similar devices for modern electronic products. Among them is Minsk’s Integral: the only company to have preserved a complete technological line. It is investing into the future, developing new electronic micro-devices, materials and technologies, producing thousands of electronic elements. These are finding customers in dozens of countries, being used within watches, calculators, white goods and, even, spacecraft. Not long ago, Integral won a tender to supply electronic microcircuits to India’s National Space Agency, chosen above rivals from the USA and other highly developed states. Integral’s produce is especially popular in Russia, which purchases over 80 percent of its manufactures. Very few Russian planes and spacecraft fail to use them, and the same is true of automated systems at nuclear power stations and other top-level sites. Moreover, Belarusian enterprises are gaining a

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great share of the Russian market: in 2014, exports sales rose by 6 percent, with volumes rising even further. After the USSR’s collapse, previously strong enterprises across the Soviet Union were left in a dire state, losing the economic ties established over decades, for both supply of components and sales markets. No money was available for technical modernisation and, importantly, qualified staff were lost, as salaries fell. Integral is very much focused on raising employee qualifications, and is fortunate in attracting alumni from the most prestigious Belarusian universities. Its salaries match the average in Minsk, while leading specialists earn even more. Belarus and Russian have already agreed a new Union State programme involving Integral: Technology-SG. Mr. Belous informs us that three more Union State programmes are planned involving Belarusian electronic engineers. Naturally, microelectronics enterprises need to keep up to date, to maintain competitiveness. Uniting Belarusian and Russian enterprises’ scientific and production potential should strengthen co-operation. One possible union includes Belarusian Integral and Russian Roselektronika: being one of five pilot integration industrial projects developed by our Union State over the past few years. Mr. Dudkin believes the idea remains topical, saying, “Concentrating material, intellectual and financial resources is beneficial for the Union State. We’ll settle all issues with our Russian colleagues at the proper level. An authoritative consulting agency has already assessed the enterprises, so it’s time for our two states’ governments to act.” By Vladimir Yakovlev

Students unafraid of hard work Combined Belarusian-Russian student groups become new union tradition

By Marina Zubovich

ALEXANDER MITSIUKOV

he Belarusian town of Ostrovets is a hive of summer employment for Belarusian and Russian young people. Two years ago, President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree and assigned the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (being built with Russian support) the status of an All-Belarusian Youth Construction Site. The small town in Grodno Region has become a hub of activity for student construction groups from Belarus and Russia. This year, more than 400 are working on site: double that of last year; it is the largest Russian-Belarusian team of the summer. The Second Secretary of the Central Committee of Belarusian Republican Youth Union, Sergey Klishevich, notes that there were a great many applicants. He stresses that the first consideration in being accepted is good health and stamina, as well as being up to date with studies and having ‘2nd or 3rd category qualification in at least one of the construction specialties’. Among those chosen are 58 students from Belgorod, Obninsk and Moscow, as well as 345 from higher educational establishments across Belarus. The Central Committee of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union tells us that most work will begin

from July 1st, with payments being noteworthy. After all, the work isn’t easy, involving reinforcement, concreting and masonry of brick walls for garages and other buildings, for the maintenance services of the Nuclear Power Plant, as well as ancillary works. Another team is newly formed in Kursk, including seven students from Gomel, who are to work at health camps. Meanwhile, 57 Belarusian students, from Vitebsk and Gomel, are working at children’s camps: Plamya (Flame) (in Moscow area) and Orlenok (in Tuapse). “Girls are working as maids, while boys are taking on landscaping jobs,” comments the commissioner of the students’ groups, a fifth-year student at the History Department of Gomel’s State Frantsisk Skorina University, Maxim Belets. “Every year, there is great competition to enter the teams, especially those operating in the ‘south’. We choose those who’ve already proven themselves to be active in student groups, with good results, and who can join us early.” Those from Gomel are being housed in Orlenok dormitory, in Novomikhailovsky, near the camp. Students from the Vitebsk Veterinary Academy neighbour them, and work in the kitchen of one of the canteens. All arrive by official bus, working from 8am until 7pm. The shift schedule gives them the opportunity to relax and see local sights, combining business with pleasure. Each is to receive about 10,000 Russian Roubles for their work: decent money for a student. However, many admit that they’ve come hoping to enjoy the warm sea, to make new friends and, perhaps, to find romance. Almost 5,500 Belarusians and Russians are taking part in this year’s ‘combined’ teams: 274 groups (each named after a Great Patriotic War Hero, in honour of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory).

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ext year, the Union State’s prestigious award in the field of literature and art will see six nominees (four from Belarus and two from Russia) struggling for the honour, with three to be acknowledged by the jury. Minsk’s session of the expert council has named the forthcoming award ‘musical’, with five nominees. In coincidence with the Great Victory’s 70th anniversary, melodies embracing the years of the war and post-war are foremost,

Hearty songs with significance Expert council names nominees for Union State award in field of literature and art exploring tragedy and national pride. The Russian nominees include: the War Years Songs musical project, led by the Artistic Leader and Chief Conductor of the Tchaikovsky State Academic Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseev; and eight melodies by popular composer Oleg Ivanov, a People’s Artiste of Russia (including the much-loved Bench-Heaters, Olesya and Native Village). Belarus is submitting projects known and loved in both countries: composer Igor Luchenok’s cycle of patriotic songs devoted to the Victory’s 70th jubilee; Syabry folk group, led by Anatoly Yarmolenko; composer Oleg Yeliseenkov and poet Ivan Yurkin’s Where the Arrow-wood Blossomed album; conductor Mikhail Drinevsky (widely known for his active tour activity and concert programmes with the Tsitovich National Academic Folk Choir; Archpriest Fiodor Povny’s choir; and sculptor Vladimir Slobodchikov and architect Igor Morozov, for their monument to St. Patriarch

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Alexy II, which was unveiled in October 2012 near Minsk’s Memorial-Church of All Saints (attended by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill). The major criteria for choosing nominees have remained unchanged for years: each should have made a considerable contribution towards strengthening fraternal and friendly relations between our Russian and Belarusian nations, developing their further co-operation and enriching their cultural life. Past award winners have included People’s Writer of Belarus Ivan Shamyakin, Russian actor Alexey Petrenko, Belarusian playwright Alexey Dudarev, artists Mikhail Savitsky, Valentin Sidorov, the Tkachev brothers and Leonid Shchemelev, actors Alexander Kalyagin and Rostislav Yankovsky, composer Alexandra Pakhmutova, and conductor Mikhail Finberg. The Deputy Chairman of the State Secretary of the Union State and a member of the expert council, Ivan Bambiza, noted at the Minsk session that it’s becoming more challenging to choose. He asserts, “These are outstanding personalities who have greatly contributed to Belarusian and Russian culture. I can’t imagine how it’s possible to choose only three. It will be difficult to make a decision. However, public discussion will help. In recent years, we’ve received a great deal of feedback, including negative views, and take all opinions into consideration.” This year, the expert council includes 15 people: Russian and Belarusian figures of literature and art, representatives of artistic unions and of our two countries’ state agencies. Public discussion began on June 10th and will run until September 10th. Afterwards, the council will listen to conclusions positive and negative, choosing the winners by taking into account public opinion. As is traditional, three best projects will be announced by the President of Belarus, who will bestow diplomas at the opening of the 2016 International Slavianski Bazaar Festival of Arts, held in Vitebsk. By Yuliana Leonovich

Belta

May summer never end Union sends more than 1,500 children from Belarus and Russia to recuperate

he first month of the school holidays will be long remembered by 270 pupils from Bryansk, Tula, Kaluga and Gomel Regions. The youngsters are spending 21 days at the Zhemchuzhina (Pearl) Children’s Rehabilitation and Wellness Centre, near Lepel, in Vitebsk Region. Enjoying leisure activities and useful treatments, the Union State paid trip aims to bring a better quality of life to those affected by the Chernobyl accident. This year, more than 1,500 children from Belarus and Russia are receiving similar trips. According to the Director of the Republican Centre for Recuperation and Sanatorium Resort Treatment, Gennady Bolbatovsky, the Union State has been paying for such recuperative trips for children from the Chernobyl-affected regions since 2002: in all, 5,775 Belarusians have benefitted. This year, another 365 children from Gomel, Mogilev and Brest Regions will receive the Union State permits. Of these, 210 will go to the Black Sea, to the Shakhtinsky Tekstilshchik holiday hotel, located near Tuapse (winner of this year’s tender, organised by the Permanent Committee of the Union State).

This children’s sanatorium style recuperation complex has accepted Union State schoolchildren since 2003. The Shakhtinsky Tekstilshchik boasts all the necessary facilities, including wonderful sea views and its own beach. Each day spent there is remembered forever. Meanwhile, there is an intensive educational and cultural programme in which schoolchildren from Belarus and Russia take part. The Union State topic runs like a scarlet thread through our Russian-Belarusian partnership, including at our Days of the Union State and thematic evenings of games, contests, concerts, sports events, quizzes and round table discussions. The Belarusian Zhemchuzhina is the second facility to meet the criteria of the tender, having been accepting children for the past 12 years. More than 2,000 children from Russia and Belarus have been able to improve their health while staying there, notes the Director of the Centre, Vera Zakrevskaya. She tells us proudly, “We view it as a matter of honour that we receive such children. We work hard to justify this trust, employing highly qualified doctors, including specialists, and using the most modern medical equipment. Our treatment and rehabilitation base is being constantly expanded, thanks to the Department for Mitigating the Consequences of the Catastrophe at the Chernobyl NPP, within the Ministry for Emergency Situations of Belarus. Special attention should be paid to child nutrition, so we serve six meals daily designed to remove radionuclides from the body and to strengthen the immune system. All our ingredients are natural.” Zhemchuzhina also offers a variety of educational and cultural programmes, including on the nature of the Union State. Its library contains more than 2,000 books, donated by the Permanent Committee. Meanwhile, the children enjoy evening entertainment, quizzes, sports competitions, meetings with interesting people, and excursions to sites in Minsk and Vitebsk, to the Khatyn Memorial Complex, and to Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve. Zhemchuzhina will be admitting more children towards autumn, promising an itinerary just as exciting. Joint children’s Russian-Belarusian recuperative trips are invaluable, as are our Days of the Union State. Our fraternity of nations helps fill children from various regions of Belarus and Russia with a sense of pride and belonging. By Lilia Khlystun

 Since 2002, the Union State has provided more than 265 million Russian Roubles, including 39.8 million in 2015, to pay for the rehabilitation of children from contaminated areas. This has allowed more than 16,000 children to improve their health at camps in Belarus and Russia.

2015 беларусь.belarus

SCIENCE

Innovations from scientist Large Hadron Collider set to bring new discoveries, while researchers work on new project

team of international specialists is now creating the NIKA collider, at Dubna’s Joint Institute of Nuclear Research. The innovation is expected to be no less impressive than the LHC, upon which Belarusian specialists worked. Using this nuclear collider, scientists plan to model the first moments of the Universe, revealing its structure and the secrets of dark matter, dark energy, black holes and additional spatial measurements. There will also be practical applications, such as testing electronics for spacecraft, trans-mutation of radioactive waste, and new approaches to energy generation. The project is to be launched in 2017 and, unsurprisingly, nuclear energy scientists are keenly anticipating results. Belarusian scientists are responsible for developing the most important section of the electro-magnetic calorimeter: a palm-sized gamma detector, which allows the massive collider to ‘see’. The Deputy Director of the BSU’s National Scientific-Educational Centre of Particle Physics and High Energy, Mikhail Baturitsky, tells us that the device has unique microcircuits developed by the University and produced by Integral JSC’s Transistor branch. The jury of St. Petersburg’s 2015 Technical Fair recently praised the gamma detector, to which it awarded a gold

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Mikhail Baturitsky and his gamma quant detector

medal. Belarusian State University scientists also won ‘gold’ for their innovative device measuring bacteria vitality, using bio-chips, which detects infectious agents many times more quickly than traditional means and has wide application at clinics and hospitals treating diverse infectious diseases. It will also help assess the efficiency of antimicrobial drugs and allow rapid diagnosis of flu viruses. A Belarusian-developed device to study airglow was also awarded. The optical spectrometer, aimed primarily at geophysical research, including earthquake prediction, is already operating on board the International Space Station and, according to cosmonauts, is proving useful and efficient. Developers of a unique x-ray microscope also enjoyed success at the Russian fair, alongside those responsible for pharmaceutical temozolomide and the anti-tumour drugs temobel and temodex (used for chemotherapy treatment of brain tumours) and various nutritional supplements. Overall, BSU scientists won 11 gold medals, and other Belarusian universities participating in the fair saw similar success. The Belarusian National Technical University took the prestigious, special prize for developing innovative metal ceramic covering technologies (although it won fewer gold medals). By Dmitry Gomelsky

Premiere

The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus offers Bizet’s enchanting opera of Carmen just before closing of theatrical season

Magic of of Carmen Oksana Yakushevich as Carmen

Mikhail Nesterov

f you want a holiday, go to the Bolshoi… Regardless of the time of year, the opera revives your spirits. In bad weather, you feel warmth, and in hot, only coolness. If you feel tired after a working day, the beauty of the performance will awaken you. Even when your mood is quite low, you will leave cheered. Much lies in the anticipation, which only heightens once the conductor's baton begins to offer its blessing over the orchestra, beginning its musical marathon with the overture. The foyer and hall are lit by elegant candelabrum and chandeliers of the highest quality, with upright doormen and security guards welcome you at the entrance. It’s hard not to smile, since they are there to ensure everyone’s safety. It’s a great feeling. Audiences tend to make an effort with their outfits, although not all ladies wear evening dress. Some don jeans and T-shirts or tunics with bright prints, following this season’s trend for informality. It’s an eclectic scene. My neighbour, who is a student, tells me that the Vienna State Opera does not enforce a dress code, since many arrive straight from work. However, she likes to wear a magnificent dress, believing it more suitable. If I go to the opera after work, I tend to take a light scarf, to liven up my appearance, and ensure I place my favourite perfume (‘Alien’ by Thierry Mugler)

2015 беларусь.belarus

Premiere

Mikhail Nesterov

into my handbag in the morning. A few spritzes of scent work wonders! Sitting in the audience, you smell a bewitching blend of fragrances: from oriental-arboreal aromas, with top notes of jasmine, to musky scents and floral meadows. It’s like a ‘symphony’ for the nose. Some audience members have been attending the theatre since it first opened, in 1933, when legendary People’s Artiste of the USSR Larisa Aleksandrovskaya sang the role of Carmen. Grand dames like to recall past performances, discussing the merits of various singers in various roles, as they sip their tea with friends. Five performers have sung the role recently. Oksana Volkova, an Honoured Artiste of Belarus, now sings at La Scala. Those who follow such things know each artiste’s biography and performance history in detail. In autumn, when Oksana returns to Minsk, her fans will gather to see her, and I’ll be among them! It’s impossible not to admire her tremendous mezzo-soprano: she has so much depth of tone and is known for her charm. Her portrayal of opera heroines is second to none, especially when the roles are passionate and strong, as for Carmen. People say that the role becomes a calling card. I can hardly wait for autumn to arrive. I’m looking forward to seeing Oksana Yakushevich play Carmen, as she’s so brimming with energy.

I heard her in Grey Legend, as Lyubka, and Aida, playing Amneris. I once read that professionals compare her to Jessye Norman. It will be interesting to see how she copes with the most complicated role of Carmen, as musicologists assert it to be. Attending the opera is almost like taking the sacrament, so beautiful are the voices. It doesn’t matter who stages Carmen, or how, I love it each time. It awakens the best in me. I’ve been browsing the June issue of Parterre magazine, which is devoted to the second Ballet Summer at the Bolshoi and to the sixth festival of opera and ballet art, entitled Evenings of the Bolshoi Theatre at Radziwill Castle. My colleague, Tatiana Teodorovich, likes to quote Nietzsche, who was an enthusiastic fan of Carmen. He said: ‘When I listen to Bizet, I become a better person, a better musician and a better listener. This work releases me’. I feel just the same! No other art form gives me such sensations, making me feel alive, clever and loving. It makes me feel that life loves me. I experience tremendous emotions at the opera. As soon as I sit down, either on a soft chair in the stalls or on a folding press chair, I feel that my life is purposeful, and an air of tranquillity descends. I feel at one with all in the hall around me.

ne of the most popular musical dramas in the world is Carmen, created by Henri Meilhac and Lud ov i c Ha l é v y, and based on the short story by Prosper Mérimée; it is an eternal opera masterpiece. As Andrey Galanov, the conductor-director tells us, some pieces continue to charm us through each new generation, regardless of performers or directors. Something unusual and mystic occurs. For those who have forgotten the plot, I will remind you that Carmen is a beautiful Gipsy working at a cigarette factory. She is arrested for fighting at work, and placed under the guard of Sergeant José. Having fascinated him, she persuades him to release her. Such is her power that successful José, who has a modest and loving fiancée, and a lonely mother, is changed forever. In freeing her, he loses his employment, being obliged to take work as a simple soldier. However, in the heat of a quarrel, he raises his hand against his chief. To avoid prison, he joins the smugglers with whom Carmen has been keeping company. Driven to such ends, the last straw is his witnessing of Carmen’s flirtation with handsome toreador Es-

Scene from the performance

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camillo, who promises to honour her with his kill. José begs Carmen to return to him, but she refuses to be ‘owned’ and dismisses him, leading to him jealously murdering her, so that nobody may be with her if not him. Carmen celebrates its 140th anniversary this year and, no doubt, has changed the face of European and world musical culture. It has been staged seven times at the Bolshoi alone, with producer Galina Galkovskaya this year devoting the performance to all the great masters of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus: its soloists, conductors, directors, choirmasters, ballet masters, concertmaster, artistes and musicians. Their joint effort is responsible for this wonderful theatre. I can’t help but agree with Galina’s sentiment. Carmen is always received with delight, ovations, and shouts of ‘bravo’. Every actor currently in the lead role is wonderful, from Frantsisk Skorina medal holding Eduard Martynyuk (José) and Tatiana Gavrilova (Micaëla), to Honoured Artiste of Belarus Stanislav Trifonov (Escamillo), conducted by Ivan Kostyakhin. I am no expert but I can’t help feeling some fragmentation in the current staging, and pauses without music, especially near the beginning. However, after the fortune-telling scene, when José begins to fall more deeply in love with Carmen, the performance gains more power and richness. We feel the tragic thread pulling the characters towards their destiny. Ms. Galkovskaya admits that she finds Carmen's tragic love story fascinating. She tells us that Bizet’s character is doomed, in failing to understand the true power of love. She has only affection for José, contrasting with real passion for the toreador. Her own actions lead to her death. Of course, we all find Carmen attractive, being beautiful, independent and proud. I’ve watched several screen versions, and read the short story by Prosper Mérimée as a student. At that time, I saw that Carmen wanted to avoid the commonplace. She needs not simply a rich husband or lover, but a real hero. José, played by Martynyuk, is lacking: unable

Mikhail Nesterov

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to unlock the potential of her heart. Carmen is confused to some extent, being unable to articulate her needs, as so wonderfully portrayed by Oksana Yakushevich. Perhaps, this could be emphasised for the audience more clearly. Martynyuk is a talented actor, able to transform for a role. As the Duke in Rigoletto, he was a hero-seducer; here, he is a simple person, whose internal beauty and resoluteness is revealed through his falling in love. Nevertheless, he is not the hero Carmen desires. Some women seek out powerful, brave and handsome men, having a sub-

conscious thirst for healthy and strong offspring. Seeing Carmen’s struggle, we feel compassion and cannot condemn her choice. I admit that I’ve experienced a similar situation of having to turn down a marriage proposal. I’m not the first or last such woman to experience this. The theme of love and death is one able to stir a chord within us. Who would ever grow tired of listening to Bizet’s sensual Spanish music? He never visited Spain, yet captured such beautiful melodies. He portrays love as a little bird with wings, to strains familiar around the globe. His March of

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Crowd scenes in Carmen opera are little performances in the canvas of the stage action. In the foreground Oksana Yakushevich is in the centre, Eduard Martynyuk (José — on the right), Dmitry Kapilov (Tsuniga — on the left)

the Toreadors is just as famous. On the opening night, this recognisable melody, with its rhythms of flamenco and sevillanas, seemed as fresh as if it had only been written. Time passed in the blink of an eye, with each audience member entranced. It seemed even as if I was on stage, taking part, so drawn in was I, as Carmen played with a flower… The Bolshoi chorus, headed by choirmaster-producer Nina Lomanovich, is also worthy of great praise. Long gone are the days when the chorus

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were perceived as mere extras, who were placed as if rooted to the ground. In Carmen, as in other stagings at the Bolshoi, each has their own character, helping create the illusion of individual destinies, with their movements justified and directed. The sets and costumes for Carmen have been created by Finnish costumier Anna Kontek, featuring a great number of frilled ‘bata de faralies’ dresses. Each is luxurious, with every costume different to those around it.

Has the Bolshoi Theatre managed to bring the bright Spanish style of Seville to the stage, with its pleasures, fatal passions, great emotions and realistic human relations? Has the cast and crew brought Bizet's work to life, so that we feel blood pulsing through the veins of the performers? Does the opera feel relevant to our modern world? In my opinion the answer is unequivocal: yes! By Valentina Zhdanovich

FESTIVALS

Summer with ballet 36

Mikhail Nesterov

Soloists Olga Gayko and Igor Anoshko in Swan Lake performance

As is traditional, Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus launches summer holidays with six unforgettable evenings in the company of world ballet stars, as well as Evenings of the Bolshoi Theatre at Radziwill Castle Festival, held in Nesvizh 2015 беларусь.belarus

Irina Tuminene

FESTIVALS

Scene from Romeo and Juliet ballet (Leonid Yakobson St. Petersburg Academic Ballet Theatre)

he Ballet Summer at the Bolshoi was launched last season, becoming a highlight of the cultural year, with its classic and contemporary performances. Featuring world-renowned ballet stars, it included premiere performances for the Belarusian Bolshoi Theatre. Audiences enjoyed three thematic evenings: An Evening of

Choreography by George Balanchine; An Evening of Choreography by Jiří Kylián; and An Evening of Georgian Ballet. Belarusian soloists were joined by the Georgian State Ballet, under legendary Nina Ananiashvili. This year’s Ballet Summer at the Bolshoi offered a kaleidoscope of choreographic styles, schools and directions, from Belarusian, Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Estonian, German and Swedish dancers.

Evenings of the Bolshoi Theatre at Radziwill Castle Festival at the end of the season presents the opportunity to see and to hear in ‘concentrated’ form all the fun of the main theatre stage of Belarus беларусь.belarus 2015

Tchaikovsky’s timeless and captivating classic, Swan Lake, opened the festival, presenting the mystical lake, where a beautiful maiden-bird awaits her prince. The roles of Odette, the white swan, and her antagonist, Odile, were performed by Honoured Artist of Russia Alexandra Timofeyeva: the prima ballerina of the Kremlin Ballet Theatre. She has danced Princess Florine, Avora in Sleeping Beauty, and lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Giselle and Cinderella, as well as playing Scheherazade, in A Thousand and One Nights, Medora in Le Corsaire. The next day, Ms. Timofeyeva played the magical golden bird in Stravinsky’s Firebird, timed to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of great ballet choreographer Mikhail Fokin.

FESTIVALS

Giselle — Yekaterina Borchenko, the Honoured Artist of Russia in the same-name performance

The second Ballet Summer at the Bolshoi included classic and modern performances, with the participation of famous dancers, and Leonid Yakobson St. Petersburg Academic Ballet Theatre, ending in a grand Gala concert

Leonid Yakobson St. Petersburg Academic Ballet Theatre presented Prokofiev’s tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, with choreography by Anton Pimonov and libretto by Igor Konyayev. Shakespeare’s classic was portrayed through a clash of dance styles: conservative and innovative, classic and modern, exploring the contrast between tradition and anarchy, the search for new forms and for professional perfection, and the struggle of ideas and egos. The classic Prokofiev-Radlov-Lavrovsky libretto, set on the streets of Verona, is replaced by the rivalry of creative confrontation. Whole art systems compete rather than ‘too equally dear families’. In their place are the Capulet Classic Ballet Theatre and the Montague Modern Dance Theatre, personified by People’s Artist of Russia Vyacheslav

Okunev, and Honoured Worker of Culture of Russia Yevgeny Ganzburg. The rivalry of Goldoni and Gozzi, and of Moliere and the troupe of the Italian court theatre are well-known ‘real’ examples of such conflict. Pimonov and Konyayev’s Juliet is a prima on pointes: top of her class. Meanwhile, Romeo wears jeans and dances in contemporary style. The ‘nurse’ is played as a concertmaster, giving the future ballerinas gifts of chocolate. The audience plays the conflicting residents of Verona: fans of high classic and modern dance. Only the tragic denouement remains the same. This year also saw the premiere of Laurencia, a ballet staged by People’s Artist of Georgia and Russia Nina Ananiashvili: a long-time friend of the Bolshoi Theatre. The audience gave an

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FESTIVALS contests. Yekaterina Zinovyeva-Provalinskaya, a corps de ballet member, who recently graduated from the Acting Department of the Theatre Department of the Academy of Arts, set the tone, playing a geneticist seeking the gene of creativity. Her reasoning was illustrated by bright choreographic paintings from the history of human civilization, starting with Zeus and other Greek gods, as well as with creative visuals. The story includes famous ballet stories, as well as stylish modern miniatures. Berlin State Ballet soloist Vladislav Marinov shocked audiences with his subtle humor and virtuosic artistry, with 101 ballet positions, and the concert ended with a fantasy on a Belarusian theme, performed by all participants: soloists and musicians.

Evenings of the Bolshoi Theatre at Radziwill Castle opened in Nesvizh with Stravinsky’s Firebird and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade: from the heritage of the legendary Russian Seasons, performed almost exactly as they were conceived by the great Russian choreographer, Mikhail Fokin

By Mikhalina Cherkashina

Mikhail Nesterov

enthusiastic ovation, with particular applause for Royal Ballet of Sweden prima ballerina Lali Kandelaki, who took the lead role. The laureate of international contests is a soloist with the Tbilisi State Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Paliashvili. Yekaterina Borchenko danced in Giselle, Ou Les Wilis, by the Bolshoi Theatre; the Honoured Artist of Russia is a soloist with the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and, from 2003 to 2007, served in the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. One act ballet Who am I?, composed by Belarusian Sergey Kortes, was also well received, alongside Six Dances, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the Dance Over Time concert. Meanwhile, the Gala concert was directed by Olga Kostel, a laureate of international

Soloists Irina Yaromkina and Oleg Yaromkin in Firebird ballet

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SUPERIOR SAMPLE

Takatoshi Machiyama was born in Osaka, Japan. He graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg and has been dancing for four years at the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre. Recently, he became its leading soloist and, now, not without pride, he notes that he is the first foreigner to dance leading roles at the Belarusian Bolshoi.

ow did Takatoshi (Taka, as his local friends call him) come to join Belarusian ballet and why has he no desire to return home? How did Fate bring you here, to Minsk? After graduating from the academy in St. Petersburg, I was offered a training course at the theatre but my parents couldn’t afford to support me. I needed to work so I began searching, and discovered the Minsk Theatre in Japan. I met a Belarusian dancer who recommended that I try my luck in Minsk. I arrived, showed my skills, and was accepted into the troupe.

Japanese Do your parents work in ballet? My parents have no relation to ballet at all, although my sister does, running a small ballet school in Japan. My mother always wanted me to dance but I lacked interest. I practised ballet with my sister but dropped out several times. I only became fond of ballet when I was 13-14 years old. Before that, I considered it to be only for girls, who liked to put on a beautiful tutu and dance. A man’s role was, to my mind, only to lift

them, and twist. I changed my mind on watching films of performances by such tremendous dancers as Ángel Corella and Mikhail Baryshnikov. It was then that I decided that I wanted to study ballet seriously. After ten years of rugby... Yes. My father and older brother are rugby players. I did not always play with enthusiasm and suffered a serious injury, which knocked me out of the sport. I then tried the sprint, running the 800m

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pirouette and 1,500m, and tried throwing events in athletics. Nevertheless, ballet won out. Are your parents proud of your successes? They’ve never told me explicitly. In fact, my father says: ‘You’re a leading soloist — so what? Don’t show off. Look forward, as you still have much to achieve.’ I complain that it’s hard for me but he remonstrates that it’s the path I’ve chosen so I need to apply myself. My parents believe that success is a long, hard journey.

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Do you miss home? Certainly; home is the best place on Earth. My parents have a very small apartment in Osaka, which is too tiny for all of us. I’m always bumping into something but it’s my home, and it’s the best. Will you return to Japan? Not yet. If I wasn’t a ballet dancer, maybe I would leave. It’s too early yet, since Japan has a quite different system, in which young dancers aren’t given the

Mikhail Nesterov

SUPERIOR SAMPLE chance for lead roles, regardless of their talent. Does the public recognise you in the street? Once, I was on a bus, when a woman asked me: ‘Are you Machiyama?’ I nodded and said hello, to which she told me that she’d seen my performance and was impressed by my pirouette. At that time, I couldn’t actually perform them well, so I apologised. Usually, when people recognise me, they ask for a photo or autograph, which is quite pleasant. However, Minskers tend to treat ballet dancers with more familiarity than in Japan, where the art is treated with more overt fascination, being ‘foreign’. People often wait at the theatre door there for photographs. Ballet is so un-Japanese, unlike traditional kabuki. Moreover, tickets go for over $100: sometimes even $300. People can only afford to attend perhaps twice annually, so the experience has more mystery. Here, as in Russia, classical ballet is a well-known art and affordable. People can go to the theatre every week if they like. Judging by the price of tickets, you’d be a rich man in Japan. Yes, they pay well… but it’s not for me, as I’ve explained. I’m not bothered about having a car and a flat. I just want to work and learn, to prove myself as a true artiste. I want to have my own style, so that people say that nobody else dances like me. It’s a tall order, but it’s my aspiration. Do you have a Belarusian beauty in your heart? Not really. She’s from Ukraine, but dances here, in Minsk. She’s a soloist with our theatre: Yana Shtangey. She represented Belarus at ‘Eurovision Young Dancers-2013’ and we’ve been together for two and a half years. Will you marry? It’s not yet our plan but, when the season ends, we’ll go to her hometown, and to mine. We visited Japan last summer. As for a wedding, I hope that it will be soon. By Irina Svirko

EUROPEAN GAMES

Medal standings Most participants of the First 2015 European Games, hosted by Baku, viewed the event as nothing unusual. Continental Olympic Games are held in other parts of the world, so why not in Europe? However, sceptics state that the European calendar is overloaded with high-level sports tournaments and noted that some athletes arrived in poor form. Nevertheless, the event was well-attended and results were pleasing, with ten Belarusian champions emerging. Will power Sambo Champions: Stepan Popov and Tatiana Matsko The inclusion of sambo at the Baku Games was a phenomenon in itself, having never before been included in a programme so close to the Olympics. The martial art is popular across the CIS and proved so in Azerbaijan. In the under 74kg category, Belarusian Stepan Popov took gold, beating Azerbaijan’s Amil Gasimov, who suffered an injury during the duel. Sadly, Amil’s plight seemed to attract more attention than Stepan’s victory. Nevertheless, the award was satisfying, following Stepan’s defeat of uncompromising Russian Azamat Sidakov, Romanian Valentin Damian and Poland’s Sebastian Cieslik. Tatiana Matsko’s path to the top was no less thorny. The recent student of Grodno State University defeated Ukrainian Yelena Saiko by a hair’s breadth in the decisive fight, having endured a painful hold from the Ukrainian shortly before the conclusion. Tatiana admits, “I realised that I needed to keep resisting the Ukrainian. I’d met her before, in the semi-final of the European Championship, and had beaten her 3:0. However, this time, Yelena managed a painful hold, and I heard a loud crunch from my elbow. I thought it was the end but I held out until the end.”

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EUROPEAN GAMES

Pull faster! Rowing and canoeing Champions: Alexander Bogdanovich and Andrey Bogdanovich, Marina Litvinchuk and Margarita Makhneva

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Belarusian rowers were expected to claim various medals in Baku, with Vladimir Shantarovich’s team being globally-recognised for its talent. Before the games, fans had been delighted with the athletes’ performances, and received their first excitement from the gold earned by Olympic champions Andrey Bogdanovich and Alexander Bogdanovich, in the 100m. Their speed was undeniable, and brought a lift to the whole team. Marina Litvinchuk (previously Poltoran) claimed two gold medals: in the 200m kayak-pair, partnering Margarita Makhneva; and in her 'solo' 5km row (just an hour after her other performance). Kayakers Roman Petrushenko, Vitaly Belko, Pavel Medvedev and Oleg Yurenya took two bronze medals between them, confirming that Shantarovich’s squad has a bright future.

Polite accuracy Marksmanship Champion: Vitaly Bubnovich

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Armenian Hrachik Babayan led in the 10m shooting event initially but suffered from nerves, allowing Belarusian Vitaly Bubnovich and Italian Niccolò Campriani to battle for the top medals. Only twice has the Belarusian managed to defeat the Italian, causing fans some anxiety, and Campriani was on good form, leading until the final round of shots. Fortunately, the Italian then wavered, his two inaccurate shots allowing Bubnovich to win by just 0.2 points!

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EUROPEAN GAMES

Strong-willed girl

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Freestyle wrestling Champion: Vasilisa Marzalyuk The under 75kg women’s wrestling provided proof of them equalling men in determination and passion. Russia’s Yekaterina Bukina faced Ms. Marzalyuk, from Minsk, in the final. Vasilisa won the first period and appeared close to victory but found a worthy opponent in Yekaterina, who fought hard to the last seconds. Vasilisa managed to defend her champion’s title, announcing afterwards, “I’m happy, but hope that I have more to give. I believe I have further work to do and could have performed better here. However, the fact that I managed to win gold without being in optimum condition brings me comfort.”

Sun on spokes Cycling Champions: Yelena Omelyusik and Vasily Kirienko

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Despite ProTour grandees not taking part in the event won by Belarusians Vasily and Yelena, their triumphs in both stages and all-round standings made their medals worthy indeed. Kirienko’s ‘golden beginning’ in the individual time trials left his rivals standing, while Omelyusik won the group race with well-known British team Sky, ahead of Dutch cyclists and Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma. Kirienko called his first European Games victory ‘prestigious’. He asserts, “This is the first time that such a sports competition has been held on such a large scale. Now I have a gold medal, I’ve gone down in history. It’s still unknown when and where the next European Games will be held.” The victory may be Kirienko’s most significant achievement of the season, as Sky team isn’t including the Belarusian in the multi-stage Tour de France.

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EUROPEAN GAMES

Performed beautifully Rhythmic gymnastics Champions: Ksenia Cheldyshkina, Anna Dudenkova, Maria Kadobina, Valeria Pishchelina and Arina Tsitsilina Success in rhythmic gymnastics depends on more than just graceful execution and complexity of elements. This subjective sport is unpredictable, making victory all the most special. For the past decade, our team has brought medals from various top events, and the recent European Games were no exception. The leader of the national team, Melitina Stanyuta, took an individual medal, while the squad claimed a group event gold, ahead of the Russians and the traditionally strong Azerbaijanis, as well as Israel and Ukraine (all of which took medals). Small mistakes in all-round events prevented the girls from rising above the third place initially, but they surpassed everyone in their exercise with six Indian clubs and two hoops. According to the head coach of the Belarusian team, Irina Leparskaya, this victory makes a weighty contribution to future successes, including at the next Olympic Games.

Others Representatives of Belarus claimed 13 medals at the European Games, with many of fundamental importance. Dmitry Asanov, aged 19, made a debut sensation. The only Belarusian to reach the final of the boxing tournament, he has gained a place at the next World Championship. Junior swimmer Nikita Tsmyg broke our national record over the 200m backstroke, with a time of 1 minute and 59.46 seconds, despite the absence of many traditional leaders, who were preparing for the forthcoming World Championship. Her performance gained her silver. Our trampoline tumbling and Greco-Roman wrestling also proved pleasing, bringing lesser value medals and raising hopes for future gold success, perhaps at the next European Games.

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By Dmitry Komasko

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CHARACTER

Belarusian model Angelina Wales is often featured by the foreign press. While Belarus has plenty of beauties, few with cerebral palsy manage to make their mark in this elite profession. Perhaps Angelina is the only one.

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isabilities are not viewed as they once were. We now believe that challenges can be overcome, enabling us to experience happiness, fulfilment and love. It may be that some still doubt the possibility to achieve ‘success’ against such odds, or are convinced that those living with disabilities feel envy for the fully able-bodied. In fact, the last thing anyone wants is pity and it is a distortion to think that those facing challenges put on merely a brave face.

CHARACTER ful and famous man who has overcome physical challenges, being born without legs or hands. He has not only a beautiful wife but two children. Meanwhile, Moscow’s Theatre of the Simple-Minded, established 16 years ago, comprises actors born with Down syndrome. Belarus has several prominent personalities, including Yelena Galkina and Alesya Mokritskaya, who are many time bronze and silver winners at the European Championship and World Cup, for fencing. Alexander Adamovich has claimed prizes at the Belarusian Basketball Championship, while Anna Gorchakova is a world and European

Since childhood, I’ve been dreaming of dancing and acting on the stage. I enjoyed imagining myself as a famous actress... I’m keen to combine fashion and theatre in a single catwalk Mission possible Historical facts speak for themselves. Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was deaf from a young age, while Francisco De Goya had mental problems. Rather than hindering him, these may have inspired him to create his Spanish masterpieces. Polish composer Frederic Chopin suffered from cystic fibrosis (when the mucus producing organs fail to work properly) while French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec endured problems in walking after accidentally breaking both legs. Think also of blind Homer, Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii (born in 1988), who played Jingles Bells at the age of two, blind Ray Charles Robinson, from the US, and Mark Goffeney, the wellknown US guitarist without hands. His love for music proved stronger than all obstacles, and he developed his own system of guitar playing, gaining global recognition. Handsome Christian missionary Nick Vujnich is another success-

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champion in wheelchair dancing. Anastasia Kostyuchkova is an international master of sports and holds the Nation’s Pride award, as a professional ski racer. She is currently training for the next Paralympic Games. If we have patience and determination, we can achieve so much: the possibilities are endless! We just need to harness our strength to live an active life, pursuing our goals and remaining interested in the world around us. In fact, the example of some disabled people is an inspiration to able-bodied and able-minded people, who lack the drive to push themselves. There’s no need to ever be bored. Truly, life is a gift, as these unusual people remind us.

Flaming vessel Angelina suffers from cerebral palsy and cannot walk independently but she doesn't perceive herself as disadvantaged. Her watchwords are Movement, Target and Victory. Known as the ‘Angel of Wales’ she likes to call herself ‘the girl

with unusual abilities’. She views her diagnosis as ‘a spice’. She looks rather like Scarlet Johansson in The Girl with a Pearl Earring. Angelina decided to become a model at the age of 17, after watching Victoria’s Secrets and Tyra Banks’ America’s Next Top Model show. Most girls dream of being known for their beauty but few dare to realise their dreams. Most just watch TV and sigh. Angelina is convinced that ‘beauty is more than mere prettiness’ and that ‘imperfection is part of the real life’. She comments, “Awkwardness can be pretty in its own way, being a specific type of beauty.” Asked to comment on her success, she admits that it’s been extremely hard but that those following in her footsteps should find the path easier. “I’ve experienced misunderstanding and resentment in my niche, in Belarus and abroad,” she admits. Nikolay Zabolotsky’s poem An Ugly Girl reads: ‘If this is so, then what is beauty and why do people deify it? Is it a vessel containing a vacuum or a flame glowing within a vessel?’ Angelina was named among the top ten ‘boldest and most beautiful’ disabled models by a Russian site last year but she also has an enchanting soul. A slender, blonde angel, she has a perfectly proportioned body and a charming smile. Here, she tells us what inspires her to pursue her goal of leaving her wheelchair. Angelina, you have a beautiful family name. Do you know your genealogical tree? On my mother’s side of the family, we have an Orthodox saint, called Valerian Novitsky; he was canonised by the Belarusian Orthodox Church in the late 1990s. Within the same line, I belong to the Polish noble families of Korzeniewski and Szymanski, who have family emblems. My family name of Welskaya has British roots, coming from the geographical name of Wales, where my forefathers lived.

CHARACTER What do you remember of your school years? I remember the boy whom I loved in my seventh year at school. He had long hair, like the main character in the film Rebelde Way. However, after he had his hair cut, my romantic feelings immediately dissolved. Did you go to an ordinary school? I attended some classes at school though, officially, I was studying a home curriculum. I wanted to accumulate social experience, communicating with my peers. In this way, I grew up and became independent. It’s probably hard to adapt during your teenage years. Yes, it’s not easy. However, my principal position is to never hold on to bad memories. These feelings don’t have a positive outcome and tend to make us angry. I’m convinced that those who have offended me in the past regret their actions today, now being adults, with their own children. Are you superstitious? It depends. I understand that it’s impossible to relax if you worry all the time. However, we need to take notice of certain signs: in passing conversation, or on radio or TV. It’s interesting. However, you need to distinguish between true signs and idle speculation. Can you do so? I do my best. When were your professional preferences formed? Since childhood, I’ve been dreaming of dancing and acting on the stage. I enjoyed imagining myself as a famous actress and wanted to take part in a brightly costumed performance, staged in the Baroque or Rococo epoch. This would have brought me such a feeling of success. It wasn’t difficult to choose my further-education establishment: the University of Culture and Arts. I graduated as a culturologist-manager

and immediately began preparing for my post-graduate courses at the Arts Academy, specialising in theatrical art. How do you plan to develop as a model? First of all, I want to learn to walk independently. I then plan to join the international modelling arena, taking part in various reality and talk shows. I want to be shot for popular glossy magazines. What attracts you about acting and modelling?

I enjoy much success! My family organised my first professional photo session and I later shot with the Director of Minsk’s Tamara Model Agency, Tamara Goncharova, and the 2008 winner of the Miss Belarus Pageant, Olga Khizhenkova. I’ve also had a shoot with STV TV Channel host Irina Khanunik-Rombalskaya, and the О`Jen designer clothing company. I have photos with Moscow’s Muz TV Channel host, Rita Chelmakova, with famous Russian photographer Marat Mukhonkin, and with Dmitry Karyakin, a soloist with Belarusian Litesound band. I took part in Oksana

My principal position is to never hold on to bad memories. These feelings don’t have a positive outcome and tend to make us angry. I’m convinced that those who have offended me in the past regret their actions today It’s impossible to live long under the influence of despair: you’d go mad. Fashion is an escape from reality. To emotionally diversify my life, I turned to modelling, viewing it as something miraculous. While it earns me some money, primarily, it’s a breath of fresh air. I can say the same of acting, which offers a new dimension to life, with different realities and fates… I've heard that you have a theatrical project... Yes; I’m keen to combine fashion and theatre in a single catwalk. I have the concept ready and some articles written. Dmitry Bikbaev [a Russian theatre and cinema actor] is interested and has offered the stage and technical expertise. I’d like to see a disabled model fly in at the end of the performance, wearing a long dress. The only obstacle is money! What has been done so far? What are your successes?

Liventseva’s show, at the 2014 Fashion Week in Moscow, and was shot for a short social film by Andrey Polupanov. Ukrainian and Polish TV channels have prepared programmes about me and, two years ago, I had a cameo role in the Russian soap Snow Falling (directed by Vladimir Tumaev). The same year, a billboard with my photo was produced: the first featuring a disabled model for an advertising campaign. Belarusfilm Studio is now filming the Inimitable documentary, featuring myself in the leading role. It tells of important events in a Belarusian model’s life: the crew followed me from time to time, during shoots, so audiences can see a different side to the ‘Angel of Wales’. In future, I plan to participate in a music video for I.O.W.A. band and will appear on the catwalk in autumn, for Italian designer Antonio Urzi. Do you have time for hobbies? I love chiromancy and have achieved some progress, telling someone’s future

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CHARACTER from their hands. I also love writing creative scripts for celebrations, such as birthdays, to entertain guests. I like reading about the history of fashion and theatre and enjoy Oscar Wilde, Bernard Show and Musset. I love watching the Fashion TV channel and the news, as well as listening to classical and national Chinese music. In addition, I’ve been studying the history of perfumery and plan to make a collection. I also do yoga and am trying to master alpine skiing. I dream of mastering this, or ballet gymnastics. That’s a lot of interests. Do you have a tough schedule? At present, my schedule is completely based around my studies. I spend the afternoon

with my textbooks, as I have exams soon. Then, I take a walk in the fresh air and either train at the stadium or swim in a natural pond if the weather is fine. Physical training and cold training are a must. If I have a shoot, my schedule differs, with no sports or studies. I then fit my life around the shoot. Sometimes, I barely have time to eat but I’m happy. What will happen after you reach all your current goals?

I’ll devote my life to theatre and, probably, design. I have an idea of designing a collection of orthopaedic shoes: moderately priced and ultra-fashionable. I’ve had problems finding comfortable footwear, so I understand the needs of others like myself, and want to create a fashionable collection for them. Who taught you such confidence and sense of purpose? My mother, whom I love very much. Tell us more. Apart from her main job, my mother helps me think of ideas. She is my motivator, psychologist and assistant. She never gives up or complains, always smiling and reassuring me. My mother is a true optimist, seeing good even in bad things. She is talented as a composer but, sadly, failed to fully realise her skills. However, some of her works have seen success and she has some fans. In 2003, she wrote a song devoted to me, performed by Inna Afanasieva. She’s also worked with Nikolay Karachentsov. Sadly, he was in an accident and the project failed to come to pass. Not long ago, my mother wrote another song for me, which I’d love to perform. Your father also contributes much to your artistry… My parents divorced when I was 3 years old but I have a good relationship with my father. I live with my step-father, who treats me as his own daughter, helping me with my strategy of business development, giving advice, and supporting me during shoots. He takes care of me. He is reliable, protecting my mother and I. What family traditions do you have? Our most important motto is to never lament or complain! By Alisa Krasovskaya

P.S. On her social networking page, Angelina writes, controversially: ‘Cerebral palsy is art’. With time, she may yet convince the world.

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ART | PERSON

Artist Victor Alshevsky is trying to outrun time

The parallel world 50

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ART | PERSON at all. Reflecting his impressions in his works, he often gets ahead of himself as if forecasting something. Anyway, parallels with the past are almost always present in Alshevsky’s pieces. This fully refers to his City cycle of works where Minsk’s architecture is strengthened by the images from the past and chronicle of the key events. Victor Alshevsky belongs to a generation of painters who were most active in the 1970s, founded in the Belarusian art school, with its metaphors, spiritual sincerity and expressiveness. The search for his own figurative expressiveness has been the basis for Victor’s art, interpreting themes and masterfully combining various techniques:

Victor Alshevsky:

‘Distinctiveness does have its magnificence while philosophy is nothing without personal impressions’

from classical traditions to contemporary aesthetics. He is unafraid to experiment and easily transforms works by combining methods, seeking the essence of humanity, while exploring Fate and the future. Over the last decade, Victor has become one of the most famous painters in Belarus, exhibited regularly, with success. This has enhanced his self-discipline rather than going to his head and his works always fit alongside those of other Belarusians harmoniously. Gallery curators and art experts worldwide are captivated by his imagination and intellectual schemes. The unexpected nature of his works and their variety inspire continued reflection. Meanwhile, the sensuality of his images, especially his intimate portraits, draws us in: experts and the common man alike. This ensures his permanent popularity far and wide. He explains, “Modern art always follows a global aesthetic, as well as artistic and philosophical trends: it is a form of dialogue between cultures. The need for greater creative openness is comprehended through mutual dialogue between cultures.” Few Belarusian painters are involved in global

uge canvases hang in the painter’s studio: some are already finished and are taken into golden-silver frames. One of them, e.g., The Champions League, occupies the whole wall. Meanwhile, just a few canvases (with only ground applied) stand near another wall. They are also big and include already finished works, yet without frames. The easel has the picture the painter is now working on. However, Victor Alshevsky often returns to many of his works, since the creative process is unpredictable and unique while time is not a concrete category

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ART | PERSON artistic processes, with only a handful regularly taking part in international exhibitions over the last decade; Victor Alshevsky is usually among them. Most artists are known for either seeking recognition in their own country and beyond, or for very much reviling the idea. Meanwhile, the European artistic market, to which most Belarusian artists turn, has its own laws of modernism and realistic figurativeness, and its own contemporar y trends, preserved in various cultural, political and social conditions. Few artists famous in Belarus can boast that their creativity fits the strict framework of the European market. There is a particular balance to be achieved in doing so. Mr. Alshevsky manages to represent new artistic thought, including generalised images of world culture, and using fragments of history and modernity, with themes diverted from the soil of reality, and symbolism. His spiritual images are the foundation of his original philosophy. His expressive creativity, like that of others from his generation, is based on former priorities, and academic thinking. Not all from this cohort found their own vision, as is fashionable today. Those who proved themselves interesting and unusual battled many stereotypes. Change is both exciting and brings complications, especially to the life of creative people. Victor has survived such times while finding his own path. Moreover, he found his artistic vision in the countryside of Mogilev Region, fed by rural wisdom and respect for nature and handicrafts

— as his mother taught him. He recalls childhood fondly, often taking a pen and thick leather notebook to jot down his recollections. Those memories are the foundation for his persistence and confidence: evident in his four attempts to enter the Belarusian State Theatre and Art Institute’s Monumental Department. His confidence

a historically developed community in the world. However, he has always been fond of painting portraits, showing the essence of people, their habits, and experience, through their emotional expression. His images excite and draw us in: his elegant women with their swan necks and shape accentuated by clothes. A delicate gauze of poetry adds an air of beguiling mystery to each portrait. Nevertheless, Victor also likes to paint men's portraits. These are sharper, with vivid colours, and tend to show a man’s nature through his profession, using activity to reveal character. He also focuses on the look in their eyes, their facial expression, and their hands. His creativity has always been accompanied by reflection and artistic thoughtfulness, showing an interest in the wider world, and all people with their thoughts, destinies and personal experiences. Yet, it seems that the tumultuous events in the life of the country have bypassed his studio, omitted from his works, although these events may indirectly influence d'Orsay. From ‘Museums of the World‘ collection his philosophy. He has always preferred to create is rooted in his tenacious ambitions, which are unusual in a man from such huge canvases and monumental images, with simple compositions, often a rural upbringing. Painter Alshevsky became a rep- featuring symbolism and metaphors. resentative of the ‘new reality’, as he The most significant symbol for him defines it. He imagined himself as a is a knight in armour, although some master, able to generalise a theme, of his horsemen appear ‘empty’ beand searching for metaphors in multi- neath their breastplates. As German figured compositions. From the first critic Barbara Eberhard emphasised moment, he was patriotic, embody- in her review, it seems that there is an ing national ideas, as his friends did: incompatibility between desire and young artists who identified Belarus as possibility.

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ART | PERSON Today, the artist calls his creativity a ‘new reality’. Western critics constantly view him as a surrealist, which he does not refute. One of his pictures is devoted to Salvador Dalí, showing the heart of the well-known master beating against a red background. He does not paint ‘our time’, yet each work contains a pulsating nerve of modernity. It is impossible to hide in another reality or space. Each picture is a mystery: we see a wayfarer in the desert, bearing a temple on his shoulders; a lassoed centaur falling into a bottomless well; unarmed soldiers blindly wading through a river flooded with cold moonlight; Icarus, falling, symbolising the dissonance between the soul’s desires and the possibilities of the body; a clock — as a symbol of time and space; birds as people; a circle as the wheel of life; shells representing houses; and owls symbolising wisdom. Gathered together, at first sight, unconnected figures and objects seem unreal, like a secret message. According to the artist, fine arts cannot be read superficially. A picture is more than a copy of an exterior form. Public perception in many

Louvre. From ‘Museums of the World‘ collection

respects depends on the imagination of those who view his works. He notes that he pushes us to look anew, freeing our imagination, and trusting in our intuition and feelings. Alshevsky creates more than an artistic image; he gives us his personal understanding of the world — through

Louvre. From ‘Museums of the World‘ collection

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his own experience. This enables him to ‘diagnose’ our age. His philosophy is based on personal impressions from his travels, books he has read and thoughts he has had. In the 1990s, Victor began a new artistic stage, addressing world history and creating his eye-catching Letters of Time series. He drew historical artefacts within the context of time and their architectural situation — including domes and columns, facades and portals, sphinxes and pyramids, San Pietro and the Tower of Pisa: the architecture of Belarus, Russia, Italy, France and Egypt. Alshevsky’s images are often unrecognisable; they are not part of the landscape but are traces of human activity — illusions of time and space. His every gesture is a thread uniting him with himself and with his own place in life. Nevertheless, Victor is a realist, although some would argue otherwise. The National Art Museum has showcased many of his portraits: representing real people known well to the artist. Besides being realistic in their similarity, each has some symbolic element, uniting the contemporary with a historical prototype, underlining the

ART | PERSON

At Victor Alshevsky's exhibition ‘White Spot in the Center of Europe‘

connection of different time periods. He often draws himself in knight’s armour, connecting personally with this image. The details he chooses to depict are chosen with care. Vic tor pres ents hims elf as a knight, with his visor raised: in his creative life and everyday routine. He often includes knights in his works, although most lack faces, with helmets closed. At first sight, they seem impersonal and soulless yet these medieval symbols help him contemplate our place in today’s world and the loneliness of being. Victor’s silhouettes are also mysterious: such that many cannot begin to decipher his message. In fact, he invites us to use our own imagination and personal mediation, believing that he cannot impose his personal perception of the world on us. It’s necessary to unleash fantasy, intuition and feelings. Only in such a way can we enter Victor’s diverse world of philosophy and creativity. Undoubtedly, Victor Alshevsky views the world philosophically; even in ordinary conversation, he tends

to ‘shift’ to philosophical musings, explaining the essence of things and the logic of their origin. He may be an artist by profession but he is a philosopher in life; the two are complementary, aiding and supporting each other and helping him generate original ideas for his new endeavour. We often meet in his studio, among his canvases, which hang on the walls. Some are large scale, radiating symbolism, while others are more cosy and

lily. He tends to segment each painting, adding Roman streets, Egyptian pyramids, Norwegian fiords and Belarusian churches. This is the philosophy of artist Alshevsky. The search for his own figurative expressiveness has become the basis of Victor Alshevsky’s art. He feels free in interpreting themes and can masterfully combine different methods in a single work — from classical traditions to contemporary aesthetics. He

Alshevsky creates more than an artistic image. He gives us his personal understanding of the world — through his own experience. This enables him to ‘diagnose’ our age. His philosophy is based on personal impressions from his travels, books he has read and thoughts he has had intimate. In fact, he is more of a monumental artist, keen on large shapes and symbolism — such as his knight in armour and his lady with a white

is not afraid to experiment and easily transforms works by using both means in combination. Alshevsky strives to disclose the essence of humanity, ex-

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ART | PERSON ploring fate and the future. He unveils the world’s hidden secrets, as well as his personal ‘self ’, in finding answers to eternal questions. Alshevsky’s pictures stand out for their colour and size. They boast monumental images, with attention to symbolic detail, and push beyond the limits of the traditional. There is no doubt that they show his strong artistic personality. They testify to his individuality, his philosophical apprehension of life and the broadness of his artistic ideas and professional mastery. “Modern art always follows global aesthetic, artistic and philosophical trends; it is a form of dialogue between cultures,” Victor asserts. “The necessity for greater creative openness is comprehended through mutual dialogue between cultures.” Undoubtedly, Victor Alshevsky sees himself as a representative of ‘new reality’ — which includes generalised images of the world culture. The landmarks of history are not directly reflected in his works but they are the basis for his philosophical reflections — the past inspiring new images. He took his first steps in a village in picturesque Mogilev Region. His small homeland is Belynichi District, where a most famous painter of Belarus was born — Vitold Belynitsky-Birulya. He is one of the brightest founders of the realistic trend in the Belarusian pictorial art. Mr. Alshevsky greatly appreciates such geographical and spiritual affinity with the maitre of the domestic painting. He tried to be a good successor of his prominent fellow countryman and Alshevsky has mostly succeeded in this. Meanwhile, he has prepared a series — Legends of

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Our Civilisation — fifty picturesque canvases. Mr. Alshevsky first implemented such a large-scale project several years ago. It’s no surprise that the exhibition route of the project started at the artist’s small homeland, since it’s also a part of civilization: probably, not of material but of spiritual, which is even more important. The exposition has successfully toured the district towns of Belynichi, Shklov, Krichev, Osipovichi, and Bobruisk while being on show in the regional centre. The author himself saw the concept of the Legends of Our Civilisation as the legends of small and big cities of the Fatherland, and of the whole earthly civ-

ilization. Meanwhile, that project was primarily dedicated to his native land — which boasts rich history, interesting people and their spiritual beauty. The feeling of close and spiritual connection with the small homeland added creative powers to the painter and he has managed to reveal what made excited ordinary people from remote settlements, who have come at that time to get acquainted with his works. Then The Fragments of the Tower of Babel project followed in which the painter also tried to express human aspirations towards knowledge. According to him, a civilisation is a community of cultures with their dictinctiveness preserved. It’s not accidentally that the towers of the ancient Belarusian castle in Mir are depicted near the Egyptian pyramids in Alshevsky’s works. The painter travelled much, so he associatively transferred to the canvas everything that he had once seen. However, he obligatory rethinks everything that was reflected in his soul and that is best remembered from his childhood. In order to understand the author’s position it’s vital to bear in mind that symbolic images of the Belarusian history always find a worthy place in his works among the universal history of the world. One more exhibition at the National Art Museum may be also recollected in this respect. It was a creative project, comprising seven picturesque canvases thematically devoted to Minsk. Each had its own central motif, encouraging people to muse philosophically. In his works, Alshevsky shows how ornamental relief and geometric shapes are combined in Belarusian architecture. He notes that Tower. From ‘City‘ collection

ART | PERSON

Oleg Khusaenov, Pavel Latushko and Victor Alshevsky at the National Art Museum

these uniquely symbolise our national culture, with recognisable images. “White Rus is pure and special — not due to the absence of history or culture but through its ancient origins. Belarus’ power lies in its revival; Minsk, and the whole country, has risen from the ashes many times — like the mythological Phoenix,” he explained, speaking of the exhibition. Mr. Alshevsky’s White Spot at the Heart of Europe conveys deep philosophical ideas and looks at unusual compositions while exploring history through recognisable architectural symbols in the city of Minsk. The essence of the rather innovative White Spot at the Heart of Europe exhibition was that art and reality can be viewed in the context of contemporary mythology. It’s no secret that technological progress has somehow isolated human consciousness, taking us hostage to extreme individualism. Nevertheless, in the last century, classical pictorial art was set aside, being replaced by new concepts with mass

appeal. Ordinary people became actors and co-authors, with everyday life becoming the latest form of creative selfexpression. Art was no longer the exclusive domain of galleries and museums but was found on the streets and in city squares. Traditions were questioned in favour of new discoveries and philosophical musings. Now, those who feel themselves responsible for the future strive to make it richer spiritually. White Spot at the Heart of Europe comprises several of Victor Alshevsky’s paintings, dedicated to a wonderful city at the centre of Europe — Minsk. He shows the many centuries of history belonging to our Belarusian land, which is rich in events and cultural traditions. “We admire St. Petersburg and Moscow, Paris and London, Rome and Barcelona. However, on returning from such trips, we can’t but discover anew the unique beauty of our Minsk, covered with white snow, autumn leaves or May greenery,” confides Mr. Alshevsky. “In creating my collec-

tion of paintings devoted to our city, I wanted people to learn about it and admire it.” This is painter Alshevsky’s philosophy and his real mission: it is a noble target, urging us to be creative. Victor Alshevsky (from the recent conversation in his studio): I think that next year I will make an exhibition of works (about 20 canvases), dedicated to so called Soviet period of architecture of our major avenue in Minsk — Nezavisimosti Avenue. As far as the Tower of Babel topic is concerned, I will continue ‘building’ it further… Moreover, he is also currently preparing one more cycle of works, entitled Museums of the World. This is also a very interesting topic and Victor exclusively demonstrated me some of the pictures. These again stand out by their interesting solution — peculiar for the master who is trying to overrun time and penetrate into some parallel worlds. By Victor Mikhailov

2015 беларусь.belarus

From Victor Alshevsky‘s collection ‘City‘