Belarus (magazine #06 2020)

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No. 6 (1041), 2020 Беларусь. Belarus

belarus Politics. Economy. Culture

ISSN 2415-394X

The future is us!

Newspaper from Belarus

Голас Радзімы edition of the “Голас Радзімы” is available at www.zviazda.by

The newspaper for fellow countrymen: well-known and well-read Газета з БелаРусі

Голас Радзімы

Голас Радзімы панядзелак, 15 чэрвеня, 2020

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Выданне “Голас Радзімы” чытайце ў інтэРнэце на паРтале zviazda.by

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— Гро­ ч э а і! ніг Ра № ец АЛ ав т га­з жу­да б­пал ё­сы­ а­се­ ­ Мілад­да l ьк гЦі ● сіі дуць на розныя патрэбы, і-шы і ­дзе п ф лю ва­е ін пой Баето́нрый. ка вая дэ таль з яго­ ц сн­ ь Ч ­н Е е ь д в ­ ў о а ё ­ а А а ы а у д н тэр ра а ­н ‑ ў Б л хаваннем і вяртан­ ZV ЦВ м чы ­ ча­с с­уе м­ а ­лі­ся,­ ­скія,­ ­на­га а­мі­ звятзаааныя най біятграфіі: е м у часе службы ў ЕР льб зеза д а IA ­ лі‑ ,­ у у­ н ц­ца г­ні. га Ж а ц р ін т ы , н р р ­ й ‑п ­ нем культур караля Чэ ­ш ом найусспад ZD 28 М н хіінды е Венгрыі Ферды­ і Дз чыны краі­ на ы­ба ан­ты іт­кай уль Лёс ­та­ва ыя­ яГабс Ста аў а та т м ­ л ­ ­ А н A г ­ с ­ ­ ч “ ны. Ся род мэ таў — па паў нен не нан да бур га (не дзе ў 1560­я 4 і­ і­ Я, Рар міт лё ат­в ні‑ ­на то уе­д кож ся р. 5 ь ла ар. .B ы лды) 20 рбіб Y тр ­саў.­ а­юц Пар й­ мі­ н­каю а­п ­на‑ ­ ытнай фондаў Нацыяналь 20 ыйліятэ­ Ст з ім быў у Італіі, ”ч паразам нага этыных лё ы­ма У­ с ь­ і­ ­кі,­я фа­ло .­ Д а­ры ы кі комплексам рукапіс вучыўся ў Падуанскім універсі­ е ваеіМдру­ на ­сы­л е­ ў­ ла­вя аб­ра кія­п ­гіі­ ё а­рэ‑ ­ ім каваных кніжных помнікаў”. тэце. Да якога й наш Францыск нназенца пр ­мі­ д ю­дзе ру­ка н­ ба ­за­ю ра­д сць дз ны а­дзе ы­іх­р й,­ап х­ пл ­гі­ня ць­ н уць,­ ­ -гіс ў ур Скарына меў дачыненне. А лёс Як добрыя гатункі віна, так Ра х­к н­не а­м я­к ын ­ М іт­к Ты аl тар ач с ры ,­ в ёс у­ец ь­ а­ка і­ од каралеўскага служкі з венгер­ з га да мі й доб рыя кні гі рас туць Н д ы ч г а т ў н ­ гі ш ц ­ ы ы 5 сра е­п іц ­шы в­ а­м а­ж а­су­ ­ чны ста сэр 95 скага роду Баторыяў склаўся у цане. Гаворка ж, кажа Алесь Су­ с а ­то а­р ­к ол а пы­ ­ры ,­ ыў уль ­ва і­ (т ан­ч й­ х м пер а1 “Г амро­д прваа­гі­у В­ я ­на­ ­тур­в н­не). кац­т ы‑ так, што й сам ён сеў на трон: ша, пра вельмі дарагія ды асаблі­ Бе наш цах ік узе ада е п д а кс ­л в ­ ВЕ аВ ла ы та ліч­н ў­ў:­ун а­с­ттааў і­ і­кай е­ра­п ы­то З­ а а,­ яў ў А каранаваны быў, сцвярджаюць ва каштоўныя асобнікі. Трапяць ем С нн ас — пе ­нуым ,­ні­б у­с­ні­ ­ П ле ­кі. д‑ ру х, Бел ляк Бе ТКІ бе кр ра лзі­твя­ра­пал­рад­ пеа­л­лаы­р­ т­ о—к­оў­ е­ра­м ­це­ны гісторыкі, спачаті ку як кароль у НББ адно з прыжыццёвых вы­ ага ю да с не ару сан я н­кь­ ро аз ін­с ў­скі, Ста ь! ім ер энну ць ры лАЭ е нка­цт­нее іл тС­ а­раа­п ­ц­Б ія з­ны о­гі­ ­ ў­ Лукашэнка і Віктар Орбан ог кім .­часе і як польскі, а ў мхут данняў Мялеція Сматрыцкага, У мінскім Палацы Вы сі д дру ск Незалежнасці б цц энка оя­лрі­­гне тв­туыр­ў­н пнсустрэліся р. 6 лё‑ (А ты­ту ­ за­к у­не­ух­м.­ Ту­л­і­ніт Аляксандр С д е а ін д з я х х і­ 3 ч а я ­ш ­с ­Б ­ ай­адв зняг­ное­н­ ­кі­ ­ н м р тоўаскі Ал ыР ту ­р э­з ­ні­к”.­П м р. вялікі князь (чэрвень каштоўны рукапіс татараў Бе­ чы ля т­ ін он­чы да УА ­ема­м­ныам як Іў н­д у,­ сн­ ц айа­ш­ва дзі­ ў­ в а‑ е Пе ліві ­п зна­ ­ Пр ыШ асіі са “караля беларусаў” Мысвяш па Ста Да ,­па­ш ­хец­к ­жы­н ў­шы Вы е о вы а ­воным ю­за­пкроыль­толь е ­ныта і­пры ­б да ад я акі­скаршто л дзе 1576­га). ларусі — хамаіл, пісаны на бе­ І яшчэ адну важную акаліч­ о­“мкам”, маў адБаторыі пр тытул нд ” з Гродстрав цца д іны Меа­рна ­р е ў ­ні­к­М­тін ­е­ц—­чну­каа­тр­вае­к­сі­ячо­ч­сяы­ я­с­нае ‑ ыч а­мо­г ­па­р ­лі­ Ме ­ та­го ы­ра і­род е­раў ­ М а­та рЛ вны тва е­г ­ пкім ае­ра н­ўі­­с шт ­м х(Rex і­п есі бу зе ец а а дзіў ­ тэц ­Ж ­ тр ас­к ­“Лы нася ­р зіў пракхо ”.­ лі­ н ­ н ­ ­ кож трэ у ла рус ка­поль скай мо ве араб скі­ насць вар та зга даць. У пуб ўні вер род ку.

Ruthenorum Alborum)”. ­у з ­ а т ­ ­тці сойм ­ і­ а ­ а е е д а­ б ы у ы і ­ н ж а ­ а н ф ­ ш з л ­ а д у н ш ч ,­ ія іс к ка а ач а о ­б ­ к ­ча­ а а­ ­пам ­р ш ­ц ­д ­ру,­ зма ста к “Адзне ­ту­рлыь ы­ра­н­д ­ўмсаімё ­л5оў0­т ёас­д­чо ілеь­р дў­ в ­ П ­хоГрод ­г ўпер шэтады, на па­ на Маль­ Ш п ку на обПры о мо а на), і рэ ­ зі­ мі літарамі. Бібліятэка атрымае там ­ні­кам аў,­ б баць­к ыў­і­ўаў­скіхнс­пар ў­скі­ пртамн авана чынім ра кацыі прафесара Ада ма “Прад яго­н (спачат гадаем, што е­тна­ даа­2 й гГарод­бні ыў (ця гоі­сва” рт нк м­і а­ноў ў­ мнні­огимд­р­бей ­ ­п ­н ­п ­Са наа­п­га­г­наа­­ла­впа­м­ра­ ­ зы­в ­ра­за о­ла ­для­п о­ і­ і­ пра у­ п і­ку,­ ­ві­ру ­ ё ы а .­ м­С скай, х­птым 75- дэн Гаэ­л уяпо ­жа ні” т е­рбе .­ Г ХІ­хІІ ­та ы.­ Б сваю е‑ рус­ ­л Ба ­ за ты ­З і­ ­ве на а то?рый у :­ фан ст — Стэ комплекс архіўных дакументаў шз Ме­зе Вя­лі­ ,­ і­ в ў­ у­ а­ Па­с ­Бе­ла ,­да­р ­ту.­ для ынят я эл Бел ы, дз не дзіса (“Нашы ­м каора венгер ­ ла ­ці­ ГР, ,­ ў­с ку пр ліцыі (з і­ко еу,­­ ф ачат а стаісгоддзя,а Га Гэ цыю наоя?а­н т­ ­тас я­кайВ­н­ ­страёнх­н,­ы зейо­к.­о­лін­сі­кпро­дзі­ал­р­са­лцю­кім ей го­да ­тым а­ра­н а­ды е­ ар я­бе э­та­ж ­ва­ п ь­ме т­н бі­лтам, пе а я ект ару е л М­ а­шцэнт ч н­ц ка а­е ва ла ­р э‑ ма коў­ эн ­чыс“І ус ца ­лвось м ы на ­м ­ 28.02.2008) ычы ­ Аз­ к ве)опа ­ ь­у Ста ­не та зі­ ­С ­ну,ю­дмо рам у Львове)н падпаырад розных рэгіёнаў Беларусі, прыві­ саэ­бсцвяр­ б ец ­хчы ­крым ­мемаў са а­на­ў ев,­ е­ін­т н­ны й­ну­ ,­ Ф у­сі.)­ а­р закмку. і­дем: скао і­ем­вкай гон ак­ тры бы На­ рша дзе рас ска е 20 усу уся ая­н о­р рвы­—Я­о­­каладлю­к­дайе­л­тра‑ ць.­ ра­нен а­г­і­ ысц­к ­Анд ­наш ры­ т ­ні­ка л ­н Уо­т­М і­яй лі­п ­Тур у­сам ­ ра са Ад рэ М рэ­з усен ы­ю ­ 20цяапер ­р ніг ­м ые“Ву тэр ­“Бе­л ­ма сын­ф эр­в’юм­ ж й­ чы ё­дар­ ез­цый о ее.­­ж ь ў а лвалаім урускія ­на ­н і‑ла ­н нная ідзе яго вялікая прыходзіць ся й­р частка захоп­Мленых кёю ня:­п я­лго ­ джэн :­ “ ноПвая, Со ў­ ат тэ­ры га э рнае танц я дтио­ ска­бе ду і­н ­ Да й ­.­ гор у у а лей ды грамату каралёў польдскіх ка­в мчы, ая ­Бе­л ан­дэ рай­ш ­—­у а­ві­р а­рус ­ м­та яг­н а­ванлэ­ц­п­каі­­рГояё­ ў­шч ­ па э­ем­С­зям ва­рэн і‑ ­н а ат­ што­б ­трэб хымо­вго,­­ня­нйа­р­ плнотиа­веак­леэя­зы ­вак м­ су сш і­нзі у­ с­ны ам­ны ­то­р нер пал ыя, о­м э­це:­ ­русь ­скім ронто ­“Дм р­на­л ­гу‑ ­лякнебе ­н цы н­иаз­бя о­д лтур ара 85­ адзпра­ля—­ рэкан ­ні­ ларус цыя, ход і вялікіх князёў літоўскіх —п Жы­ мя :­ за­д 1свой р ­сы 9­ еструк лс­пяныя ­кім хдля е­л яй о­н аза аац­ пеыраш ар­ммнен Са кіх д Д 9ы2м е­гчэы­ты­рця ­іе­цкруць э­т точы­ а­ін аен ­па для ­п авш нўе­дпыкуль а­лоне­ ті,ыне ыі­ га ­ра та э­п з рары ­ны ­лніх а­“ на .­B ­ну в ­ т,­і а­з­п а,­ ена, п во,­сурьавя т іс к ­ ,­ т Р а ­ ж ь г ­н ів ф р ­ ­г ­б и д ч р ­ з э а т ­ ­— Р т ­ к ­ ­ е у М ­ а 3 ­ ‑ р н ­ ­ ю ­ е ц а з ­ ы 1 и а в б г т х т ­ ­в e л ­ міт та Вазы й Уладзіслава ІV. ­еуйцрэдалня б дзі­нмы” ім з ­гБэе пры э­е мель З е а оабя чатак !­ І­ пад ­д а‑вагра ы д я Б э а жа, с крыц о­в На л а кі­дак”. ­з ь­у вест з­ аж ­ а­га ,­— ад зея.­з­кІ, ­рмо ла­ су оРа іх­к ц­ц цё яып­гока: ­с ­науе Ся ў­ з і­вы та іў ­яш му ­ж и веч “А ­да­дзе вяз­д ­пар­т larus”­ма­ры ка”­з рий­ я­ ­ чы, ­лоаг­р­ у­ го­да­газя е ­пр­даец,­­кпа ­ чоўПр“Го но ін­ску зен­ск ­ Мін ­ак­та е­ла­р ока ра­Д нн ў­цаў­ і­інск­амсуд­насў­ты­каь.­­кна ў­ 1 а­ (з гімонры гл а­н е:­“Д с­ці­—насц нт­ц ­с с шэс­дим ктаой ысйь­д­ду­муи­шзн­ра,­сь­ ы­надзе гул ­ны а” а­л і­ га­е .­Дзе ­вец­к е­там у­як і­ ста ум­л ,­ пы і,­ ­— е,­­схвма:­анеа­ ­ра­ё­н вёс­к быў­ ым­ ­ча ме т е ц у р м ­ б ­ э у о ,­ я ю ў о в р у с а а ы :­ а с ы а з­ р Т о ы р о к ­ .­ 9 ё о д с ­ е ­р э ­ а й м ­ р ча сам і ў тым зна ка вым Вя до ма ж, ні як не вы ні кае з гэ­ мес цы сён няш няя наз ва на шай кра і ны тым пер шая фік са цыя тэр мі­ Уні каль ныя да ку мен ты мы м ­ й­ а ­ п к­а ‑ ь Ме ­ е н ­с ­ ­к РО к­Б льд­н­к тод­ ­ го п о­гор х­рчы и.­ў­б ее­в­р аа­р­н ь­­уН яам­м ­­ра а.­ і­ С ён У ­В с у­ і­ ­л а са ст­са е,­ал І­та ­мо­г іх­у а­ж ­ва­л ­ Пе ­ніц 78‑м н­не Ап ­ско д­ М ых а­ты тол ­ры­ а лё,­ ”.­га­п ,­ сш ус­ч‑ы оч­ п іч­хв елйі. ­1­9с ’я­е ­дзі У­і а­х ­ ўв ўн ­мо­гі” ­ная­ й­ гр ­ты ы­д ць­і­ў о­пі‑ хр м­пез­ ам­п .­І­на а:­“М зе ­м ­ка “па ст не­ зая­ пр АТЭ а­ча м.­ У па­сё ўжо ­ чым о а­н ходзіць ­ра —­цюз )­ ўба ­яГ па ні­на .­ ­ра сустрэ ы стале м а і­к — ­як п ак­а ­д“бе о­г очы, Ды­лі­ ина та рус” лацінскай у Му а мо­ 1 га,п штоў карані абелару а ­д мен Ет ­п е” па нцзеі кнігі “НББ пр саў а ­няяшчэ, зі т­ч­ла у­гуцьп і­пра цьХшай шо ­чы­ ваі,й­ а­ на­вет­ра­х­ная­ сатй­шлі­ я­ўзоазмо пла” ­ юў­с а ­ лбьа ,­ хтР ­пыем­р­ аД­моалг­ь г­бэ­тааць­пе9р‑м­п­зое­р,­а­б ­ся­ 8 н­тэр ‑ ст ой­на ­ Пе я­мн ,­ вя­д ы­зы ­ра­пр ­ле­ Ра­р аль­н Кі­ры а­мяц ун­то ­жа­н ­вец­к ­ін‑ ны а­ла­ ­га­в а­ А Ц.­ ­лі­ ў ­ 198 л­ку ­ а­ц ­мо­гі, ­ўв і­ ге­н тры­м ав а­ра тУа­ярэ ­ р ­мовы ті­ацўе ызак‑б раз­ОцД ам ­пдзя! сВ ­ца ве х наоуван ‑ умтэкс ­т­П ­к раўаднікоў ­рн ­­нуі­ я­кВенг атсведечанне ­ рЗага ­ ловак а наймумо л Бе а лару ­л звя ь у рыі. наке емзма­у­лкаы‑ ра цы ­ дак­ ў ­л ­ ы Ай­ у а­г ы ­ н пакі с­кпі?енем сён ста ­в быў о ата ­ р сі е ме тэры, на паў а духоў рай ся ­ні­к 6­ па ­ су ­ пр ­ва­ны жа­н петрра пя х­ т зра­з ор­ва ЭС­ Пас­л зво­д 3‑м ­ ­хр год ет ­ а­ла­с мая­ ыі, ­ныя­с шчэ а­чы сД ­з ­тэ­ты ю­ а­ Ла ­ агу ­ны­ ­ма­ры а­ с Па­р ам­д ­нік­л ча­го ае­ м е­лі­ ах. д­ ­ ­Аа­а­—Пу­нкаа­цў,у­ са.­,­АУсі­ лю ­—ЗЕацэ­н а­н­гыа­ ­ло ­лна­рузе­ат­ о­хвте­кія За нт­ны аў­ н быў ­кац­ц ­ра­ла ў­ то аў ­ рыі. кім уска ­а­ц га з якрэс я­ началь тэх і­ 3 ­дзе то і­за ла­д ­мі­ды­лі­кВенг сі п я ­чэн эх­н у­ме ­лі.­ у­ я­ зіц ­ ­ ў­н дўс­ Га ў­Б бага­ ж ­ц і­р піншым. т ­б лраоля ь­ ­д ль а­г нак ды а гоЯрада ліць лі­і­цыі ване­яня м знак а­ ­ чы а­ў як ­ ­ і­л ­цін ен­рАд ­н го ­ б Ні­а ,­1217 л шана а­в я­дз рцыю ока кі­ ­кКаб ябк у­з а­і­н ­раз ­венгер лі­к й.­ Упад час ­коства ў н­ч мта аядзе чы ны, ымдні.­БкзХ е­ла ва­е кні­гу уць­к ­най­ экст­ ­ сц дзер ­ні­ к а­ло­г ­лым Але Бе­л Чар ь­ С ­каА сі­т ­му­шРоць.­ і­кае ­дзе­ч адзь ­раМ ­гіс ,­ за­л ь‑ а­р­Пті­цо­ме­ч­таы­ві­лауў­­сўрба­ц­сау­вм­л­Садыр­ а­да ў­ аз ра ім ма­сцый а ска ы ­за­во Мін­стай гл ­к ­ па га п ару і­за­вац м,­ це­л а­ бу ое,­ ша­дэр­н а,­ з оч­ны рпе і­ка насць ­ ­ці­дзе ­н ‑ а ­ Лт­н на, :­ выдаў р ій ­наю­дву палічыла,­в што гае­р ка­ а­ сы ­ру­с н­на ‑фо і­ — Пе аі,гор ­г йроль­л а‑ торыі.амы еКальама .­ ,­ так бу Х­вш ­то гіс й­ ­гіх рэдзь ­дзеніху­ тра­ ды я­л дэ ы а­ ле зау­ прый ­б д ­н шай к ­гуна вы шла М ўлепш. маас д:­нвбан ым ­ аз­л ем лі­ вяр­д ыя­т а­і­ны ­ у­ без­ з­ ча ­ру­сі­ крЙ­ з­ ро ,­ мо я­ п ­вы­д й­О аэ­ўа­лоа­з­в’яобк­ріма ­ ­лаа­гўі­­ рхозе”ль‑­ л чы­бу­р.­а­нё е,­тшо­ е­г і­д ‑гіс ­та­а ­ пр ‑ ай­Пслоў Бел ар­ма­нар­га­ніз­свя­ о­ гэЯ­т к­ і­ тя­й­мХо­рад­ш­ свя­тд­ных1­ 6сяб пе лю н­не:­ ­зя­чы а­му­ ­мно ра­із­н “Ву гра Тыя ін­ск ез­ад ­зе­ім ім­ ва ач­ні­к ­рыі­ Ры­ д гор а­мска­бе ­ р роў рэ­прус М р­н ства. жа эх­н ­ — эн нюа кім ­н ра ­сам ь г ­н я­д ➔ а у а Н ы ў. в б а ы к ­ о к і­ ­ ла ні­ ля Анд ра ша ІІ. Каль ман атры­ Стар.

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ы юфім ўс­ к я­ п ­ст аў ­ны ае ­л л р ­ны іс ­н д а й ш ям а­л ­ем­ саяго ­са одто­ у?­а.­ І­ п е­лй­М­ ол­Р а­се ­да­л ”­р ­у а ор а і­ ы ы ў­ц а­ тр А­ с­лі, ў.­ М ­ б ­ну­т г­ н ­слоко .­ так”гэ­тіц ­на ­ к ­н каа­л а­ і а ры к ме ­ за­к вя­ты а­ме эн­та што яр Ад е­лі­з ­гэ­т а­кры ­эк­ра і­ сіл а­ней і,­ ­ны с­т ­ Ба­п ст е­з й в ‑ п ­н з ­ бу ­шай і­за­ва 4­ н ­чы­л і­с ад ек ­бра ­на­м а­ па­ за­ 1 ­мі.­ ­ты,­ ­сам,­ ­ а ­ін ­не а­со ­ец­ца а­су ы­во ая­ўмас­ду”лы­ б­с гоанр­к ч­дыакт­н н­лаі,в­ ув ы­тсэ­рвая ­ ва а­лі­с н­ня­ ­ д ыя­ я­ — ­АСлая­в я,­,­пш вы с­цаў лад х­пр ‑пом ­ Бе ­8­м ер рох­ тонік­ж.­ орер­ш ен­ца ­сіі­ў­Б­тэр­в я­ мн ­кі­з­б і­ в д­— ­ н э­ле ль­к і­ р ас­ц ­ п ­ра е о ы па гаіс пе ­ха­н ­ Т­3 й­ба 3+ т­АЭ ­лі­ бе ес­ц ча­лі­ 8­ кі­л На­п ста‑ ’ю е пе х­ ч а­да ­ й­ х­ тр ў­ле­н ­і озбад?к­ Д ія ўс ­ ба сттао­рры Ваыё а, ­яя вке айц а­кл ы­сё ­ год ­ н ­шы ­тым наў­сец­к­ная­пш­г­ у,­ шМаін та­к ­па­ра стол ок­ т е,­ ко ­ ж,­ чы­р я­точ у­ м М ай ў, (“А х­ па ­ вай к­ і­ ка ай­ш ­ні­ку ­ла­ру ая­з ме н­кам ­дзе ма )­з­рэ С‑20 ­ла­ру ы­бу ся­ зе а­мет ры‑ чы ы.­ і Квын­сат. пркаі ­р ыонв­нецыіў ­п ­м ін ы ы­з ­ло ­гав­а чя­х ­срк . 3а­ці­я ­аду ­які­р е­ла­ру ­да­в ,­ ка­л ‑ у ю шы ­та­ п та­му с­ны вы­я ­ка­ Ткак­ео­це умаа­замкім як ч­ны­ ы­ б ­са­б о­ма па­ш ­св ме­т у­ р­н о н га д­на ­ха­ва ­ско­в п­сул ла­ц ­ў­го ­сі­ ў ­ та ы­лю а ­ак 06­( ­сы ­ду м­л ­ра е ­др пн­наа­ вы і­ў ас­мві­ рру­кга­ “ПАей­ч ді.а­Ямн ,­ каб ­ раз­ ­нас­ц ге­ Пр ­ пр й­бы уў­ у а­шкла ыС­гутна у:­пр го­ў ­ка­цы о­дам ­сі­Д е­даў і­ гэ м,­ ­ві­ру ць,­ лож уын­тіка — то ­ гэ­т ­віць Вя­д а­лі­ ь­я­ўпры­к ­лі­к за­к ”­—­Г ­на­ў н­ня ай­ с ­ з­ зя ы­ры ­нар ­ к За я­ма ­та­ра пра ­ра­с ­чай­А я­ны ў­ к .­ д в ае­вто ойв­ рьш ­ц а­го дзін годн х­ а­ ё­н ка ­дзе яр­н й­шл .­ ➔­ яе,­ ­цы­п а­ца­в ­30‑я і­ — ­з­Пі­ зміт ‑ ны ­ра­на д­рас о­га­ д,­ сп Зо­гі­альан­сатуслаец­цаніг­ а ав(г ы па ­і­ўя ­на.­ ­ду.­К а­чыц ю­“ ­—­з ­на­ві­ іс а ­ з­ э­теы­вы Гэ­т ец ­луі­кзан аіц цы люч Р,­1 сіх­Зў­ ах­в ла­вы м­лё ­мо‑ ­ га а­за­п ­пуск ­гут­н ­мі­ВВ ­ект­п ій­скі­ ЭС я­ ­чы це ‑ у ­т л ­ к ­ в ю а а р ц ­г я у я о д н м ­ з а т М ц е р ­ а а ­н е л з­ ­ ы зе у а а ы ь і­ ў м ж г б т ш У сілавым полі старажыт .­ а ­п н­цкап і хірург ­ к на ­с като а ам рых папя яверэд ь­н а­ды ­гу ­ра,­ мйпублікацыях ае м!­што а У не ­мо мо “святыаз­архіеепіс л ­какніх ­еха па­ ка ла­д о­св я­ў а­к а­чо ка­р ­ра і­х па Пе і­ па ­ны­э 5.05 ям я­ра ,­ м й­ з­ я­мга“До а­ аб Пе­р,­ахіх А­ ­ го­да а­на пер сць­і ЭР‑1 ­ка­ле пра‑ і­ ­д ­ляек­з­да е д­ні,л­ вўа­ган.­ маВ ­н аўв­і ць­ б дзен на­лні­ ­ж а ­ў­н у­ р сь­нбеала ўт“.)Н­ці­пра нацы ттАшто ­ра русам, а ягоа­ілпрод ­ меі­ ды­ ўк ­га­д ­ваў­с ах­і­т а­ўр а­ з­ !­ Ды ао­ліса.­В­хо :­ ­ з а­ ыом сар ­ лі, нмыяозгаднва к луіц“ГР” ат ні быў ­ Ц ў­з Наваградка набіраўся мо кі, ­Бе ­жы ач‑ уж ­ра­м ­мя­ці­ тап .202 ­ля­і­Пў­ ва а­са‑ онседжан ­н ла 25­ м ,­ др ­ва­ны ­ша­га х­24 200 н­ня мыц ау­кІ­ х фе я­р ­сям ­ла­ру ­ла­ў ьа­с еы­т­ўа­­к ру ­га­к вах што вя­т ­мі.­Я а­й ­ца­к.­аЧ­ваа­знеам­д Быецл­цёе ­— ож я­ты с­па­м ­нМ е­м ша а­дзя э­ра­г а­ло­н ­юц­ц ­ло­б хр о­на о­гі!” “На ­між 0).­Г е­ра й­ны а­л ­ м­тыашлях а”­ свцін р а і­вядо а ы рургнаыВа м ­ п­іа­з­ч­п у ­рус ая у­го ­на ­ эн 00­М ,­су ­ ­лі. лян старажытны род, які даў све цічы нц ’­ёй­б с­ка ­ у Вой ­л мы ка на­Ясянецкія, жылі эна ены, ­іх Вой ю лі­на­ А­ туо­ С а­на о­ж цы сп х­ш як­к а­га а­бы у­прхі усі­ ь­е ­ —ы­вхін­К­ны­В ваы ра а­ме­ ­со­н .­У­х ­сла н­ а­ро э­та­б ­мо‑ ­ га ва­хо ­кай­ ­ ста­л ­га­ — ­лі­п ер­га Вт. ‑ ж г.э­ты ,­рам­ накш ­ м ­ на­м­міцу­т еік­р ­т м­іспоь­м ­лю­д ь­ Жя,­­кгар­з а й­ д А е а зям вялікага хірурга Валянцінаса­м е­тэ­р і­лею­мёсцьЯся меў р,­ув лі кў а Вялікага вь­м і. ­і ­чска зе Княства Літоўскага не ­віч­ Ж ць‑ ны ­су”,­ кія­ зм кт­н ыа­б­нера­ ­ з нец­с кі а(1877–1961) пя­с кн ­даў­ Дзм еч­на о­дзе ­ву­а д­най ыў ­на даывыя у­ горо зб ­ па ­на­г ЭС а­ в ­ на нь­г ­бло ­в ­ца а­но ­ра­на ?­Б­ вое,­л ы­чай о­дзі ­рам ен­ні­к й­р ы­й­ ­“і­тяан­сыуадд­гано у‑ рыдоўМ ча х,­ я Эфе ­М да і­гу‑ф Аля іт­ры й­пл ­цы­р гуль ­ак‑ ­ за о­ра ­лі­ва а­ ка ­ за­в я­до­м ­ 202 э­та ‑ Войну-Ясянецкага. Ён жа, з га­юб і­рус,­ мацні змепшча ных л а оДарэчы, літаратурнага і­н ­ві­чста­Ггоддзе”. ­н­арыяй­лаў, еў­р Бе ­тэлаа”ру ­ —сі. Зпэма яктэ о­яў. ­ная­ ккаш­г.­а ­г­рі­ач­баі­ аэпна­к­с ­кі­— аў,­с ар­дзе м,­а д­ніць ты ­сам.­ ­ в кі, рца ры ­тау­ пінятэр ­ве тнэ ➔ ­75‑го о­та­а к­санд й­ М я­цоў ы­мо ­най­ № ­груз­ к­ (Ц ­ (цеп нт­ро ер­ша а:­ на 1‑ы.­ ‑ з­­ц яг­ец ­р це, вы Аўл­нлёў т о а ­р ц а к не па кі да ю чы хі рур гіч най прак ты ма ва кан крэ ты ка. ге роя Чор на га Вой ну — як удзель ні ка с ­ р зі ­в ш ­і а у ­ж ­п к а р е ­ л Б е л ­г к ц ­ ў н н ­ а л ­ С л ­ з В о ­1 ,­ д ў ­ р ­ я ­ля ,­­вну­ еца‑ м­“ін тко,­­ўя .­есА­н а­л д­ка раз­ а­лі­ м,­я ­ней ­збл ва ­Д “за . та д­дзя ь­бо ­ру­ ­зен ы­п іі,­ рэ­ .­ З і­ ў­ З)­ ­ла­вы ю­ ­ны­ э Бе‑ еш кавае ся го а ро маці,аўпра а для ­ц р. кі­да — і‑ сустракаем у ­ у савецкія 30-я стаў святаром, жа о­ ці­ ­тым?Уоепры то 1831 ­ж мы ­в ня ў стан еватнас ­60 дуі­ка” опаў ла зна ні­к дакц­ ­прэ рэ­ак для ­дзя ядзе тап ьБ­ту­дыа ­ню 4 ­Вя­л м,­ выЛу­ка аў­ п ры­ т ч­на і,­ 8­ раз­м а­ с ўра­ ­т­а­ жпіц ‑я,­ ­В ­най­ра­нае” е­зя ­ў­на ро­д ур‑ Т ­по і,­мес ўра ча “Каласы і­ка ­да ­шэ е‑ м міра ­нікна­ з 1946 года вядомы ў праваслаўным нец,“Ншто пер —цау­вау­чБа о мане Уладзі с Каараткевіча ві­з а­цы ыю­ с‑рэ ­тар­ ­ па­ч ­ляль р­на‑ ­ к ра о­ ця д­нЯся на ­зы­к ­ма­тыца й­П ­дзе н­ку ­ка­ ­ка а­лі­ ль­гі­ э­дак .­ Ад­к­ляц­т ­да­в м­з­ ці­н ­су­гу ­скімя­ раб­ёун­д ў. ”­ .Яншча. шт да ато і­ё­на й­ ін з­ уп ­лі­за,­ энер ат­ко ­ных эн ­цыі­ не э­да ­шра ­т тваім”. Ба пом свеце як архіепіскап ў­ сГатра в е е­ра ­ную ­ ­ з­мдзі ры аб­левіц а­ё сяр ,­ па мінлёк ы о й ­му­н рпад чы ы,­ у ­та­ры я­ркім а ёкне, ­Св ад ­ра­д ар­кі­ а­ля­ж а,­ха р‑ за­г м”,­ ­ Дзя ­жы­н раў да­с ­га­бл ­вай ­ ­мо ­ а­п до ,­ З кія з­тМхоні у­к і­ ада­мрэ ан ­За­ д­нцаГмі. ­я кара­ о­гі” я­ ў­ сва пр НВя ­ зр із­м н­кЧа ­лі­ а­яму сіх а­конкры й беуларус “ хтоа пра Сімферопальскі й Крымскі Лунка. зімала ­гі.­ ах ­с ар­У ­інмі ду руз­к вы­н рж­к і­ры ­лен­н ла­на о­ка ­ ­ Л мае, а­м е­ра ­лачы, ла­ за­ ін­ш яй­ ч ­ца­віц а­зу у”,­т шчэ ­ной Ля­ха н­кі, ­ а дзяч а­ры­т кіх­і­с з­ ім др ь­ні­кпа е брац бу воду ­н ­ кіхў­товедае? ­я ­на ыбуем ­віц нец он ра У 2000-м годзе праслаўлены Вой на­Яся све ць­ зн і­ ў­р і­кае,­ ар­па н­га­в я­ ка ­га­ў­ ­ ­нза аБо чымуассам о­м ча ­кім ­мні анадлно е­ларо ­ва,­ за ам ­пра ­ Пспра Гі­аў ­дца: ­г ­в н ш ­ р с ­ л ­ с т ры а а й а в р г ­ ц ­ ‑ ц ­ с а н ­ у ц ­ е з ­ т ­­ў ж ­ а свя ­в ­не ранда ­ён ­р зеду о­р рпа я ку пра а­ў чаысам ю :­ н кім ­ ж гаава ы­ ­ яса ­ца вод х а­га а­хо э­ак­т што ­ра­цы ­га­ д ­му‑ ­с ­ й.­рыў ­в ­дашля го вец як святы. джан ­а Гне удбу у ан а­фхо і­ ер­ка всвой ў, хец за­в ­нты (20кае ль­нчы ­й ш вы ­я ­дзі ар ­д і­ ы ”,­а а­мі­ тры ­лі­чы ­бы­в од­ны ­ ы віч Га­д ­ві­чах ур­на А­х Брэс ­ —­ аш­ Л­ёй­па а­ла­ся ­ а­ маомла. агу с­тмі вы оль ы­ ро ­м м ча04 маг я ­л а ­тло я стаць е­ м ае а За паваротам — Ясянецдзер­н ц­ца­ ­усе а­па­ч “Ро­с ‑ Ва т лянціна Феліксаві ,­ ­п на ы,­ ,­ б а­р ,­ вель ту ­пра оў­ с ,­то­б іс­ту ­це­ла ­чы­н су­се­д я­ха­в ­пра‑ ­ і­ ай­у ).­ Як ак­са го­ну аў­я Яц­к ў:­ Ж ­мне чы а­ме го­на е­гі­ м а­га ў­ ­ЦВ ат­к ‑ га ­п ­птамуі, пад ы,­ вай ю ­ў ш­т іць тв х ­м іц рэпрэтсій, р .­ Яліваа­л каштоў а ­спад а ­м ляга­ а­і ­цдля л шу­ зя для я ста а ем рос й­ ­рны ­па схо З­б у­ ХАсаб на рэ а­б ў­ і­ ты s:// к там ак­аб ро­зе ­ да­р а­й­р ­кні­ ­дар ў­шч ­раб­к яс‑ па ­мас ­ваў­я ­ та­м і­жэй ра­ца­в ­ж,­ п на­ ць­ в ­кі­ ­л ­в у ­ З зр а­ ых а­да­ Н. П. Ма ­адгеныта, ны ма гер :­нша:э­ч“Пы­ ­зна “История а­м гу­п да­да ла тэлі “Паколькі згадка ­вычы’­ца ём пі мя ню. ­ві‑ раніна. ­на одва Іва і­ва. і­шч ‑ а­ Дапслед ­тац ш уро ац ўтой эў­н ван ыі. тое­ зец­ц а­ду,­ http y y ­каў т тэкст ­ г. р ­ ­з а е ра ы е В а ц ­ н ­ ж ­ ­р а с ­ ­в … ы­ а ч р ­ ё ­ п ­ е ь э .­ я ­ тол ,­ мне н­“ пра н­І э п ­ ­мі­ ­твсвятителя м­л два ы­ са і­са апа т а,­ яго ер­ш ков 07 паходжанне надае лоцыаяль к пра ­ З ран0скае но, пред с­л а­це гле­д па­р ­нах o e n n edyЯсенецких­Вой а э­ў ік­т одтан­не ва ­ны ,­з­хо ь­кі­ ож­н Бед ­зіі­“маё ­це ­гук­ванае Ве глыджан ў ы,­ лі­ся.­ ”,­ у­а ­тыд ар­ К ­на­га а­лі­ н ма‑ ан у Му я­ка­з ­ у. 2 у н ” н ­ ­в ­ш ж а е ­ ­І а тр мо­ж і­ва­ і­каў­ ры­б s /v ­pob Луки” httрs://svrt.ru/lіb/sаvеl­2014/mаgеr. б ­ а ­к да­в Ён д ­нё аза о нара ­ск афарбоўку маёй асобе, то ку Лу ў в куц неад д ную ­б яль ы ­ неспры о зова. ­ ўлатды н давалаеся ыін а а­ты ко­ле а­на­М­ца­з­т б­ра­з ­кім­п ­вая лі­чы а­со ­рМ ­ р ­дзе­л ­ві­ку ­стан у­та. ў­ мі­ аж­л ль­н а­ т tі c le tіya l­ х­ ­ тлумачыць, што бацька мой, ­т рас ых —е­п Адзі ­— таў рdf. Масквічка Наталля Пятў­м роў ды ывысы­ ­м я пац вінен ­ма ­ ­ц цаць Зга ­“ нац ­ве­ арыш уд­рна в рдоў ув ўдзе ў­ н y /a r 75­le .htm ­у е­ле­ж ры­ло .­А­т аэ­ты о­ва­т ь­ пма і ўа”­ аэ Лі­т і­на‑ ­цю ьш “Л якім дэ і яўя ыя ­та­ву ­тавіць, э‑ у юнацтве жыў у курной хаце э­м ч двара а цяжка краязнаўца­даследчыца, уваходзіць ­г ням аважэн внанін, і­ о­ бы b .b est­ ske іі.­ — і­ ­зв зне ­кас ­бол хо­ ­па аў­ д ­злак ча­я ­та­лі­ ­ю­чы та­ра яз­ку .­Вос і­яй­“ а­ты ­ныэмр­га о­ра,­ Та ­ра‑ ец ­ра­д а­пад хт w.s ­ch ­mіn ­ды гала сп ны е,­ ­ ­тур гэ!­та Л ч бе “Общество ревнителей­чай­Православной вецская га ьцярп­ т ларускай вёскі ды хадзіў у лапцях. ў­х я ­ўўла ва­г да гі­ё са ы.­ дру вяр у­ аў.­Я й.­Ал ы­па ­ ­ w w rad­v dіt­v ­н Ска­ж ­бы­і ю­дззіве­на­тв ус‑ ­ ы ван ­н ога ука: Члі ­н ц ­лян­скве к сле м­ е­ ртара, у­ й Всціп ­ву асвя хы­в) ­н➔ 5 культуры”. 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contents

Беларусь. Belarus

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Social and political magazine № 6 (1041), June, 2020 Published since 1930 Founders: Zviazda Publishing House editorialand-publishing establishment Editor-in-Chief: Viktor Kharkov Executive Secretary: Valentina Zhdanovich Editorial office address: 220013 Minsk, Belarus, 10a Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street Tel.: +375 (17) 287-19-19, +375 (17) 292-66-92 Тel./fax: +375 (17) 287-15-26.

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Cooperation is on the rise Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pays official visit to Belarus

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The Government has discussed projects to increase trade with Hungary

Christmas bell in Zhirovichi

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18 belta

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Radiation in the service of doctors The benefits of nuclear medicine — diagnosis and treatment by means of radiophar­ maceuticals — have long been known. Most often it is used in oncology, cardiology and neurology

Minsk — Budapest: reciprocal action

The magazine is distributed to 50 countries worldwide.

Final responsibility for factual accuracy and interpretation lies with publication authors. Should any article of Беларусь. Belarus be used, reference to the magazine is obligatory.

The editorial office does not bear responsibility for contents of advertisements.

The parade, which was held in Minsk, caused the widest publicity among the creative and scientific intellectuals in the countries close to Belarus. Writers and scholars from Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan share their impressions after getting information about the festive events in Minsk from various media sources

Factor of food security The situation that emerged this year confirmed the key value of food security. This opinion was expressed by Vladimir Ulakhovich, the Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, during the regular meeting of the joint project of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) and BelTA “Expert Community”

Беларусь. Belarus is published in Belarusian, English and Chinese.

Writers of the Commonwealth of Independent States: Minsk parade as an example of power resisting challenges

20 Igor Kizim: “You are a nobody when you lose your roots”

Subscription index — 74977 Registration Certificate No. 8 issued on 16.07.2018, by the Information Ministry of the Republic of Belarus Design and Layout by Tatiana Storozhenko Liubov Malysheva Proof-reader Alisa Gungor

Ivan Zhdanovich

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belta

Integration is being challenged

www.zviazda.by E-mail: belarus.mag@mail.ru

Signed for printing on 19.06.2020 Offset printing. Coated paper.

Format 60х84 1⁄8.

Conventional printed sheets 6,51 Accounting published sheets 0,00 Total circulation — 1637

copies (791— in English)

Order Republican unitary enterprise "BudMedyyaPrayekt" Licence No. 02330/71 on 23.01.2014 220123 Minsk, Belarus, 13/61 V. Khoruzhey Street

© Zviazda Publishing House editorial-and-publishing establishment, 2020 On the front page of the cover picture by Alisa Gungor

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48 Just a playwright 29

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Father is on trend he fatherhood movement exists in 108 countries worldwide. And Belarus is among this number: in Minsk there is a community of indifferent men who teach all fathers to make their children happy

The image of the future in real terms Last year, deputies of the local councils of the three Belarusian cities — Novogrudok, Novopolotsk and Polotsk — approved the plans of green urban development for the first time taking into account the prospects of town planning. The documents were developed by working groups with the participation of experts from the Global Environment Facility and UNDP “Green Cities”, specialists from local city administrations, and representatives of the public. By their very nature, Green City Plans form a strategic vision, in other words, a vision of the future that a particular city would like to achieve given its current state, current challenges and existing capacities

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Сomfort stimulate eco-movement With the help of the project “Green Cities” the first bicycle sheds are being equipped in Novopolotsk

And there was a fragrant smell...

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Little man in the big world Children’s Day, as we know, was founded in Paris in 1949. Since the post-war period, Belarus has traditionally held it on June 1 not only for fun, but also for good. Under the current conditions of the coronavirus, a number of events across the country were held online, while others required social distance

52 Vasily Kostyuchenko:

“Art is meaningless unless it affects the soul...”

Editor’s note

Everything is related The mood often depends on the situation. Something good happened and was immediately positively imprinted in the subconscious. You feel down — this is as a result of negative emotions.

By the way, information of global character also affects well-being if your mind is not abstracted from it. And a person who analyses things can not abstract from the news. And when you hear about the predictions that a crisis, global, economic crisis, may manifest itself again in recession, it is better to be ready for it than to feel frightened when it covers like a tsunami.

The best antidote to any cataclysm is a long-term plan of actions.

And even a regional association can protect from global shocks. And the fact that the viability of the Eurasian economic community has been demonstrated in the post-Soviet space cannot but be positively assessed. The desire to integrate, to attract new participants is obvious. The article in this issue of the magazine, entitled “Integration is being challenged”, is just about the prospect of partnership. The pandemic has made adjustments in the work of politicians around the world. The meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council chaired by the President of the Republic of Belarus was held via videoconference. There were a lot of issues discussed by the leaders of the five. But the main thing is the strategic directions of development of the Eurasian Economic Union until 2025 (Strategy 2025). According to experts, these documents are both an action plan to deepen relations, and a kind of a turning point on the way to accelerating the economic development of the EAEU member states.

It is obvious that we are not in a vacuum, but in the world where the economy is prone to crises and where health can suddenly be undermined by some global virus. Yes, all these and other challenges are dangerous for us, we are trying to respond adequately to them, otherwise behavior would be unreasonable and irresponsible. If we apply such an approach to international relations, the multi-vector nature of the Belarusian foreign policy only confirms its correctness. To be friends with all those who also want it, to do business with the East and the West — this principle shows its re­ levance more and more.

The recent official visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister to Minsk should be considered in this context as well. Alexander Lukashenko met with Viktor Orban at the Independence Palace. The general nature of the talks and their importance were clearly reflected in the words of the Belarusian President, in particular, that Hungary is Belarus’ closest partner in the European Union, which contributes to deepening relations with the European community as no one else.

Other details of the visit can be found in the material “Coo­ peration is on the rise”.

The topic of quality of life is to some extent covered in this issue by the publication “Image of the future in the real dimen­ sion”. The matter is that last year, deputies of the local councils of the three Belarusian cities — Novogrudok, Novopolotsk and Polotsk — approved the plans of green urban development for the first time taking into account the prospects of town planning. The documents were developed with the participation of experts from Viktor Kharkov, the Global Environment Facility chief editor and UNDP “Green Cities”, specia­ lists from local city administrations, and representatives of the public. By their very nature, Green City Plans form a strategic vision, in other words, a vision of the future that a particular city would like to achieve given its current state, current challenges and exis­ ting capacities. These plans represent a full-fledged local sustainable development strategy for the next twenty years, designed with the urban space in mind.

As early as this year, four more cities — Zelva, Gorodok, Kor­ ma and Krichev — have already developed their Green Urban Development Plans. Public discussions of collective documents are currently taking place there. And this all is dealt with in the publication.

Undoubtedly, time makes its mark on creativity as well. For example, one of the last works by the artist Vasily Kostyuchenko is called “The Way”. In it one can see the silhouettes of people against the background of many steps that lead far upwards. Only at the top there is a bench where one can rest. But first you have to go up this difficult path. As the artist himself said, the plot of the painting was inspired by modern reality with its pandemic, caronovirus, self-isolation and other recent troubles…

The famous master of painting Vasily Kostyuchenko is artist-conceptualist. This is confirmed by his works made in recent months and presented in the artist’s studio. They are still waiting for their time to be exhibited for the public (now there are no exhibition events) and, I have no doubt, will cause genuine interest in the audience.

But you can learn about the artist’s reflections from our publication, the title of which contains the words: “Art is meaningless un­ less it affects the soul…” I suppose that would be interesting, too.

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Cooperation is on the rise Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pays official visit to Belarus

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— I want you to know that we are ready for it first of all. And irst of all, it should be noted that so far there have been no ofsecondly, if we agree on something, Belarus will fulfill these agreeficial visits of leaders of such level from Hungary to Belarus. ments.

The current visit of a reputable not only Hungarian, but also Viktor Orban, in turn, thanked the Belarusian President for European politician to Minsk is even more significant. the opportunity to visit our country.

The President of Belarus met with Prime Minister of Hunga— It is a great honour for me to be the first Prime Minister of ry Viktor Orban at the Independence Palace. The general nature Hungary to pay an official visit to your country. When I thought of the talks and their importance are clearly reflected in Alexander about my trips abroad after the pandemic (where to go for the first Lukashenko’s words: time), I thought: let’s go to the ones we promised long ago to come.

— Hungary is Belarus’ closest partner in the European Union.

We owe it to you.

More than anyone else, it understands us and contributes to dee­ pening our relations with the European Union.

The Prime Minister of Hungary recalled his meeting with According to the President of Belarus, in the current realities Ale­xander Lukashenko at the turn of the 1990s and 2000s in Issuch a visit is without exaggeration of special importance: tanbul: — You are opening up old and new routes to the whole world — And there we were lucky to talk. So I have very nice perafter what we thought was a terrible epidemic. sonal memories.

The Head of State thanked Viktor Orban for opening these At the meeting in the Independence Palace, Viktor Orban routes from Belarus. stressed that there are no unresolved issues between Belarus and Alexander Lukashenko also highly appreciated Hungary’s ecoHungary: nomic opportunities as a partner: — We do not remember that Belarus has ever treated Hungary — It is the country with the highest level of development and, with disrespect, and we do not remember that we have not paid consequently, with great potential. The level of our trade, economic and political relations does not correspond to what we Alexander Lukashenko: can do. The 255 million US dollars trade turnover is not the trade turnover that should be between Hungary and Belarus.

Hence, we need to use every opportunity to expand trade not only between the two countries, but also between two powerful economic organizations. On the one hand — the European Union, on the other — the Eurasian Economic Union. In this connection, Alexander Lukashenko assured the guest:

— We have openly and thoroughly discussed various issues of the bilateral character and the situation in the world. The parties noted the similarity of views on many topical issues. Hungary is Belarus’ closest partner in the European Union. It, like nobody else, understands us and contributes to deepening our relations with the European Union.

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President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban at the meeting in Minsk

you back in kind. That is, in general, everything is fine, but unfortunately, you are right that we have received very little from it.

The Prime Minister also noted that Belarus is a developed country, which can be proud of its achievements in industry and food production, successes in culture and sports: — I really hope that this meeting will be a significant step forward. I have come with sincere intentions for cooperation.

Later, summarizing the results of the talks with journalists, the President of Belarus once again stressed the importance and value of the visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister right now: — This is a bold step in this seemingly difficult psychological and medical situation (which is called a pandemic) which allowed us to break the so-called international quarantine and revive the format of live communication between European countries.

The Head of State called the conversation in Minsk very constructive, which “indicates that Belarusian-Hungarian cooperation is on the rise: — We have openly and meaningfully discussed various topics on the bilateral agenda and the situation in the world. We noted the similarity of views on many topical issues.

Alexander Lukashenko noted that the dialogue between Belarus and the EU had improved considerably. According to him, the

relations have become more pragmatic, equal and, most importantly, productive: — Our friends from Budapest and Viktor Orban personally have greatly contributed to it.

The President stressed the need to promote dialogue on different platforms and in different formats. In particular, he stressed that both countries were interested in developing the Eastern Partnership as a creative initiative focused on economic growth: — And an initiative that doesn’t infringe on anyone’s interests.

Hungary also has a constructive position within the North Atlantic Alliance, with which we have a trusting relationship. Belarus is ready to further develop the dialogue on a mutually respectful and equal basis. lexander Lukashenko and Viktor Orban also exchanged views on resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine.

— The growing conflict is a destabilizing factor of European security and a challenge for the entire region, — the President of Belarus said. Alexander Lukashenko noted that Hungary is a close country for Belarus geographically, historically and culturally. Our economic relations have been gradually developing lately:

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Visit — It’s time for the European Union to lift the existing sanctions against Belarus. And a new type of economic cooperation will begin after the pandemic, — said Viktor Orban and recalled that it was impossible to build a partnership with the sanctions. At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister noted the importance of cooperation within the EU-EAEU. Yes, one of the topics, which was also discussed in Minsk, was the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. In this regard, the Head of the Hungarian government noted: — We discussed the Minsk agreements. I believe that their implementation is the only hope for resolving the situation in Ukraine. I am convinced that Belarus plays a very important role in resolving the Ukrainian issue.

Budapest also supports the position of Minsk on the development of nuclear energy: — Our countries have decided to establish close cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. We are watching the project in Ostrovets. And since our Paksh‑2 NPP is being built on a similar project, I think we will be able to share our experience, information and knowledge with each other. f course, during the negotiations in Minsk, economic agreements were a separate, very important block. Viktor Orban noted that a credit line worth €40 million would be opened in the Hungarian Eximbank to finance cooperation between Belarus and Hungary. He also said that Wizzair would launch a flight between Minsk and Budapest.

Alexander Lukashenko also confirmed that economic issues were the main ones during the meeting. The Head of State spoke about the main areas of cooperation in the economic sphere: — If in the next two or three years we reach half a billion of turnover, which is very little for growth, it would be good. We do not set exorbitant goals. For now we need to reach 500‑million euro turnover and we believe that the first stage of our intensive contacts will bring success.

As for the specific areas of cooperation, the President of Belarus said that this is determined by the government, but nevertheless named several important topics: — We are very interested in your builders. Your pharmacists, who produce very good drugs and medicines.

Alexander Lukashenko sees great prospects for cooperation in the agrarian sector. In general, he described the prospects as follows: — We are ready to cooperate with you in all areas… There are many areas.

Viktor Orban agreed that the current level of trade does not match the potential of the two countries: Present to the Prime Minister of Hungary from the President of Belarus

— Many Hungarian brands are widely known in our country.

The goal is to make the “Made in Belarus” brand no less popular in Hungary, while economic ties between the two countries are steadily developing. We have delivered Belarusian-made trains to Hungary, the first of which has already passed the tests and will soon be launched.

The President noted: Belarus and Hungary confirm that they do not accept attempts to exert pressure from outside: — Our countries have faced absolutely unprecedented and brazen attempts to oppose our sovereign right to develop peaceful nuclear programmes. We have agreed that together we will give them an adequate but tough answer. The Belarusian side will not allow anyone from outside to try to influence our energy policy.

At the same time, we guarantee that this policy will be aimed at maximum security, openness and transparency. Moreover, we will do our best to make sure that not only the policy, but also the new NPP in Belarus could work not only for Belarus, but for all inte­ rested countries. We are ready to receive experts from the IAEA, EU and other international organizations to make sure that the NPP in Ostrovets does not pose a threat to Belarusians or our neighbours.

The parties reaffirmed their interest in exchanging experience in nuclear and energy fields, operation of nuclear power plants, safe handling of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

— I am convinced that Belarusian-Hungarian cooperation has a great future in all areas without exception, — said the President of Belarus. — In order to jointly overcome the problems facing our economy, we need to coordinate efforts where necessary. ommenting on the results of the meeting in Minsk, Viktor Orban said as a sign of solidarity that Hungary supports the development of the Eastern Partnership initiative, of which Belarus is a member.

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“The visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Minsk is a bold step in this seemingly difficult psychological and medical situation (the name of which is a pandemic), which has allowed us to break the socalled international quarantine and revive the format of living relations between European states.” This was stated by Alexander Lukashenko during the conversation at the Independence Palace with the media after the talks with the highranking guest.

Minsk — Budapest: reciprocal action The Government has discussed projects to increase trade with Hungary

— I am sure that we can reach a turnover of 500 million euros.

And it can be noted that even this figure seems low to me. he negotiations ended with the traditional exchange of gifts. Alexander Lukashenko presented Viktor Orban with a T‑shirt of the Belarusian national football team. The T‑shirt has number 2 on it as this is Viktor Orban’s number when he plays football from time to time.

— With our coat of arms. Maybe you will put it on some day, — the Head of State said.

It is known that football is the main hobby of the Hungarian Prime Minister. Simultaneously with his political activities, he played in the third football division club Felhut, and in 2004 he even became a coach.

Another gift to the Hungarian guest is the book “Heritage of Belarus”.

— This book is for you to learn more about the culture of Belarus, — the President wished.

Viktor Orban noted that his wife had visited Belarus many times. She worked here with Christian charity: — They had different programmes. She told me many good things.

The Head of State also presented the Prime Minister with an exclusive set of sweets “President”.

In turn, Viktor Orban presented Alexander Lukashenko with a handmade porcelain set.

As a result, the Hungarian Prime Minister left an entry in the Book of Honorary Guests of the Independence Palace.

The President of Belarus once again thanked the distinguished guest for the visit and stressed: — Be sure, and you know it, that you are always a good and welcome guest in Belarus. We are always ready to meet you here.

The Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko met with the Hungarian delegation headed by the Prime Minister Viktor Orban. It was the first international meeting in a new position for Roman Golovchenko. The parties discussed the bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas: from engineering to agriculture.

The two countries are important trade and economic partners.

It is noticeable in the format of the meeting: despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Prime Minister of Hungary decided to come to Belarus personally. Roman Golovchenko especially thanked his counterpart for this: — At a time when all international activities have moved to cyberspace, the fact that such a representative delegation has arrived in Belarus is a very good sign.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of Hungary as a partner of Belarus: — Thank you for the very constructive and partnership atmosphere that we have in mutual cooperation. It has a significant impact on the way the practical results have been achieved: the volume of mutual trade is increasing, Belarus is traditionally on the list of Hungary’s leading partners.

The Head of the Belarusian Government has also expressed confidence that the increase in trade turnover between the two countries to 500 million euros over the next two-three years is a feasible task.

The Prime Minister also reminded that a meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental commission was held in May to discuss trade and economic cooperation issues in detail: — The number of issues for the near future is has been specified, and all that is left to do is to implement them. This is very right and good that it is a road with two-way traffic. Our projects include attracting and using Belarusian technologies in Hungary in such areas as mechanical engineering, construction and Hungarian technologies in Belarus — in agriculture, pharmaceuticals.

This is a very balanced approach. All these projects are related to human welfare, work and employment.

Besides, Roman Golovchenko suggested that the Hungarian partners can use the Belarusian experience in developing and manufacturing electric cars.

In turn, Viktor Orban expressed hope for fruitful cooperation in the near future: — I congratulate your country on the order I see everywhere.

Congratulations on these figures, or rather, on the work behind them.

By Vasily Kharitonov

By Alexey Fedosov

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Focus

Integration is being challenged The сoronavirus pandemic has made adjustments to the work of politicians around the world.

The recent session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council chaired by the President of Belarus was held via videoconference.

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s a matter of fact, it was the second time that the EAEU Presidents communicated online. On Minsk’s initiative, the first such meeting was held in April. At that time, when discussing the topic of countering COVID-19 and responding to the economic consequences of the pandemic, the President of Belarus pointed out the fundamental principles applicable to any problem. The point was that unilateral actions of states endanger trade relations, cooperative chains and labour migration. The lack of coordination of efforts exacerbates those negative factors. Therefore, selfish decisions taken without regard to the consequences for at least the closest partners will not be successful strategically.

Acceleration of the creation of import-substituting industries, localization of critical industries in the territory of the Union… That April afternoon the Belarusian President voiced several recipes for how to act in such situations. Alexander Lukashenko’s position is: actions of the EAEU member-states should be deprived of national selfishness, and decisions should be harmonized with a single vector of orientation.

Alexander Lukashenko specified the preservation of transit as one of the most important issues in the EAEU. The Head of State made it clear to his colleagues: — There was no case when we banned the entry of the citizens of your countries and any other states, provided that the rules established in Belarus are observed. I believe that in this situation we should act within the limits of reasonable sufficiency. It seems to me that some transport corridor between the countries should be preserved not only in Belarus. And it would

Focus be good to have this corridor through Russia to Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and so on.

Common rules for regulating foreign trade were also on the agenda. According to Alexander Lukashenko, derogations are possible only in exceptional cases. All decisions must be agreed upon. And above all it concerns the satisfaction of domestic need for goods with high demand, as well as those which the lives and safety of citizens depend on. We are talking first of all about medical goods, i. e. drugs, equipment, means of protection.

As it can be seen, Minsk’s position on interaction in the EAEU is always consistent and in its fundamentals is unchanged. here were also many issues discussed by the leaders of the “five” already in the second half of May. But the main one is the Strategic Directions of the Eurasian Economic Integration until 2025 (Strategy 2025). This document is at the same time an action plan for the deepening of relations, and a kind of turning point on the way of recovery and increasing the pace of development of the economies of the EAEU Member States.

— Its preparation was difficult, but in general we managed to reach agreed decisions on all areas of deeper integration, — said the President of Belarus.

Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko, heads of the ministries of antimonopoly regulation and trade, foreign affairs, transport and communications, finance, economy, energy were among the participants of this second non-standard format meeting from the Belarusian side. In addition, the summit was attended by Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Vladimir Semashko, who was in the studio of the embassy in Moscow.

Such events usually involve the discussion of issues in a narrow (only Presidents participate) and extended attendance. However, as a moderator Alexander Lukashenko suggested changing the format of the summit, uniting the two parts. According to him, two issues from the narrow agenda — about the Strategy 2025 and Cuba’s ap-

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plication for the status of an observer state in the EAEU — can be discussed openly, there are no secrets. The colleagues supported this proposal, after which Moldovan President Igor Dodon joined the broadcast. Initially, as a representative of an observer state in the EAEU, he was to participate only in the extended part of the summit. pening the session, Alexander Lukashenko once again reminded that in April, in the format of a video conference, the Presidents of the EAEU member states also discussed the most pressing issues, first of all, the fight against coronavirus infection. And now it is time to discuss directly economic measures in view of the changing situation. The President of Belarus touched upon an issue that had not yet been settled in the Union.

It was about pricing for gas transportation services in the common EAEU market. In particular, Alexander Lukashenko stressed: — We have been unable to decide on a final mutually acceptable solution for several years. At the same time, the urgency of the problem is constantly growing.

The topic is indeed extremely burning.

It should be reminded that some time ago the President of Belarus drew the attention of his colleagues to the fact that in case of a sharp change in the economic situation the gas price should be more adaptive and the settlement mechanism should be more attractive for consumers. Now the tariffs are regulated by national legislation and gas supplies between the EAEU countries are based on bilateral agreements. At the same time, fuel, for example, is almost three times more expensive for Belarus than for Russia, making it much more difficult for Belarusian enterprises to compete in the common market. Meanwhile, as we know, the methodology of a common gas market is already reflected in several existing documents of the Eurasian Economic Union. This opinion, by the way, is also shared

by Armenia.

Alexander Lukashenko also noted that the current situation in the world and in the post-Soviet space is in constant dynamics. Despite this, it is obvious that its perception in most countries is beginning to change radically. Prolonged quarantine and self-isolation of the population have clearly shown that even superpowers do not have a factor of safety, which can prevent national economies from recession for a considerable period of time in conditions of closed borders and dysfunctional enterprises. According to the President of Belarus, experts are increasingly making the most negative forecasts for certain states and even continents for the near and distant future.

They call the issue of food supply as one of the most acute problems.

— Therefore, today it is extremely important for us to find ways to preserve agricultural and industrial sectors of our countries, at the same time taking all measures to protect people,” Alexander Lukashenko is convinced. — We hope that Russia, as a locomotive of our integration association, will correlate the measures taken to restore economic growth with our agreements within the union to ensure free access of goods to the markets of the countries.

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Focus

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total of ten issues were on the agenda of the meeting: from the main guidelines of macroeconomic policy for the next two years to amending EAEU Treaty in terms of payment of value added tax on imports of goods into the free economic zone. With regard to Strategy 2025, the parties are unanimous in almost all issues. Only the gas issue is still open. During the session, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward additional conditions for its supplies contrary to the previously signed documents. In his opinion, a single tariff can be implemented only in a single market with a single budget and a single taxation system. In the meantime, gas prices should be formed on the market conditions. However, this position is in no way linked to the very idea of equality of the union members and previous agreements between the countries.

In general, the leaders of the EAEU countries approved the Strategic Directions for the Development of the Eurasian Economic Integration until 2025. But the draft was not adopted. Instead of a full stop they put an ellipsis points. So, the document will be finalized taking into account a number of proposals of the parties. After all, it does not have any urgent proposals to be implemented. This is a strategy. Therefore, there is no hurry, except for the point on natural gas.

— And even if we take a decision on natural gas in this phrasing it is not a detailed decision. It will be followed by negotiations, — Alexander Lukashenko is sure.

The position of the Heads of the EAEU Member States is that it would be good if the 2025 Strategy was adopted during a personal meeting, so-called eye to eye. When can such a meeting take place?

In October or November, believes the President of Belarus.

— I would like to suggest that we consider today’s council as an extraterritorial council. Taking into account the presidency of Belarus in the EAEU, I look forward to a face-to-face meeting of the EAEU Heads of State and would suggest holding it in Minsk at the time when you can come, — Alexander Lukashenko said. — We have not gathered here for five years.

There were no objections. The exact date of the future meeting and its format will be determined later.

In particular Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia: — In the context of global economic challenges, which we all face today, the need for the rapid formation of a common gas market for Armenia is particularly acute.

As I have noted many times, a single market of energy resources with non-discriminatory principles of functioning should become one of the foundations of our integration. Without it, the qualitative progress of integration processes is impossible. Without it, it is impossible to ensure equal conditions of economic ac-

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tivity for all participants of the union. We proceed from the fact that the Strategic Directions of the economic integration development till 2025 should stipulate the principle of applying the unified approaches to pricing and tariff formation in the EAEU common gas market, including the unified tariffs for services provided by a natural monopoly entity during gas transmission and transit. Our Union should strive for the step-by-step achievement of this objective, which will create a favorable ground for a qualitatively deeper economic integration within the Union.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan: — We plan to adopt an important strategic document that will determine the development of the Eurasian Economic Union in the next five years. In fact, it is a great historical event, which requires careful preparation from all sides, both in terms of its content, organizational and protocol issues, and information support.

Given the particular importance of this document, which lays the main contours of integration for years to come, it seems appropriate to discuss it further and adopt it during a face-to-face meeting. Sooner or later we will see each other. It is important to complete the construction of a powerful foundation for moving forward: it is necessary to ensure in practice the movement of goods without barriers and restrictions, to build a single market for services in the sectors agreed upon by the parties, to prepare for common energy and financial markets.

Sooronbay Jeenbekov, the President of Kyrgyzstan: — Under current conditions, the free movement of goods within the EAEU has become relevant for ensuring food security. We have to pay attention once again to the issue of removing barriers in the internal customs territory of the union. We have reached an agreement on the creation of green corridors for the supply of essential products. Despite this, individual member States of the Union are strengthening control and introducing restrictions on the supply of products. The existing mechanism for removing barriers is ineffective due to the lack of sufficient authority on the part of the Collegium of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Decisions of the commission to eliminate barriers are not fully implemented by some member states. I propose to give the EAEU Collegium the right to apply to the EAEU Court to impose penalties in case of failure to remove the barriers.

Focus

Vladimir Putin, the Pres­ ident of Russia: — We are living in difficult times related to the pandemic: all this has a direct impact on our interaction, on the economy, on direct contacts between people, and it creates certain difficulties in implementing our joint agenda. Nevertheless, Belarus, which is currently presiding over the EAEU, finds opportunities to actively — and I would like to stress it — continue our joint work. I would like to thank the President of Belarus for it, this is the second event you are holding.

And the Eurasian Economic Commission is actively working with the representative of Belarus (Mikhail Myasnikovich — Edit.). It seems to me that this is a good example to follow.

Igor Dodon, the Presi­ dent of Moldova: — We are determined to deepen our interaction with the Eurasian Economic Union and to expand the cooperation agenda. We are talking about Moldova’s participation in several common programmes and projects of the Union’s member states. Of special interest for us are cooperation projects in the agro-industrial sector and food security of the EAEU member states. Moldova’s high interest in the Eurasian Economic Union is primarily related to its attractive economic agenda, ensuring the freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and labour. hat do experts pay attention to after the current session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council? If we look at the history of development of the European Union, it began with the unification of coal and steel, i. e. the formation of a common market of resources neces-

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BY THE WAY Cuba expressed its desire to obtain observer status with the Eurasian Economic Union. This country has shown interest in cooperation with the EAEU practically since the establishment of the association. Since 2018, the Cuban Government has been cooperating with the Eurasian Economic Commission on the basis of a memorandum of understanding. The issue had already been discussed twice by the Commission, and that time it was on the agenda again. Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan had no objections, but the general verdict was that additional consultations were needed.

sary for the existence of the material basis of the union. Therefore, it is logical that the Belarusian side, Armenia and partly Kyrgyzstan insist that before moving forward, it is necessary to agree on common principles of pricing for energy resources and their transportation. But the fact is that oil prices have fallen a lot recently, there are problems with the gas industry in Russia as well. In other words, the revenues of Russia’s resource monopolies are actually falling, so the interests of the fuel and energy complex prevail over the allied logic, which directly affects the political decisions of the Russian leadership.

Representatives of the expert community believe that the strategy of Russia’s development as an energy superpower announced back in the 2000s was not quite adequate. The stake should have been placed not just on supplying resources abroad and getting currency for it, but on developing its own technologies. Now this strategy is faced with the ideology of the Eurasian Union, each member of which has something to offer, to bargain away certain interests for the sake of overall benefit.

However, the countries — manufacturers of energy resources do not want to coordinate the interests, to go against them in relation to allies. At the same time, Russia demands a common tax and budget policy, and so on, although these are later stages of integration.

The single energy market issues are very sensitive for the Belarusian economy. And it is no coincidence that Belarus insists on resolving them as soon as possible, since only then can equal economic conditions for all enterprises be ensured. As for the Russian side, it declares free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor; everything is noted down, but gas issues are immediately put in brackets. This is a double approach, which has been criticized many times. As a result, today the Western European countries are in a better position than Russia’s main ally in terms of natural gas prices. In other words, the EAEU is not perfect yet. They have announced integration on the principles of equality, but in fact the Belarusian side, for example, bumps into the barriers to the supply of products, unresolved issues on energy resources and so on. This clearly damages the image of the union and reduces its credibility. The President of Belarus has always been speaking frankly about it. As well as about the fact that it is futile to use energy resources as a tool to pressure and coerce some political decisions in terms of unification. The sovereignty of Belarus has no price and is not for sale.

Another point is also important. During the coronavirus pandemic, strength and solidarity of integration unions are being challenged. We see problems that the European Union is facing, problems at the level of global economies, the USA and their partners. Therefore, if Russia met its partners interests on such a sensitive issue as gas transit, it would be a movement in the right direction. After all, the gas issue is a key issue for the formation of the budgets of the EAEU countries and a test of strength of the Union as a structure. Therefore, there should not be delay in dealing with its decision.

By Vladimir Velikhov

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good level

Factor of food security The situation that emerged this year confirmed the key value of food security. This opinion was expressed

by Vladimir Ulakhovich, the Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, during the regular meeting of the joint project of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) and BelTA “Expert Community”.

Experts drew attention to a statement made by David Beasley, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program.

Speaking at a virtual meeting of the Organization’s Security Council in April, he cautioned that humanity could face biblical famine because of the coronavirus pandemic if measures for food security were not taken in time. “The current situation has changed the focus and understanding of what food security is. It showed that this value is one of the key. In fact, this is the state’s competitiveness rating today. Belarus looks very adequately in this regard,” Vladimir Ulakhovich emphasized.

“According to the rating of the American magazine The Economist, Belarus has the highest positions in the world food security index. It should be emphasized that

our country occupies one of the first places under such a criterion as access to food for the population,” said Gordey Gusakov, the Deputy Director for Research at the Institute for System Studies in Agroindustrial Complex of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

Positive trend According to Vladimir Ulakhovich, Belarus will fulfill the estimates on export this year. “Because there is a great need for food. But at the same time, one must understand that in general, an economic slowdown will also affect trade relations in terms of attracting financial resources, new technologies, investment projects,” said the Chairman of the BelCCI. This problem has to be worked out from the position of state regulation, long-term planning, and conBELTA

Е State index

servation of natural resources. “It also has to do with exports. Because export today is not only manufactured products, it is the depth of the production process, the independence of feed supplies, genetic materials,” Vladimir Ulakhovich explained.

According to Alexey Bogdanov, the Head of the Main Directorate of Foreign Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, for the first quarter of this year Belarus has exported food at the amount of 1.4 billion US dollars, which is 9.8 % more than in January-March last year. “About 7.4 million tons of milk are produced in the country annually, of which we export 60 %. Meat constitutes 1.2 million tons, of which 30 % is our export potential. The export of plant products is about 500 million US dollars and it is growing annually. Dairy group makes 2.2 billion US dollars. Last year, we almost reached a billion US dollars in meat exports. This year we notice a positive trend with the export of food products,” he said.

Moreover, Belarus provides itself with food by more than 80 %. The other positions are goods of the so-called critical import, i. e. citrus fruits, coffee, tea, etc. “But as for the main types of products — meat, dairy and bakery groups, we fully provide ourselves. In retail chains, 99.9 % of these goods are of domestic production,” said Alexey Bogdanov.

After quarantine

During the meeting

The food situation in the world is generally satisfactory, the problem is the consequences of quarantine due to

liubov malysheva

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Statistics from the Main Department of Foreign Economic Activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Belarus

COVID‑19. This opinion was expressed

by Anton Dudarenok, the analyst of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies.

He cited the global coffee market as an example. “Colombia, Brazil are two of the four leading countries supplying coffee to the world market. Due to the coronavirus and restrictions there is not enough labor force. People cannot get there. Accordingly, there is no one to reap the harvest of coffee. This will lead to a gap in the market, prices will rise, it will be destabilized. Difficulties are connected not only with how to reap the harvest, but also to whom and how to sell it, how to deliver it,” the BISS analyst added.

As noted during the meeting “Expert Community”, even before the pandemic, when the economy was operating normally, there were more than 820 million people in the world who were starving. This year this figure is increasing, it is close to a billion. “According to the UN report on the impact of coronavirus on the economies of the developing countries, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East will face the problem of economic slowdown if they have nothing to repay debts. That’s how the problems of hunger will arise,” said the BISS analyst.

Alexey Bogdanov, the Head of the Main Department for Foreign Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food,

admitted that he has an alternative view on this matter. “I’m very sceptical about all this. We do not live in biblical times, with a completely different technical potential.

Production has grown dozens, hundreds of times in every country in the world. There is no such breakdown in logistics at all, this is also untruth. Like we delivered products, like we deliver them now. Although, of course, there are some difficulties. Therefore, I will honestly say on the issue of biblical hunger, I very much doubt that it will come,” said Alexey Bogdanov.

Crisis as a chance The Ministry of Agriculture and Food has already noted a large slowdown in consumer demand among the CIS countries.

“Strategically, we build our policy of foreign economic affairs and the sale of food products, based not only on one market.

Initially, we put diversification as a priority so as not to get stuck in one market, but to distribute our goods of export interest all around the world,” noted Alexey Bogdanov. Last year, Belarus exported food products to 104 countries of the world.

“The Ministry is doing a lot to get to new markets in terms of veterinary and sanitary access. In particular, at the beginning of the quarter, 15 enterprises started to export to China, and dairy products were certified

for supply to Vietnam. Now we are completing such work on meat products. The Ministry is making a lot of effort to really use this crisis as an opportunity to increase supply volumes, expand the assortment,” the Head of the Main Department for Foreign Economic Affairs emphasized. Moreover, the Belarusian party is interested in increasing the supply of finished products, rather than raw materials. According to Alexey Bogdanov, the point is “to put Belarusian brand products on the shelves in the stores for the people to recognize it and not to supply raw materials, which are then processed by local producers”.

Promotion of Belarusian products in the markets is going well. Vladimir Ulakhovich commented on the situation with the logistics of food supplies in the pandemic. “For example, we have such an indicator: we issue a certificate of forcemajeure. Since the end of February, we have had about 70 such requests, but all of them relate to the service sector or the supply of equipment. There are no cases of the disruption of contracts for the supply of food, — he said. — Our strength is that Belarus has been working consistently and thoroughly in the agricultural sector for the last decade. Therefore, we look very stable at the global level as an exporter and feel quite calm”. valeriya pavlovich

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innovations for life

Radiation in the service of doctors

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How nuclear technology helps to fight coronavirus The benefits of nuclear medicine — diagnosis and treatment by means of radiopharmaceuticals — have long been known. Most often it is used in oncology, cardiology and neurology. Using diagnostics by positron emission tomography, for example, focuses of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are detected, carcinomas are found, their activity and metabolic changes are investigated. Radioactive iodine successfully treats thyroid cancer. Nuclear technologies are also used in the production of medical X‑ray equipment, for the sterilization of medical systems, and they also proved to be an indispensable assistant in the fight against coronavirus. Experts told us about the way it happens, how dangerous radiation is to the body, and what to expect from a peaceful atom in the future.

Electron sterilization Two nuclear medicine departments and 20 tracer laboratories operate in Belarus. About 70 thousand diagnostic radionuclide studies are conducted annually, more than two thousand patients receive radiotherapy with radioactive materials of unsealed type.

And in a pandemic, nuclear medicine offered such a popular technology as the sterilization of medical devices, i. e. the destruction of pathogenic organisms, spores, viruses, by using accelerated electrons.

— Experts testify that the disinfection of medical devices and equipment with the help of accelerated electrons makes the process more eco-friendly and faster than other sterilization methods. What is the peculiarity?

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— Our method is distinguished by the fact that the flows of generated accelerated electrons go through the packaging of products and do not damage it. This eliminates further pollution and makes the sterilized in this way product suitable for immediate use. Therefore, subsequent degassing or other actions are not necessary, as in the case of usual sterilization, — explained Yuliya Kurashvili, oncologist, adviser to the General Director of “Rusatom Healthcare”. — In addition, during such sterilization there is no incidental chemical and other pollution.

All technological equipment for radiation sterilization is produced by the enterprises of the state corporation “Rosatom”, and the disinfection of medical equipment and equipping with the help of accelerated electrons is implemented at its subsidiary enterprise “Sterion”. Today it sterilizes not only medical masks, but also laboratory systems for collecting biomaterial and its subsequent transportation to laboratories specializing in COVID‑19 research.

Screening tomograph and standards for viruses During the pandemic, all concerned render help to doctors. Among them is the research and production enterprise Adani, which produces medical equipment and security systems and develops technologies in the field of digital imaging of medical X‑ray display and X‑ray examination systems and non-destructive testing systems. Employees of the company produced more than 1500 blinds to protect doctors. Nevertheless, Vladimir Linev, the Director of the company, considers it to be a drop in the

ocean and a normal human response of his employees to the needs of doctors and the situation that has developed in the country.

— To overcome the coronavirus infection, fundamentally new technologies are needed. Has such a saving breakthrough already been made?

— One of the main directions that are important for medicine today is the diagnosis of complications caused by coronavirus. For example, our “Pulmaskan” digital X‑ray fluorographs, which around 350 clinics of our country are equipped with today, solve the task of screening (examining people without symptoms) the chest for early diagnosis of tuberculosis. About 2.5 million Belarusians are examined annually, and at the same time, about 15–20 other diseases, including pneumonia, are detected. And this is a unique opportunity now in the conditions of coronavirus to quickly see if there is pneumonia. And because this system is low-dose in terms of radiation exposure, the examination can be done many times a year, — said Vladimir Linev. — Today we are trying to improve this method in order to immediately find the specific pneumonia caused by COVID‑19, using computed tomography. Such equipment is now extremely relevant for the fight against mass diseases. — New challenges lead to, of course, new solutions: both in sterilization and in the application of radiation technologies. I think there will be a whole pool of new original research related to viruses and their behavior. Until this year, standards for medical devices referred exclusively to disease-inducing microorganisms and spores.

As for virulent viruses and modes of irradiation of medical devices, profound statistical research is needed. Moreover, medical

innovations for life products are constantly being improved and changed, as, by the way, viruses do. Therefore, sterilization specialists must always be one step ahead, — said Yuliya Kurashvili.

When benefits outweigh risk

Yuliya Matskevich

When the patient comes to you and you think whether it is necessary to conduct examination, write two lines: “What will I do if the examination gives a positive result?” and “What will I do if the examination gives a negative result?” If the actions are the

Aram Avetisov, assistant professor of radiation medicine and ecology department of the Belarusian State Medical University. — The dose of radiation that a person receives over a year from natural radiation background is an average of 2.4 millisievert (mSv). For diagnosis, classic dosages are used, related to the concept of “small radiation doses”. They are 100 or more times less than LD50 — the dose that causes a disease and in half the cases a possible death. The lowest doses are used in modern digital fluorography — they amount to 8–10 mi-

Vladimir Linev, General Director of Adani, and Elena Lineva, Executive Director of the company, near the apparatus KT VENTUM

same in both cases, then there is no need for diagnosis. This joke known by doctors is directly related to life, especially when it comes to diagnosis with the use of radiation.

Even in legislative acts three principles of radiation safety are specified, which are strictly observed: optimization, standardization and substantiation. If there is no strict need for diagnosis, it is not carried out.

— How safe is the use of radiation in the diagnosis and treatment of a human and how to maintain a balance between damage and the benefits of its effect on the body?

— If a person has a suspected case of oncology, then a diagnosis is necessary to save their life. It makes no sense to take into account the risk that in the future this radiation will somehow affect the body, because the radiation doses are so low that the harmful effect is hardly probable, — assured

crosievert (µSv). This figure is less than the natural impact by almost an order of magnitude, so you should not pay attention to such a radiation influence. The remaining radiation doses are also comparable to natural ones, and even if they exceed it, it is not very much. During computer tomography (CT), for example, typical figures are within a dozen millisieverts (mSv), or 0.01 gray (Gy). In modern positron emission tomography in combination with CT, the radiation dose can reach 20–25 milligrays (mGy), however, this value is also far from the one that can harm human health.

Life with the virus: what will be necessary after the pandemic — What can we expect from nuclear medicine in the near future to deal

with the pandemic and prevent new waves?

— When the pandemic ends, I believe that the need for research of the state of various organs and systems of the patients who came through COVID‑19 will increase. Severe and moderate forms of the disease have a consequence in the form of multiple organ failure.

And it is visualization based on nuclear medical technologies and new radiopharmaceuticals that will provide such opportunities, — Yuliya Kurashvili expressed the opinion.

— Together with specialists from German and Swedish companies, we develop a simpler device that will diagnose specific pneumonia caused by coronavirus. I hope that in September we will be able to present equipment for testing that will provide cheaper and easier solution to the problem of COVID‑19, and this is our contribution to the fight, — said Vladimir Linev. — Healthcare systems in many countries were not ready to deal with such a massive disease. Nuclear-physical diagnostic methods aimed at identifying diseases at a very early stage, with very complex equipment have been developing in medicine for the last decades. For example, a gamma knife, the task of which is to treat a brain tumor.

To create such equipment is important, but the world now faces a phenomenon which needs a different approach. Previously, scientists were interested in working on unique informational and technological problems, but now the search for ways to fight the disease that used to be considered a common cold has come to the fore. Developers and manufacturers need to focus on creating devices that are simpler and more accessible to many people. The method of mass screening diagnostics will be in demand, and medicine will turn to the things that at first glance seem simple.

According to experts, the diagnosis will continue to focus on X‑rays with the use of radiological methods: tomography and digital radiography, so nuclear medicine will continue to save lives.

By Irina Sidorok

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Christmas bell in Zhirovichi BELTA

One of the main centers of Belarusian Orthodoxy celebrated two great anniversaries — the 550th anniversary of the miracle-working Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God and the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the Zhirovichi Holy Dormition Stavropegic Monastery. Just before the celebration, new bells were delivered to the monastery.

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The bells were cast at the plant “Vera” in Voronezh, and this issue was monitored

by Alexander Lukashenko, the President of the Republic of Belarus, and Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia,

by Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl,

by Patriarchal Exarch of all Belarus and the deputy of the monastery, Archbishop of Novogrudok and Slonim Gury, and the main expenses were defrayed by the local VTB bank. In the future, it is planned to build a new monastic bell-tower in the monastery, and the valuable gift was installed in a temporary wooden bell-tower of the monastery complex, where the inhabitants of the monastery, local residents and guests of the agrotown Zhirovichi can hear sound of the bells.

In general, Tereza Yushkevich, the Deputy Chairman of the Slonim District Executive Committee, notes that the agrotowns and the monastery have been transformed for the anniversary.

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The sculptor Dmitriy Vrublevsky is the author of the monument to Archimandrite Seraphim — it was his project that won the competition last year among a number of other creative proposals. A 3.5‑meter high restrained and austere bronze figure rests on a granite pedestal at the entrance to the monastery.

According to the website of the monastery, the official opening of the monument, which, by the way, was also made at the expenses of patrons and charitable donations, is scheduled for the memory day of the saint (this day is celebrated on September, 6. — Auth.). The camp in which Archimandrite Seraphim Zhirovichsky died will be laid in the foundation of the sculpture.

A native of a simple peasant family, a native of the village of Velikoye Podlesye, Liakhovichy District, Brest Region, Father Seraphim (born Roman Shakhmut) became famous for his missionary work during the Great Patriotic War, the restoration

of previously closed churches and meeting houses, and for pastoral care in Minsk hospitals, homes for the disabled and orphanages. In 1944, the priest was arrested, accused of collaborating with the Germans and sent to a camp in the Gorky Region (now Nizhny Novgorod), from where he never returned. According to official figures, he died of a heart disease, and, according to likeminded people, he suffered martyrdom… In 1999, the Holy Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church included Archimandrite Seraphim on the list of 23 holy martyrs of the Belarusian land, and a year later was glorified in the Cathedral of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the 20th century… It bears reminding that the Holy Assumption Zhirovichi Monastery is not only one of the main centers of Belarusian Orthodoxy, but also a large architectural ensemble of the 17th‑18th centuries. The monastery complex includes the Assumption Cathedral, the Yavlens-

spirituality

Alexander Lukashenko:

Aware of the importance of the spiritual component in shaping the traditions of the Belarusian people and preserving their cultural heritage, the state provides all possible support in the restoration of the Zhirovichi Monastery.

The tireless prayerful work of its inhabitants awakens kindness and love, hope and mercy in people and unites them in the face of any trials.

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kaya Church, the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the winter Nikolsky Church, the Georgiyevskaya Church, the building of Minsk Religious Seminary, the bell tower, the brethern’s building, residential and household buildings, the refectory, church shops and the monastery yard, i. e.

“The Garden of Eden” in the so-called Old Zhirovichi. The Zhirovichi Monastery possesses a unique library and church-archeological museum of the Minsk Religious Seminary, which tells visitors the story of the oldest theological educational institution in our country, reflects the development of church art, shows artifacts from archaeological excavations that were carried out on the territory of the monastery in 2007, has a collection of rare manuscripts and old engravings, including the “Apostle”

by Ivan Fyodorov, the 17th century manuscript “Book about Faith”, a facsimile copy of the Zhirovichi Gospel autographed by Lew Sapieha, the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and many other valuable documents.

Believers honor the icon of the Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God, which was recognized as wonder-working by both Orthodox and Catholic confessions. According to various sources from the 16th to the 21st century, which are carefully collected by the inhabitants of the monastery, more than fifty cases of the miraculous help of the Mother of God through the icon have been mentioned. It is a recovery of seriously ill patients, giving infertile couples the opportunity to become parents, return of the lost ability to speak or see, rescue of the icon in a fire and saving the Zhirovichi Monastery during the Great Patriotic War during the liberation of the city in July 1944. Not a single bomb and not a single shell hit the monastery building…

Usually, many pilgrims from all over the world gather in Zhirovichi, and the traditional music and literature festival “Zhirovichi” is held in the open air, but this year due to the difficult epidemiological situation, it was decided to postpone the anniversary celebrations. Therefore, the monastery held only a closed festive service with the participation of Gury, the Deputy Archbishop of Novogrudok and

Slonim. He had been already discharged from hospital and made a video message, in which he thanked everyone, especially the doctors who are on the frontline of the pandemic, residents and students of the seminary who are isolated or on treatment in hospitals, for all those good deeds that open-hearted people do in this difficult time.

Nevertheless, although in a distant format, Belarus celebrates its great anniversary with new books and films about the history of the monastery, scientific research, conferences, art and museum projects dedicated to this significant date.

The Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God is not only a wonder-working icon, which is included on the list of 100 most significant Orthodox icons in the world, but also an artistic rarity of historical and cultural value. It is the smallest among similar icons. The size of the jasper plate with a relief image of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus is only 5.6 by 4.4 centimeters.

According to a legend, the Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God miraculously appeared before the people in the spring of 1470. In the forest, owned by Alexander Soltan, the treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, cattlemen noticed light coming from the branches of a wild pear-tree, i. e. from a small image of the Mother of God and the Baby Christ. The icon was given to the owner, and he locked it in a chest.

But in the evening, when Soltan wanted to show the finding to the guests, it disappeared. It was again found in the branches of a pear tree, and Sapieha promised to found a temple there. Around 1520, a fire broke out in the city, during which a wooden church burned down and the icon disappeared. It was found by the children who after classes saw the Mother of God on a large stone, and in her hands there was the lost relic — this event is considered the second appearance of the icon.

The ceremonial coronation and the creation of an expensive frame for the icon date back to 1730.

Today the icon hardly leaves the walls of the monastery, and a replica made in 1996 is usually used at events.

By Viktoriya Teleshuk

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resonance

Writers of the Commonwealth of Independent States:

Minsk parade as an example of power resisting challenges The parade, which was held in Minsk, caused the widest publicity among the creative and scientific intellectuals in the countries close to Belarus. Writers and scholars from Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan share their impressions after getting information about the festive events in Minsk from various media sources.

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Salih Gurtuev, People’s Poet of Kabardino-Balkaria, the Honorary Chairman of the Writers’ Club of the Caucasus (Nalchik, Russian Federation): — I am glad and proud of the Victory Parade that is taking place in your country! I was emotionally excited by the words of the President of Belarus about the merits of our common Victory, about the merits of our traditions, about today’s urgent fight against Nazism. The events of the Great Patriotic War are getting further and further away from us. But I still know all the veterans of the Great Patriotic War who live in Nalchik, in my republic and who liberated Belarus from the Nazi invaders. The theme of Belarus in the context of the Great Patriotic War is a sacred theme for Balkars and Kabardians. My oldest friend, the great poet of the 20th century Kaisyn Kuliev, was a friend of the Belarusian war veteran poets Arkady Kuleshov and Pimen Panchenko. And I am proud of it and continue to promote friendship between our region, our land, our people and Belarus, Belarusians to the best of my abilities. You have shown once again that Belarus has heights that it will always stick to. After all, your country has a wise leader.

Svetlana Ananyeva, literary critic, candidate of Philological Sciences (Almaty, Kazakhstan): — Minsk, as always, is majestic in its beautiful, highly spiritual attitude to the past. Adiy Sharipov, Sagingali Syaitov, writers who contributed to the military memory of Belarus by their fates, hundreds of sons of Kazakhstan, who were awarded orders and medals for battles in Belarus — we remember them. We also remember the addresses in Belarus, where our compatriots found their eternal refuge. And we know that the memory of Kazakhs who gave their lives for Minsk and Grodno, Brest and Gomel, Vitebsk and Mogilev is in the hearts and deeds of new generations of Belarusians. We bow down before all of you from Kazakhstan for your memory and for the parade of great memory. And write with capital letters: Parade of Great Memory…

resonance Valery Turgay, People’s Poet of Chuvashia (Cheboksary, Russian Federation): — The standpoint of the country’s leadership and the public in Belarus is impressive. The Great Patriotic War is in the hearts of all Belarusians. The holiday in Minsk as a sign of the Great Victory has become a holiday for the whole world! I saw that the parade in Belarus, in a familiar and symbolic place, was successful. Glory to Belarus and Belarusians at all times! Glory to the heroic city of Minsk! A unique parade ground concert was demonstrated to the whole world! And how worthily female service members were marching at the parade! I like to visit your country. I like to visit museums and the places where the traditions of memory of heroic events of the Great Patriotic War are kept.

And when I do literary translation, when I prepare publications of works by Belarusian poets in Chuvash, on my desktop there are books by Belarusian war veteran poets, i. e.

Arkady Kuleshov, Pimen Panchenko, Maxim Tank, Petrus Brovka, Pyotr Glebka…

Renat Harris, People’s Poet of Tatarstan, winner of the Russian Federation State Prize (Kazan, Tatarstan): — On the eve of the Great Victory Day I remembered Minsk underground fighter Ivan Kabushkin. He was born in Belarus, not far from Baranovichi. And he lived and worked in prewar Kazan. In our city there is a monument to him, this is a monument- tram, on which the young man used to work. And on May 8, 2020 it was exactly 55 years since the Minsk underground fighter was awarded the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Let us remember together such people, such selfless Belarusians, Russians, representatives of other nationalities whose selfless lives gave us the opportunity to celebrate the Great Victory Day! I once worked at the Union of Writers of

Tatarstan together with Zaki Nuri, a great Tatar poet. His poetic works were published in a separate book in the Belarusian language.

Zaki Nuri was the commander of a partisan detachment in Belarus. And after the liberation of Vitebsk Region from the Nazis, he worked as the Chairman of the City Council in Orsha. Is it possible to forget such unity?!

Nikolay Cherkashin, retired captain of the first rank, writer, laureate of the literary prize named after V. Pikul (Moscow, Russian Federation).

— My mood on May 9 was created by a solemn parade in Minsk. I saw how worthily Belarus is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. Even though I am in isolation at home, working, sitting at my desk. The mood is elevated and very creative. This is my literary theme — I am writing a novel-dialogue, its events take place during World War I and the Great Patriotic War in my native Grodno Region. I was born in Volkovysk. Such work is my Victory, my contribution to the memory of my compatriots, my father, who fought near Vitebsk, was awarded for his feat on Belarusian soil. And, of course, I want to go to Minsk, Brest, Vitsebsk very much… Come to and visit the monuments, worship them… Feel the connection with the generation of winners.

Kuchkor Nоrkobil, writer, journalist (Tashkent, Uzbekistan): — Minsk, Belarus has once again impressed me. I visited the capital of Belarus some time ago.

I was in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War and in the square near the Victory Obelisk. I passed through Victory Park full of emotions that overcame me. My reasoning was and is quite understandable: I am writing a work about the first days of the Great Patriotic War. For this purpose I came to Belarus several times. I was in Khatyn and learnt about the history of the

Pukhovichi village of Berezyanka, which was burned by the Nazis. Many pages of my book have already been written. And now, under the impression that the Belarusians held such a sincere and open parade of memory in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, I will definitely add a section about today’s Minsk, Minsk, which remembers and preserves traditions.

Agageldi Allanazarow, writer, poet (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan): — I have published three books in the Belarusian language in Belarus. They are all addressed to the youngest reader. I know Belarusians to be sincere and open people. Watching a TV record of the military parade in Belarus caused a lot of positive emotions. I immediately remembered Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Vasilyevich Bogdanov, an Ashgabat citizen, who received the heroic title for the liberation of Bobruisk, who lost his hand near Volkovysk. The story of the Belarusian writer and my friend Nikolay Kalinkovich “The Return of the Dawn Wound” is about Bogdanov. We published it in Ashgabat in Turkmen and Russian languages. I believe that the Ashgabat hero will be mentioned in Belarus as well.

Ato Hamdam, writer, playwright, publicist (Dushanbe, Tajikistan): — Several years ago, Belarusians once again published poems by t h e Pe op l e’s Poet of Tajikistan Saidali Mamur about Khatyn. Written in the 1970s, these works are modern today.

You, like no other country, are modern in preserving the memory of the Great Patriotic War. And this year’s parade in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory in Minsk confirmed it! Congratulations to you, Belarusians!

By Kastus Ladutko

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high diplomacy

Igor Kizim:

“You are a nobody when you lose your roots”

H

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Belarus answered the questions of the magazine

However, there was not much time for such communication: exactly one hour after the beginning of our conversation Mr. Ambassador had a new business meeting. The working schedule of top-level diplomats, which we have repeatedly seen, is usually very busy. But we must admit that this time was quite enough to understand how much Igor Yuryevich Kizim values sincerity in communication. And as he himself said, you can only see it, feel it by looking into each other’s eyes. An hour was also enough for us to talk about our common history, which dates back to the times of Kyivan Rus’, and about the words of the great Ukrainian Kobzar Taras Shevchenko in his drama “Nikita Gayday”: those who have no love for their country, have poor cripples hearts…

It was worth seeing, with what enviable swiftness Mr. Ambassador answered the questions we were interested in. We even managed to find out what his favorite Ukrainian songs were. It turned out that we also know them. And we like to sing from time to time. It’s true that Ivan, an ethnic Belarusian, sings them with a Belarusian accent. And me, Valentina, though a Ukrainian but a foreigner, as they say in Ukraine, sing in Ukrainian with no accent. And how pleasant it was to find out that the song “Divlyus ya na nebo, ta y dumku gadayu (Watching the sky and thinking a thought)…”, which I also

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like since childhood, is among the Ambassador’s favorites. And Igor Yuryevich’s voice is good, sonorous. Though, we heard one of the Ukrainian songs sung by him not in his office, but in the TV program “Culinary Diplomacy”, where he was cooking together with the host Timofey Rogov a Ukrainian dish — kruchenyky and dessert — Shanti cream. By the way, he was very virtuoso with a knife and a mixer… And at the same time he managed to look into the eyes of the presenter and TV viewers.

We hope that our readers will feel the sincerity and depth of emotional Ukrainian soul of Igor Kizim, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Belarus.

— Igor Yuryevich, as we know, our initial idea of other countries is formed on the basis of books, feature films and other art forms.

And what about you? After all, we had to travel a lot around the world… France, Nigeria, Canada, Great Britain… I’m sure that there are vivid impressions in your memory of these countries. What is the most memorable thing about communicating with people?

— Because of my profession, I have a unique opportunity to live in different countries. It’s one thing for a tourist to visit them, and quite another to live longer, for years, and in diplomatic status.

During my diplomatic career I have visited the countries that are

high diplomacy completely different. I started my service in France, continued in Nigeria. Doesn’t it show how diverse our live is! These countries are so different in culture, mentality of people. And each of them leaves its own unforgettable impression. In France, for example, I’ve always liked some of its inherent poetry and romanticism. Since our youth, we’ve loved the books of Maupassant, Balzac…

— And also chanson…

— Yes, yes, and French chanson. All of these are different manifestations of lightness, carelessness and romanticism, which are inherent in all French society. This peculiarity of French people is reflected in different cultural spheres, in theatrical and song art. And the basis of this worldview, as I understand it, is the joy of life, a sense inherent in all the French, a certain optimistic attitude to life. It manifests itself regardless of their social status and position in society. That’s what I noticed when I was living in France. And in Nigeria, I was impressed by the culture. In particular, the performance of traditional dances.

You have to see live to understand how unique this art is. Traditional costumes, unique plasticity, an amazing sense of rhythm of dancers.

A breathtaking performance! And seemingly simple, uncomplicated music accompanies all this, and everything in general is fascinating. I was also surprised to find jazz played in Nigeria.

— Have you made friends abroad?

— Likely not. After all, diplomacy is first and foremost a job.

Of course, I maintain business relations with some diplomats from different countries with whom I have been in contact. And they’re slowly moving up the career ladder. Say, while working in Canada, I was in contact with Arthur Michalsky. He’s now Poland’s Ambassador to Belarus. I have such business connections, of course. And we support them with modern means of communication.

— What are your memories of your life in Canada?

— First of all, a mosaic of cultures. Representatives of different peoples of the world live and coexist there. When I asked about the culture of Canada, the specialists there answered: it is a mosaic of cultures that is created by all other cultures. You probably know that Canada has a large Ukrainian diaspora, more than a million people.

— And the Belarusian diaspora is not small… Well, not a million, of course…

— Frankly speaking, the Belarusians were very discreet there.

And our compatriots were very numerous. By the way, when the Canadian nation, the Canadian state, was being formed, the Ukrainian language had a chance to become the third state language in Canada — after English and French. Now, of course, there are many Poles and Chinese, even more than Ukrainians. But prairies still remain Ukrainian in composition — since the 19th century, when people started to settle down there. After Canada, I worked in Britain for two years, and then here.

— And what memories are associated with Belarus, Belarusians?

— They’re mainly youthful memories. I served for two years in Pechi near Borisov, in the tank troops. I was called into the Soviet army in 1980. Moreover: on May 9, this year I went to Pechi, came to the checkpoint, the threshold of which I crossed 40 years ago. And I was photographed at the place where I was standing as a soldier,

there is a photo in my discharge album. And I posted the 2020 photo on Facebook: you can see it. I was met there, even interviewed. Moreover: I was invited to Pechi for the anniversary of the unit which will soon be 80 years old. In September, God grant, we will celebrate it.

— It is known that the training center in Pechi was formed on the basis of the 120th Rifle Division, which has the honorary name “Rovenskaya”, is it from the place of the division’s formation?

— It liberated Ukraine, went through the war and became a training center here. So, my first impressions of Belarus were formed just then. In 2017, I deliberately went to Belarus, which, as it seemed to me, I knew pretty well. But when I came here as the Ambassador, I understood; my army experience is far from knowing the whole of Belarus, its everyday life. In Pechi there was army order. But, nevertheless, there I went through a school of life, an important period in the formation of me as a person. And, of course, I was pleased to visit the unit, barracks, talk to officers of the training center of now independent Belarus.

— Were there a lot of Ukrainians serving with you then?

— Yes, a lot. The draftees of the first call were always sent to our division from Ukraine. There were a lot of Belarusians, too. Moreover, when I became Ambassador, former fellow Belarusians recognized me as one of them (smiling). The one, who served in the same platoon, even came to visit me, now he lives in Barysau. We were both section commanders afterwards. He took discharge six months earlier, and in the spring of 1982, I left Belarus.

— In continuation of the conversation about the soldier’s past.

As you know, soldiers always remember their homeland, and their native songs. And what song do you like most of all?

— Oh, I’ve been listening to it recently: “Chornі brovi, karі ochі (Oh Dark brows, Oh brown eyes)” I love this song so much! And this one: “Divlyus ya na nebo (Watching the sky)”. This has been my song, as people say, since I was a kid.

— Mom used to sing it?

— No, my mother is Russian, so it’s just the opposite: I taught my mother to sing Ukrainian songs. When I was at school, I was engaged in amateur art activities. And I listened a lot.

That was the interview in Mr. Ambassador's office

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high diplomacy — Did you live in Kharkiv? among our countrymen, a native of Belarus, Pylyp Orlyk, is hon— I was born in Kharkiv, I lived there only for six months. My ored in Ukraine, as well as the first printer Ivan Fyodorov… It seems dad was a builder, and our family traveled all over Ukraine. In 1968, that he has ancestral roots from Vileyka District of Minsk Region… we lived in Berdyansk. In fact, this is my small homeland. I went to — I’ve never heard of Ivan Fyodorov’s Belarusian roots. I know school and finished school Berdyansk. My father’s family roots are that for some time he worked in Moscow, and then in Lviv. And what from near Kharkiv. And I found the place where many Kizims live. does he have to do with the Belarusian land?

— Very much! Museum workers of Vileyka District speak about It’s closer to the Russian border, Artyomovka. And my mother was his belonging to the Belarusian noblemen Ragozov, and his family born in Kazakhstan, lived in Pavlodar: her family moved there in the was close to the Radziwiłł family and the Chodkiewicz family. In the early 20th century, during the Stolypin reform. I did not know my military census of 1528 of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania nine repregrandfathers — both of them had not returned from the war. My sentatives of the Ragozov family were found in the region, and all of father Yury Ivanovich entered a military school, and there he met my them were “affiliated with” the estate of Khatenchitsy, which was lofuture mother, Nina Mikhaylovna. Then he was feed from service on cated within the current boundaries of the district. Ivan, son of Fyodor, medical grounds and had to change his profession in the 50s — he studied at the University of Krakow. It was from the GDL lands that became a builder. He graduated from a technical school in Kharkiv. talented young men got there — not from Moscow. There are versions — Did you deliberately choose your diplomatic “line of life”?

— I’ve has a desire to become a diplomat since high school. I keep that he met with Francisk Skorina, whose printed books were rejected on saying to my sons now: it is important to choose the occupation you

by Moscow: they were even burned in the place of executions. And it want to do in life. I liked foreign languages a lot since the 5th‑6th grade. English, in particular. Although there were no special prospects in the provincial Soviet town for a boy who studied a foreign language intensively. I did not know which university to enter with my English. The order of things at that time was simple: you leave school, join the army. And after service, you start thinking about your career. So I knew I’d join the army, and then a different life would begin. And after the 8th grade, I went to grape and wine school, finished it in Berdyansk. And then I joined the army. But wherever he was, I used to learn languages.

— And what are you according to Igor Kizim at the meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Belarus with Vladimir Makei on May 26, 2020 the technical school diploma?

— Technician-mechanic of wine was due to Ivan Fyodorov that progress, in the form of book printing, and food industry. reached Moscow. And notice: when the Russian first printer had to — Has it influenced your future military specialty, perhaps, leave it, he fled to the territory of GDL, to Zablodov, to his relatives! somehow?

And there he published books. One of them is “Instructive Gospel.

— I think so: I was a mechanic. I studied in the army as a driver Zablodov, printing house of G. A. Chodkiewicz, 1569”. In our time mechanic. And later, when I started teaching others in the trainthe local historian Anatoly Kaptyug found the same elements in Ivan ing regiment, I was training gunners. In fact, I turned out to be a Fyodorov’s seal and in the coat of arms of the Ragozovs, and drew attank commander. That’s my military specialty. I retired as a sergeant. tention to this fact. So it looks like a historical detective story!

There’s something to recall about those times, but this is a story of its — Very interesting! We will need to dig deeper into this topic, own, as they say. including scientists from the Institute of History of the National — Well, if it works out well, let’s talk about it after the division’s Academy of Sciences of Belarus, its Director Vyacheslav Danilovich. anniversary.

By the way, since the first day of my stay here I have been engaged in — Let’s, if it works out well. Here, when I say that I served in “historical mathematics”. And I have found out: you and I, UkrainPechi- I immediately feel a deep respect for myself. Everyone knows ians and Belarusians, used to live in one state, which was called the what kind of school it was, especially at that time.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania, longer than in any other state association.

— Even the history of the Rovnenskaya Division is, in fact, a And this part of our joint history is still poorly investigated. It covers joint Belarusian-Ukrainian history. And which pages of our comthe period of over 200 years. mon past do you find most interesting? In particular, we know that

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high diplomacy — Much more than 200, it seems to us. According to historical data, Kyiv was a part of the GDL and the Commonwealth of Poland in 1362–1654. It should be noted that the Commonwealth of Poland (founded in 1569) was a federation of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. So it makes almost 300 years…

— In fact, the entire right-bank Ukraine was part of the GDL. For some reason, in our Soviet history books, which we studied, it was hardly mentioned! And the GDL was mentioned in connection with the campaigns to attack Moscow. And if we want to mention the people who united our peoples since ancient times, we should first of all remember Pylyp Orlyk, the glorious Hetman of Ukraine, a native of the Belarusian land (1672–1741). And we should look for such personalities in our cultures, in history. The second name whom we should pay tribute to is Kostiantyn Ostrozky (1460–1530), who was the first to receive the title of the Great Hetman of Lithuania for his victory over the troops of Khan Mehmed Giray in 1497 near Ochakov. Under his leadership, the famous victory of the GDL troops over the Moscow

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his youth passed in Vileyka District. Apparently, he went to primary school at the local monastery of St. Vasilian. At the end of the 80s of the 17th century the Orlyk family moved to Ukraine, where the young nobleman entered Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

After Hetman Mazepa’s death in exile Orlyk was elected as Hetman of the Right-Bank Ukraine. On the election day, April 5, 1710, Hetman proclaimed the “Pacts and Constitution of Laws and Freedoms of Zaporozhye Troops” compiled by him, which was called the “Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk”. This manuscript of political thought still amazes us today with its topicality and high legal level. For the first time in the world history the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk divided the power into: legislative, executive and judicial. Being Hetman in exile, Pylyp Orlyk took serious steps to unite Ukraine. He tried to get the support of Turkey and France, was the author of publications where the rights of Ukrainians to their own state were grounded.

In Pylyp Orlyk’s small motherland, in the village Kosuta of Vileyka District, there is a memorial sign dedicated to the 335th anniversary of his birth. The work on this project started in 2002 by the Belarusian Public Association of Ukrainians “Vatra” and its Minsk branch “Zapovit” and, first of all, by the head of this Ukrainian public organization, head of the public commission for immortalization of the memory of Pylyp Orlyk — Galina Yukhimovna Kalyuzhnaya.

In 2010, with the support of Vileyka Executive Committee, the memorial sign was unveiled. By the way, today Kalyuzhnaya came to me — we are now preparing a translation of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk into the Belarusian language. This will be the first Ukrainian-Belarusian edition of the great legal document.

In October 2017, on the initiative of the Flowers to the memorial stone of Alexander Silvashko Embassy and with the assistance of the Institute of History of the National Academy army at the Battle of Orsha in 1514 was won — an important event in of Sciences of Belarus, an international round table “Pylyp Orlyk’s European history. By the way, this year it is 560 years since his birth. activities and legal thought in Europe in the first half of the 18th And we were approached by Ukrainian filmmakers with a request for century” was held, which was attended by both Ukrainian and Belahelp in shooting a historical film about this person in Belarus. Now rusian scientists. A booklet dedicated to Pylyp Orlyk was published. this question is being discussed. This topic is interesting for me. KosHowever, I must say with sorrow that despite the existing agreetiantyn Vasily Ostrozky, son of Kostiantyn Ostrozky, founded Ostrozhments between our Presidents to erect a monument to Pylyp Orlyk in skaya Academy — one of the oldest universities in Eastern Europe.

Belarus, this initiative of the Embassy has not yet found the support Part of the material about him has already been filmed in Ukraine and of the Belarusian authorities and remains unfulfilled.

Lithuania, but the film will not be complete without shootings in Bela— And the wars have united us… rus, which much of the life and work of this unique historical personal— I cannot help but remember the tragic pages of our shared hisity is connected with. I hope that after return to normal conditions of tory. In the 20th century, both Ukraine and Belarus were truly united the situation with the coronavirus this cinematographic and scientific by a great grief — the First and Second World Wars. And if we do not Ukrainian-Belarusian-Lithuanian project will be completed. know much about the heroes of the First World War, the history of — Tell our readers more about Pylyp Orlyk and his merits… the Second World War has been studied quite well.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians rest in Belarus, who gave — As you know, the future Hetman was born in the village of their lives to liberate Belarus from the Nazi invaders. Many meKosuta in Oshmyany District (now Vileyka District) to a Czech-Bemorials to the heroes of the Ukrainians who liberated the country larusian-Lithuanian family. His childhood years and the beginning of

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high diplomacy in 1941–1945 have been placed in Belarus. We honour such memorials and places of eternal rest of the heroes. This year on May 8–9, together with the Embassy staff and representatives of local authorities, I laid flowers at the memorial of heroes-artillerymen “Battery of Heroes” (Battery of Captain Anton Leontyuk, a native of Khmelnytsk Region) in the village of Uzlyany, Minsk Region, at the monument to a native of Dnepropetrovsk Region, Hero of the Soviet Union, a fighter of the legendary “Batteries of Heroes” Vasily Tokarev in the town of Maryina Gorka, as well as at the burial place of the legendary tank crew under the command of a native of Poltava Region, Lieutenant Guards, Hero of the Soviet Union, Pavel Rak in the city of Borisov, Minsk Region.

— And in more ancient history there lived the persons who united our peoples.

— Of course! From the history of Kyivan Rus’ Vladimir the Great, Rogneda of Polotsk should me mentioned as well as Princess Olga who according to the legend founded Vitebsk…

— And Yaroslav the Wise, son of Rogneda, one of the most famous princes who sat on the Kyiv throne… And St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, whose relics remained in the caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra for many centuries until they were moved to Polotsk in May 1910. And also — Kirill Turovsky. After all, the diocese of Turov was founded in 1005, and the bishops were sent to the diocese by the Kyiv metropolitans. By the way, there are fairly well-grounded theories that Turovsky could be the author of the famous “The Song of Igor’s Campaign”. Besides, the Belarusian fans of antiquity have put forward bold hypotheses that Ilya Muromsky was… Ilya Miromsky, that is, he came from the outskirts of Mir, world-known for its castle, which is now in Korelichi District of Grodno Region. And the route of his “epic” movement towards Kyiv is supposed to be found in the Belarusian territory.

— There is a well-known expression: history is written by winners. And the fact that even the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Soviet times was quite “unnoticed”, “insignificant”, says a lot in itself. And I do not exclude that in our Ukrainian-Belarusian history not everything is recorded the way it was in reality. I have also paid attention to a very close and very interesting to us story. We mentioned a person who could be considered a symbol of the epoch. Do you remember the famous photo “Meeting on the Elbe”? In it, American Lieutenant Robertson and Soviet Lieutenant Silvashko are hugging.

— Yes, we do! And we know that Silvashko lived for a long time in Kletsk District of Minsk Region, and his family roots are Ukrainian.

It seems that before the war he was a Komsomol worker…

— Yes, that’s right! Did you know that Alexander Safronovich Silvashko was the headmaster of the school in the village of Moroch, he was engaged in education here?

— Of course, and Moroch sounds familiar. After all, we have the parents’ house in a village 9 km from Kletsk…

— That’s what we remembered about this famous man on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Victory. We contacted the American Embassy. We found his grave and laid flowers. Some politicians recently called Alexander Silvashko a “Russian soldier” but it’s not fair!

After all, he is Ukrainian: he comes from the village of Kavunovka of Cherkasy Region. And he lived after the war in Belarus. Let’s restore, as they say, historical justice. Such details are not secondary to history.

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We paid tribute to his memory. Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Oleg Kravchenko, Charge d’Affaires of the United States to Belarus Jennifer Moore, military attachés of our embassies attended the ceremony. And the daughter of the hero, Tatyana Alexandrovna Gerashchenko, was with us. Together we laid flowers onto the grave.

Central Belarusian TV channels covered the event.

— There are still quite interesting facts from the military and postwar history. Film Director Sergey Bondarchuk was a Ukrainian, native of Kherson Region, from the village of Belozerka. His famous film “The Fate of Man” was watched by many people. But not everyone knows that the prototype of Andriy Sokolov, the main character of the story by Mikhail Sholokhov, and then of the movie, was Grigory Dolnikov, a pilot, a Belarusian from the village of Saharovka, Bykhov District, Mogilev Region. In the postwar period Dolnikov

Igor Kizim with Ukrainian writers and publishers at the 17th Minsk International Book Fair, February 2020.

became a Hero of the Soviet Union, General of Aviation. As we see, it is difficult to find such details in Soviet history. But it’s necessary.

In the name of historical justice, as you said.

— Unfortunately, we are guided by the facts of our joint history. So I came to the country which I thought I knew — and how many new sides I am discovering here! How interesting it is to read Vladimir Korotkevich, who studied at Kyiv University, worked as a teacher in one of Ukrainian villages! By the way, his famous essay “The Land Under White Wings” was written for the Ukrainians and was first published in Ukrainian. I read Vasil Bykov’s books: “The Alpine Ballad”, “The Dead Don’t Feel Pain”. And he is connected to Ukraine — that was where the war caught him.

How vividly everything is written by him. What a style! You read it and feel as if you’re there. Among those who wrote about the war, he and Viktor Nekrasov are my favorite writers. Take “The Sign of Troubles” by Bykov — what a huge world is in one work! I’ve recently reread it. In Ukraine to the 90th anniversary of Vasil Bykov’s the book was re-issued, including new translations into Ukrainian.

high diplomacy Last year these books were presented at the largest Ukrainian book exhibition — Kyiv Book Arsenal. And this year, with the support of the Embassy, modern translations of Bykov into Ukrainian, as well as rare, one of the first editions of Bykov were handed over to the Museum of the History of Belarusian literature.

— We have heard that Poltava Pedagogical University had a virtual presentation of those publications, initiated by Gleb Kudryashov, a teacher with Belarusian ancestry.

— Yes, Gleb and I are cooperating. And last year we celebrated the anniversary of Ivan Kotlyarevsky (1769–1838), the author of “Aeneid”. With the support of the Embassy, Gleb read a lecture on Kotlyarevsky’s life and work last autumn in Minsk.

Do you know where he served in the army? In Lida! Yes, in a Belarusian town!

In Pechi near Borisov many years after serving in the army

— And also the fate of Yan Borschevsky, the author of the book “Shlyakhtsіts Zavalnya, or Belarus in science fiction stories” connects Belarus and Ukraine. After all, he was born in Belarus (now the village of Muragi in Rossony District of Vitebsk Region), lived and worked in St. Petersburg, and in the last years of his life were spent in Ukraine: he died in 1851 in Chudnov, Volyn. He was buried there. And last year a tombstone of his grave was found… By the way, at the Kupala Theatre a brilliant play “Shlyakhtsіts Zavalnya” was staged…” Watch it!

— Thank you for the tip. Yeah, it is impossible to mention all the manifestations of our close relationships. To each their own. I want to say as a winemaker: some like this wine, others prefer another. How can it be explained?

— Valentina: How can I explain why my son Bogdan, when he was four years old, used to ask me to read him Aeneid in Ukrainian.

And I am Ukrainian, from Kharkiv Region. From Volchansk. And although we did not speak Ukrainian in Belarus, but Ukrainian genes, blood seem to be strong in him. And the melody of the Ukrainian language, apparently, pleased his soul. I read Shevchenko’s poems to him, too. One of my favorites is “Lilya”…

— Yes, a lovely poem. It’s very moving. But I want to show you how beautifully Kotlyarevsky has recently been published in Ukraine (he shows the book). And here are the translations of “Bogusław Radziwiłł” trilogy by Irina Danevskaya from Ukrainian into Belarusian. The first two books were presented at the central site of the Minsk International Book Fair this year and last year. We, learning the cultural achievements of each other, become mutually enriched. It was the same in 2018, when we held the Days of Ukraine’s Culture in Belarus (shows a chic photo album). First at the Palace of the Republic with the participation of two and a half thousand people. Then in the small motherland of Alexander Lukashenko — in Alexandria. And we finished them in Gomel. The events were unique. I hope that this year it will be possible to hold Days of Belarusian Culture in Ukraine. There is already a decision of the Government of Ukraine, and budget funds for this project have been allocated. Unfortunately, the coronavirus has interfered, but there are plans. And so far, thank God, everything has been going well.

Concluding our conversation about our common history, I want to say: we have something to show each other, something to share. And the traditions of friendship will be strengthened and continued.

— Apparently, periods of attraction, rapprochement of peoples are subject to some natural rhythms. They are going in a wavelike manner. And now it is the period when our countries have a great mutual interest.

— I agree. You and I lived in the country that was called the Soviet Union. There was little information about life in other republics.

Little was known about Belarus in Ukraine: Kupala, Kolas, “Pesnyary”… Also in Belarus, about us. We consumed the Soviet culture, focused on building a bright future. And if we went deeper, into the so-called pre-October history, it showed how miserably oppressed people used to live before 1917.

— Yes, that’s right. Now it’s possible, as they say, to dig deep. Tell me, which of the Ukrainian poets do you read?

— You know, I am now greatly impressed by Lina Kostenko’s poetry. Apparently, with age you understand more, perceive the depth, the soulfulness of her works. However, I honestly admit that I don’t have much experience of deepening into poetry. Just within the framework of the school, university curriculum. I was a little familiar with the works of Lesya Ukrainka. Now I begin to discover Ivan Franko — as a philosopher, publicist. But all is in due time. At school, as a student, of course, I had to read more.

— Valentina: I remember well when I studied in Kyiv, students used to gather at the monument to Taras Shevchenko and read poems. In particular, Vasily Simonenko, who was not included in school or university curriculum — Unfortunately, then it was censored what Soviet people should read. And at such unauthorized meeting there were always people in jackets. And romantics, as they are called, were taken note of. Such were the years. That’s our story. And thank God we got out of this track and went our own way. Anyway, Ukraine.

— Which of the Belarusians is read in Ukraine? They say that Vladimir Korotkevich, who is the most popular and published in Belarus. As you know, he studied at Kyiv State University named after Taras Shevchenko. By the way, in the novel “The Leaves

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high diplomacy of Chestnuts” Korotkevich wrote about Kyiv. Have you read books

by Belarusian writers? Which of them is the closest?

— Yakub Kolas, Yanka Kupala and Alaiza Pashkevich are known in Ukraine, but perhaps you are right, Vladimir Korotkevich, whom we have already mentioned, is the most widely read Belarusian. Perhaps this is really due to the fact that Volodymyr Korotkevych was very fond of Ukraine, often came to Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, made friends with many prominent Ukrainian writers. In 2011 a beautiful monument to Vladimir Korotkevich was opened in the center of Kyiv.

— How would you comment on Pavel Tychina’s poem: If I don’t grieve, I don’t live.

If I don’t like it, I don’t sing.

But I don’t know that yet, Because I’m always — Like a flame.

I burn, burn the dead.

I warm the living with my fire.

And I don’t understand how I’m going to die: My life is eternal.

— A profound poem. And I understand it this way: do not live like a mosquito, it is better to try to leave a good memory. And to live for our deeds to be remembered. If you live and do not burn, what’s the point? Whom do you warm? I’m going back to Alexander Silvashko. His life is worthy of respect. Even though he had no special awards. But he lived his life honestly, he was an example to others.

And his daughter, by the way, speaks Ukrainian — she is self-aware as Ukrainian. So the man has left a good memory of himself. And we must not forget such people. And you can realize your talent in different areas — the preferences are yours. You can fulfill yourself in the family, in the civil service, in the profession, in creativity, in helping your neighbor… But you need to burn — it’s true. I was once asked a question during an interview: what is the most important thing for you in life? And I said: movement. And also — success. After all, nothing inspires you to move forward as much as your current success. To achieve success — you have to do something. Get a move on!

— Ivan: Exupéry made a similar observation: “Life is manifested in action.” That was a headline of one of my texts when I wrote about the recent Victory Day parade in Minsk.

— Apparently, clever thoughts are in the air — one needs to catch them. And really: as long as we’re alive, we have to move. And standing still, or waiting for the “fair wind”, or special conditions for selfrealization — this is not my style of work. And it’s not my way of life.

— However, let’s try to figure out the activities of the Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus to confirm the effectiveness of your collective efforts for the benefit of our countries.

— The first important indicator by which the effectiveness of our work is usually evaluated is the trade turnover. As a marker of bilateral relations activity, both for you and for us. According to the results of the first quarter of 2020, the Republic of Belarus took 2nd place among the CIS countries and 5th place among the world countries (China, Germany, Russia, Poland). In 2019 the total trade turnover amounted to 5,570.7 million US dollars. In 2019, the total trade turnover amounted to 5,570.7 million US dollars

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and increased by 249.6 million US dollars as compared to 2018.

For 2019, total turnover amounted to 5,570.7 million US dollars and increased by 249.6 million US dollars or 4.7% as compared to 2018. In the first quarter of 2020, our trade turnover amounted to 1,121.4 million US dollars, or 4.7% more than in 2018. During the first quarter of 2020, our trade turnover amounted to 1121.4 million US dollars and, unfortunately, decreased by 36.4 million US dollars compared to the same period in 2019, largely due to the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic. This is a decrease of 36.4 million US dollars, or 3.1 per cent, compared to the same period in 2019. However, exports of Ukrainian goods and services in the first quarter of 2020 reached 393.6 million US dollars. Export of Ukrainian goods and services for the first quarter of 2020 reached 393.6 million US dollars, having increased by 21.3 million US dollars compared to the same period of 2019. In the first quarter of 2020, exports of Ukrainian goods and services reached 393.6 million US dollars,

Igor Kizim speaks in Minsk at the opening of the Days of Ukrainian Culture in Belarus. July 2018.

an increase of 21.3 million US dollars or 5.7% compared to the same period in 2019.

According to your statistics, last year the trade turnover was over 6 billion dollars, according to our statistics, it was just under six. This is a great achievement for our countries, our economies.

Let us remember that we are the second on the list of Belarus’ most important partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States, and we both are for each other the 4th‑5th in the world. As we see, our relations are very close and complementary, mutually beneficial. The year 2013 was a record year: 8 billion. But then there were a number of well-known events, which affected the dynamics of our trade and economic relations. In December 2016, trade turnover was already growing, and when I started working here.

Since 2017, the growth has been constant. From 4 to 6 billion. It’s a good growth.

— In fact, one and a half times…

high diplomacy — Even one and a half or two times. To be exact. Because the recovery started from 3.6.

— And what figures characterize the activity of the Ukrainian diaspora in Belarus?

— Of course, there is a Ukrainian diaspora in Belarus, and it carries out certain work. On the other hand, I worked in different countries and I know what level of activity the diaspora can reach. In Belarus, I often hear from both my compatriots and Belarusians: we are all equal, brotherly nations… The Soviet mentality has affected this worldview.

— So, the problem of national self-identification exists?

— Yes, there is a problem with the Ukrainians in Belarus. Someone has a positive view of the fact that we had a national revolution. I would like to emphasize: not a nationalist one, as our enemies say, but a national one! Someone does not quite understand what it was done for. But in Canada, Ukrainians are more organized, with a high level

Igor Kizim and his family in the agricultural town of Alexandria during the holiday "Kupalle".

of Ukrainian consciousness. They honor their roots, take pride in their culture… And here, for almost a hundred years, this has been out of the question: here everyone was reshuffled first into the Great Russian people, and then into the Soviet people. Just like in Ukraine.

Our national awakening, thank God, has been going on for the last 25–30 years. More actively after the Orange Revolution of 2004 — it was under President Viktor Yushchenko, and especially after the Revolution of Dignity in 2013–2014. Now people are beginning to take pride in the fact that they are Ukrainians. It’s becoming fashionable to be Ukrainian. Because otherwise you are nobody, if you lose your roots. That’s what your President is talking about. You can be in any union, you can live in any state, but you should feel belonging to your people. And not only to sing Ukrainian songs or read poems at Shevchenko monument on holidays.

— There’s a witty saying: “Nothing happens by chance. And if you think that it does, you probably just don’t know all the hidden causes

of what’s going on”. And in this regard, why do you think that it was you who had the mission to represent Ukraine’s interests in Belarus at the present time? Have you thought about it? Maybe, some distant ancestral threads, figuratively speaking, pulled you to Belarus?

— A diplomat, as they say, does not affect his or her fate — usually the choice of the place to serve is made for us. I felt great in London, being Deputy Ambassador. And I had big plans and prospects. But when they called me and told me about the decision of the President — I had no choice. But there was some feeling that I had missed something in Belarus when I was serving here (all laughing).

For two years I was in the woods, in the fields, at training grounds. In tanks. And I didn’t see Belarus. And when I was asked: has something changed in our country over the years? I said: no! How come! Hasn’t Minsk changed? I said: guys, I didn’t see Minsk then. I saw huge mosquitoes in the woods and swamps.

— What do you think of such a format of cooperation as forums of regions? Did the expectations come true? How is the preparation for the next forum going? Do Belarusian and Ukrainian partners have any interest in it?

— It is an important question. I am confident in the expediency of holding Regional Forums as a powerful driver of expanding interregional cooperation in trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. The principle of holding the forums on an annual basis is positive, which was confirmed by the Presidents of Ukraine and Belarus Vladimir Zelensky and Alexander Lukashenko at their meeting at the Second Forum in Zhytomyr in October 2019.

Whether the expectations were met — you can judge for yourself: in the framework of the two Regional Forums in Gomel and Zhytomyr in 2018 and 2019 the following agreements were signed: one intergovernmental, four interdepartmental and 21 interregional agreements on cooperation between Ukrainian and Belarusian regions, as well as commercial contracts worth more than 600 million US dollars. We consider the development of interregional economic cooperation as one of the reserves for increasing our bilateral trade turnover. According to the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, 16 Ukrainian regions increased the volume of exports to Belarus in 2019 compared to 2018. Imports of Belarusian products in 9 regions of Ukraine have also increased. This confirms the fact that holding Regional Forums helps to increase Ukrainian-Belarusian trade at the regional level.

In the context of the preparation of the Third Forum of Regions, which is scheduled for October in Grodno, I would like to note that at the recent meeting of the Ukrainian-Belarusian Working Group on Inter-regional and Transboundary Cooperation, which took place in the format of a videoconference on June 9 this year, the parties informed about the progress in preparation of this event, its main elements and locations. The draft Program of the Forum includes meetings of several relevant working groups (including the WG on increasing the mutual presence in the markets of Ukraine and Belarus of agricultural, food and other products, the WG on cooperation in industry and industrial cooperation, the Commission on Cooperation in Science and Technology, and many others), a meeting of the Advisory Council for Business Cooperation, exhibitions of

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high diplomacy bers of commerce and industry of our states. Unfortunately, due to products of enterprises and companies of the two countries, as well the unfavorable epidemiological situation, the Business Opportunities as a plenary meeting with the participation of the Presidents of the two countries.

Forum “Ukraine-Belarus 2020” scheduled on April 1 this year had to We note the increased interest of Ukrainian regions to particibe postponed. One of the goals of this forum was to familiarize Ukrainian business with the peculiarities of working in the Belarusian market. pate in the Forum, which is manifested, for example, in the contacts But we are moving forward, preparing for the Third Forum of of our regional state administrations with the Belarusian regions, Regions, hope for a good result and economic effect on this track. submission of proposals for the development of cooperation and — Does the Embassy deal with the issues of tourism developconclusion of relevant agreements (Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Kiment between our countries? rovograd, Ternopil and Chernigov Regional Public Administration).

As demonstrated by my recent participation in a videoconference Certainly, the Embassy pays certain attention to this direction on bilateral trade cooperation, businessmen both in Ukraine and Belaof work. At the same time, the issues of tourism development in rus are extremely interested in developing bilateral trade. In the course Ukraine are currently supervised by the Department of Tourism and of the videoconference I invited business to think over the possibility Resorts of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriof creating a joint economic structure here in Belarus to facilitate the culture of Ukraine. entry of Ukrainian products to the Belarusian market. It is gratifying And in general it should be understood that tourism is business, that this initiative is now being actively discussed by individual entreand the main task of the state is to create conditions for the developpreneurs. We hope that its practical implementation will take place. ment of any business, including tourism. The state creates the rules of All this confirms that our countries have a high interest in the dethe game in business, and it is very important for them to be stable.

As for the role of the Embassy, I can stress our support for Ukraine’s velopment of interregional trade and economic ties, and the Regional participation in international tourism exhibitions that take place in Forum annually becomes an opportunity and a convenient platform Belarus. In previous years our country was for their expansion. actively represented at the international — What do you think prevents more Ukrainians and tourist exhibition “Rest”, which is traditiondynamic development of cooperation beBelarusians used to live in ally held in Minsk in April. Unfortunately, tween our countries? one state, which was called this year the exhibition was not held because — Our set of tools for deepening muof the COVID‑19 pandemic. tually beneficial bilateral cooperation in the Grand Duchy of After all, every year the number of the economic sphere is known: mixed Lithuania, longer than in Ukrainian companies taking part in this Ukrainian-Belarusian Intergovernmenany other state association. exhibition increases. By the way, we have a tal Commission on Trade and Economic And this part tradition — all tour agents, who come to the Cooperation, which held 27 meetings; inof our joint history is still exhibition, gather at the embassy, and we terdepartmental working groups; bilateral discuss plans, give some recommendations. agreements. poorly investigated Although, it seems to us that in Ukraine, the These are mechanisms that facilitate Belarusian exhibition is still little advertised. We carry out this work the search for solutions aimed at expanding economic ties.

During the first and second forums, we significantly expanded the ourselves. We invite our tourist companies to come here, because bilateral legal framework of inter-regional relations. I am confident Ukraine expects and loves Belarusian tourists.

— Which of the dishes of Belarusian cuisine do you like? And that progress in this area is gradually being transformed into an indo you sometimes like to cook something yourself? For example, crease in trade volumes at the level of our regions. This year, most the Turkish Ambassador Mr. Mustafa Ozcan, as soon as we asked likely even before the Forum, we will hold the 28th meeting of the inhim about it, got excited, because he is a big fan of cooking… tergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation.

In the TV program “Culinary Diplomacy” you told about the The volumes of bilateral trade are significantly constrained by Ukrainian dish — kruchenyky. You seem to like it a lot… protective measures. Decisions on Ukrainian goods, which are taken — It takes little time to cook it, so I chose it for a TV program.. by the Eurasian Economic Commission, I would say, have a signifiAnd my favorite is borsch. As well as stuffed cabbage rolls and dumpcant impact on Ukrainian-Belarusian trade turnover in terms of its lings. But in general, I like everything my wife Tatiana cooks. Somereduction. The elimination of such measures is in the interests of both times I cook myself, however, rarely. But there are dishes that are made the Ukrainian and Belarusian sides.

I wouldn’t call the peculiarities of work for business in foreign exclusively by me. I have already told journalists about it: the best eggs markets a problem, rather a component that is taken into account in and omelets are made only by men. My family also praise my soups.

— What do you think is most important for people’s commubusiness planning. Yes, in Belarus, as in any other foreign market, you nication? need to know certain features and approaches to achieve success. Such — To communicate successfully in this age of messengers, you an issue as the business environment of the partner country is not on have to look into each other’s eyes… the agenda of bilateral relations, but we have started working in this Interviewed by Ivan and Valentina Zhdanovich direction as well in partnership with business associations and cham-

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unsplash.com

family values

Father is on trend

The fatherhood movement exists in 108 countries worldwide. And Belarus is among this number: in Minsk there is a community of indifferent men who teach all fathers to make their children happy.

A Where did it all start?

A year ago, a Public Association “Council of Fathers” appeared in Minsk. This organization is an official partner and representative of the international movement “The World Needs a Father” in Belarus. A little earlier the social-educational institution “Fatherhood” was registered. In fact, these are two organizations dealing with one case. Only in the “Council of Fathers” dads take part in trainings and get support in implementation of their socially important ideas. For example, a father, a member of the “Council of Fathers,” took over the patronage of one of the parks — a vast green area, located in the south of Minsk. The legal form of “Fatherhood” does not imply membership and does not give the right to organize fathers for joint actions. On the other hand, it allows holding various educational initiatives: men’s parent meetings, training seminars… In the language of law, “Council” and “Fatherhood” are called affiliated organizations. So it’s not a mistake to call it differently.

“Almost every serious social pathology is associated with the absence of a father” — this statement belongs to Professor Stephen Baskerville, a researcher of Howard Center for Family,

Religion and Society, the President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children (2005–2007). And judging by the social cataclysms, which periodically happen in different parts of our planet, the problem of fatherlessness is global. There is such a statistical indicator — the index, which determines the level of involvement of fathers in family affairs. In Belarus, it is 3.8 %, which is about 12 minutes a day. Exactly this amount of active (I emphasize!) time is spent by fathers with their children. Do you think it is not enough? But in Moldova, for example, this figure is equal to 1.5 %. And in Kazakhstan it is 15 %, and it is considered to be quite a high figure. Although, by and large, it is still not enough.

The first to join our Belarusian “Council” were the fathers known in their circles: a singer, a blogger, a psychologist, a linguist, a journalist. By the way, they all are fathers with many children: some have four and others have six children. We developed the O4 strategy, which stands for “responsible, sensible, conscious father”. According to the Chairman of the “Council of Fathers” Alexander Velichko, the purpose of the strategy is to see in Belarusian families modern men who fully devote themselves to their children. In fact, everything started with him. Although, “Fathers”

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Alexander Velichko

have an iron clad rule: to cultivate “we”. And during the conversation Alexander repeatedly emphasized it: “All our developments do not belong to anyone in particular, even if they were created by one person”.

hood” emerged with expert and pedagogical councils, a men’s club. Seminars were developed by the members of the organization themselves — PhDs in “mental” sciences, I would call them so, i. e. psychologists, teachers, sociologists. By the way, all of them are men. There are also reviews of the Belarusian State Pedagogical University of the developed methods.

Now more than 100 schools across Belarus are within view of “Fathers”. And the number of applications and invitations to come to give lectures is over 500.

The topic of the first seminar “Give baby a father”, recalls Alexander, was born by itself: once at a meeting, one of the men asked: what to give the son for his birthday. The answer was short and simple — give yourself, that is all your free time. The essence of this seminar is to show fathers that there is a problem, and a man zviazda.by

onliner.by

Alisa Gungor

family values

“Dad Skype, Dad Face Time, Dad What’s up…”

Before, he confessed, he was proud of spending six months abroad on business trips. But then he saw the children growing up on their own. Intra-family conflicts, difficulties began. Alexander, as a certified psychologist, quickly realized the root of the problem: it was time to change life priorities. He reduced the number of foreign trips by two thirds, began to restore relations in the family, to make up for the lost time. And then he discovered that in the Russian-speaking world there is no information on the subject of fatherhood, no methods, no recommendations. Yes, there were some developments in Omsk, but they were not finished. Besides, a woman was in charge of the process. And this is fundamentally wrong, Alexander believes, because the male psyche is different from the female one, and this is a well-known fact. As a result of long research, he contacted Chicago State University, and found like-minded people in Ohio (USA). One day, he was invited to a business meeting, where Alexander met Dr. Cassie Carstens — neurobiologist, physiologist, the only leading specialist dealing with the problem of fathers and children. As Rector of the University of Cape Town, he invited Alexander to study there.

Thus, the chief in the “Council” Belarusian father received a postgraduate education in the psychology of fatherhood.

In the beginning was the Word Upon his return, Alexander began to conduct seminars first at schools where his friends-teachers worked. They, of course, also joined the community. One of such meeting was attended by the Ministry of Education staff, and they suggested to the team of not indifferent men creating a legal structure. And “Father-

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The first fathers of the community "Fatherhood"

should solve it. But if he is the main breadwinner (in most Belarusian families it is so), how much time should father give to children?

Of course, the child always wants to see his parents near him, Alexander, a father who has many children is convinced of it. So, one has to look for a balance between work and home. Otherwise there is no way: according to statistics, by the age of 37, father loses the family he provides for. This is again confirmed by the figures: the average divorce rate in Belarus is 54 %. The main reason for parting is low involvement of men in family affairs: 8 % on average. Involvement does not mean that “father came home and sat down on the sofa”. It should be an active process in which the father consciously shapes the child’s personality. But first it is necessary to understand what sort of example you set. After all, as the author of the famous “Pedagogical Poem” Anton Makarenko said, a personal example — this is not the main way of raising children, but the only one.

“Fathers became asocial, — says Alexander. — Why? They got used to… There are several theories on this matter. According to one of them, perhaps the most famous one, there were few men left after the war. Women were forced to take over their functions. And now they don’t want to give it back. But there was no war in Ireland!

And the involvement index is still small there — 8 %. It’s a little better in Islamic countries. But there is imbalance there, I think, when father has total control over everything. And our fathers are indifferent: well, the child is growing and let them grow. We held a survey among teenagers: when father talked to you on some serious

family values men and workers — men of all ages and social status come once a week in Minsk, as well as Brest and Vitebsk (there are branches of the organization). By the way, Alexander notes that among politicians, fatherhood becomes a trend. The more educated the father, the more conscious he is. According to statistics, Belarusian fathers respond to the call to become more open better. In Russia the response of fathers is 1–2 % of the audience, while in our country it is 5–7 %. It’s a lot, according to Alexander. The situation in Ukraine is the same as in Moldova, which is bad. And the “school of fathers” is mostly attended by conscious fathers, not those “who are difficult to be reached”. But there are pluses in it, Alexander does not despair, because this is how the team grows. Then these “conscious” fathers, having received skills, open their groups in all districts of the city and even the country. Thus, in Minsk, there are already about a hundred members of the society.

The training “50 habits of the father” is divided into 7 thematic blocks, 50 topics in total. “But we do not sit and discuss, it is not productive — at my insistent request, Alexander reveals the essence of the training a little. — The first session is conducted by the socalled moderator, the coach of the group. The other six meetings are held by the guys themselves. We give them the main theses on a certain topic and ask them to reveal it as widely as possible, for example, the concept of responsibility. After all, as Makarenko said: the best way to learn is to start teaching someone. The next point is accountability. Let’s say that father got his homework: to form a family budget. Then he comes and reports on the results. Imagine, everyone reports to each other! It’s effective. It never happens that someone hasn’t done his assignment without a good reason.

Mothers are also discussed at school. Alexander is convinced that the most desirable gift for a child is love for his mother, a positive attitude towards her. By the way, there is an interesting fact: a marker of people’s perception by a child under 5 is the way a person perceives his or her mother. Many do not understand: why, say, a girl does not like blue-eyed blond men. She can’t explain it herself.

He seems to be a good guy, and handsome- but she doesn’t like him!

Most likely, there was someone around her mother who looked like this and treated her badly. It is fixed in the subconscious, especially in the first years of life. Many fathers feel hurt when they give gifts to their children, and they do not react to them in any way. “Just don’t yell at the mother!” — …explains Alexander. And it often happens,

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topic. The answer was “never” in 80 % of cases. I can’t remember exactly who initiated it.” And the father isn’t just a man in the house.

He’s an important part of parenting. The head of the family, but only if he takes responsibility for it. Saying “I’m the head” is not enough. Power and responsibility are two sides of the same coin.

One without the other is either despotism or sloppiness.”

Therefore, one of the first tasks of the male community, according to Alexander is “to reach” the dads, to let them see the problem.

And help them change the paradigm of their fatherhood. And to do that, you must at least bring them together. And that’s a big problem.

They don’t come to school for meetings. They don’t come to meetings. Why not? Well, for example, men’s conferences on Defender of the Fatherland Day are held by women… So, that is why “Fathers” are invited everywhere: a man quickly understands a man.

“In general, they don’t like to share, to open up. To get a man to talk,” says Alexander, “is just unreal. Why do many of them drink?

Because of despair. They do not know how to solve their problems.

Alas, we do not have a culture in the post-Soviet space — to ask for help. It is considered to be a manifestation of weakness, it is a shame”.

That’s why when men come to the training, the first thing they are asked to do is to share their good news and then to tell us about the problem. “There are only five guys sitting, and it’s scary to open up!

But in a year, when they become friends, we already see that they go to each other to help with gardening, a car is bought by the whole

group. And how hard it was in the beginning to ask for help and admit that you are a man, and you do not know about cars…”

The second important task of the community is to teach to be a coach, a teacher, an assistant and an adviser for other dads. This is the essence of the fatherhood movement — to attract and unite as many men as possible. “By 2025, we hope to have 40,000 fathers in our country and send them a message of true fatherhood,” it is stated on one of the organization’s websites. Sounds great. But what exactly are “fathers” doing to achieve these lofty goals?

Alisa Gungor

It's good when daddy's always around

School is not for mothers “50 habits of the father” — this is the name of the annual training, to which fathers, grandfathers, future fathers, businessOn Alexander Velichko's desk top — all necessary беларусь. belarus 2020

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men come and swear: I will never yell at my wife, I see that the child does the same. A whole block is devoted to this problem at the training, at the end of which there is a meeting with the wife. “It’s one thing when a man says: I started to change! And it’s different when his wife confirms it.” There was such a funny case: a father was given the task to hug his son seven times a day: exactly as much as it is necessary for a child to feel accepted. And then the mother says: her husband comes home, calls for the son: come here, I will hug you seven times.

One, two, three… But was this kind of tactile contact discussed in class? “Nevertheless, today, this father is one of the most successful coaches… “By the way, he used to have a drink before. But he quit.

Although there’s no alcohol topic in training. It’s just that when a person becomes conscious — even the index of domestic violence decreases. I made a request to the investigation committee, asked to show statistics on the causes of teenage suicides. I was replied that there are no studies on this topic, but in 70 % of the cases of those who left a suicide note or those who were rescued, the family situation is considered to be unfavourable. It’s mostly the father who’s the aggressor. And when you voice it to fathers, they are shocked: that is, if I yell at a child, he or she can jump off a roof? Yes…” A father, who is associated with protection, safety, strength, reliability, starts yelling and beating — it severely traumatizes the psyche of the child. Sometimes fathers cry when they finally realize the problem.

Alexander said that at one of the meetings, which was organized for 150 workers of the confectionery factory “Kommunarka” in Minsk school, one of the fathers suddenly said: “I understood, it’s my fault that my son is a non-achiever. And he is already 14 years old… But it’s never too late to start all over again, Alexander is convinced. It will be difficult, but everything is possible.

The “Council also promotes social activity”. For example, thanks to one of the members of the organization, a friendship was established between the Republican Children’s Psychoneurological Hospital and “Fathers”. Men do their best to help the centre: they paint, whitewash and fix electrical appliances. Hold Christmas parties with young patients, dressed up as Father Frosts. And they often go to orphanages. Thanks to active fathers, there appeared a volleyball tournament, which is now the largest in the country. The fatherhood football cup has started. There are also bicycle rides, hiking… For example, one father came up with a project called “Fourth Musketeer”: 72 hours without gadgets. Only, salt, matches — and they go to the Carpathians, to the Caucasus. Fathers and boys like this extreme very much. We thought about girls — and decided to organize “Father- Ball”. It is planned to be held on December 12 in the Republican Palace of Culture of Trade Unions. “We, men, — he said, — don’t know much about dancing, so we’re nervous, of course.

We rehearse at weekends. But our daughters are already excited!”

When mother is father All this sounds very good and optimistic, I thought when Alexander spoke in detail about his vision for the transformation of modern family. But if there is no father at all, and no one to come to trainings and seminars? After all, we have very many single-parent families.

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family values

Father, mother, I — a full family

But not the majority, argues Alexander, and again turns to statistics: there are 46 % of single mothers in Belarus. Anyway, I think the figure is quite impressive. But instead of thinking about “a glass that is half empty or half full”, I decided to ask directly: what to do if there is no father? “There are always grandfathers,” smiles Alexander. Some of the coaches are also quite good at some of the fathers’ functions”. The “Partner Families” program works well in the West. The essence of it is that full families take under their guardianship incomplete families.

The “Council of Fathers” has already developed such a concept, but Alexander admits that he does not yet fully understand how such a program will work in our reality. After all, conflicts between one father and several mothers are needed neither by them nor by children.

The Swedes had such an experiment: orphanages were combined with nursing homes. As a result, according to the survey, old people felt less lonely, and children felt less orphaned. Alexander says that by 20 % this system can work in our country, too. They develop “Fathers” and training for single mothers. “In general, it’s a tragedy,” Alexander makes a global conclusion. — There is a whole epidemic of fatherlessness in Moldova. Fathers make money all the time. And they are not just in business, they leave the country to earn money for a year or two. 80 % of people of unconventional sexual orientation grew up in families where there is no father, no understanding of masculinity. No matter how good a mother is, she can’t give a child some basic things. One is protection. I once had an argument with feminist activists. They claim that everyone is equal, that there is no difference between men and women. You think so, I say, until a war breaks out. Because if it does, there’ll be crowds of men who don’t care about your views and they’ll start raping and beating you. And you’ve turned your men into yourselves, and they will run with you to hide in the woods. Well, then,

family values let’s do general conscription. But you, women, have refused!” Identity formation is also a paternal function, Alexander says. Aa well as education of morality, moral principles. Mother can be very positive, and the child will appreciate it, but the father will be copied more. This happens in 60 % of cases. The father is the first legitimate representative of power for any child. If the father condones, the children’s attitude towards power will be the same. If the father is a despot, then any policeman will seem to be the scariest person to flee from. So creating an atmosphere of love at home, not fear, is a fatherly task.

Lover’s wounds

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The “Council of Fathers” is against divorce. It even holds family consultations on these issues. By the way, in 90 % of cases women initiate divorce. In the first official marriage, the percentage of divorce is 51 % (and in civil partnership, which is very popular now, the first divorce reaches 90 %). In the second — 70 %, in the third — 90 %, in the fourth and subsequent — 100 %. These publicly available statistics clearly show that the first negative experience leaves an imprint on the next one. Divorce is a break. It is a scar tissue that remains forever. Therefore, it is more correct, from the point of view of psychologist Alexander, to keep the previous relations than to create new ones.

The wife is the most powerful person in any man’s life. As the proverb says: the husband is the head and the woman is the neck, the neck turns the head,. “Why don’t you use it? — Alexander addresses me, apparently as a representative of the female half of humanity. — You can, of course, drive your husband crazy, fight. Or you can, for example, sign up for our seminar. There was a case: we called everyone the day before, to know who was going to come. It turned out that 27 men did not even know that they were signed up. But everyone came! Five of them today are our coaches”. The role of the woman is to create such an environment at home that the husband wants to return to her. Alexander jokingly compared

The main thing in parents' lives is the happiness of their children

man to a horse: he is harnessed and he pulls. And vice versa: if he doesn’t need to work, because his wife took over everything, he won’t work. The husband is like a bomber: he’s gained altitude and is flying. And a woman in this comparison is a fighter: she can climb up, rise above a man, and adjust to let him show his face.

After all, relationships are not sorted out, they are built…

We touched upon the demographic situation as well. “We have a very bad situation with it,” says Alexander. — It takes 30 years to get into positive dynamics. During this time we will fall into a demographic pitfall, and the nation will die out. But we seem to be fighting for demography with one hand and killing children with the other. I’m talking about abortion. The Council found out that 80 % of men do not know that their partner wants to have an abortion, and in 50 % of cases — that they are pregnant. They decided to conduct an experiment: they made the woman’s partner give his consent to the abortion. The percentage of fetal murder fell five times! If there were no abortions at all, there would be 50 million people in Belarus today. And how many of them would be unfortunate, I ask. After all, it’s not enough to give birth, we still need to educate children. The most disadvantaged children, according to Alexander, are only children in the family, although more often one can hear it about many children families. “We were at one mummy’s house, she was deprived of parental rights: everything is clean, beautiful, but her daughter is a neurotic. Parents spend in the casino 24 hours a day, they’re never at home. A six-year-old child is alone all the time”. So the question arose: what is meant by wellbeing? Alexander himself went to school in his grandfather’s shoes, which his father also used to wear. And the suit was his uncle’s, he finished school 20 years earlier than him. Nevertheless, Alexander considers his childhood happy. His parents divorced, but Sasha never heard them arguing. And today nobody is ashamed to have conflicts in front of children. In the already mentioned neurological dispensary there are many children who are there to sue their spouse for money. They say the child was taken to hospital, this is because of you… So a child is a coin of exchange, not a fruit of love.

The problem is not marriage, Alexander assures. The problem is in the head, which lacks understanding, awareness. And you can build a relationship with anyone, you can love anyone. You only need to clearly define for yourself what is more important: the preservation of family or personal happiness? If the latter — what did you marry for, why do you need children? Love is a sacrifice.

And when asked who will suffer, it always answers: me! *** Despite a long and, in my opinion, meaningful conversation, I still have a feeling of understatement after the interview. And if there’s no grandfather, uncle and coach…? And if my father has gone to another country to earn his daily bread or can’t come home? And if there’s no love…

I don’t think it’s possible to fit life into some rigid system, no matter how much a person wants it. But I absolutely agree that the most important thing in the life of a father and mother is to make their children happy. And how — they will give you a tip themselves.

By Alisa Gungor

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Little man in the big world 34

беларусь. belarus 2020

Alisa Gungor

traditions

Children’s Day, as we know, was founded in Paris in 1949.

Since the post-war period, Belarus has traditionally held it on June 1 not only for fun, but also for good.

Under the current conditions of the coronavirus, a number of events across the country were held online, while others required social distance

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nd on the occasion of this holiday, we decided as a family to make homemade caramel lollipops, something like roosters on a stick, and treat the boys and girls who live nearby to them. When my son and daughter took these original sweets out, the kids flew together like a flock of pigeons, which they feed from time to time. But to get a candy, each had to answer the same question.

It sounds like this: what should children be protected from?

And that’s what we heard in response.

— From the coronavirus, — Yasemin, a 9‑year-old, was quick to answer.

— From fights, — said her younger brother Damir.

— From cold, — Yasemin’s age Arina said thoughtfully as she was licking an ice cream.

— And hunger, — added Elena, a year older than her girlfriends.

— Children need to be protected from fire! — a 8‑year-old Zlata expressed her opinion with a serious look. — Not all children know that matches are not a toy.

— From different situations, — said her friend Zhenya, who recently turned 9. And then, with a serious look, he took out his smartphone and called his moth-

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traditions

“Do our children have a future?” — is the name of a study conducted by a commission of international experts from the World Health Organization and UNICEF. In February, experts compared living conditions in different countries of the world.

In the global ranking, Belarus was ahead of all the other CIS countries and overtook its neighbors.

Dialogue between generations

er: “What should children be protected from? It’s okay, don’t worry… You just answer the question, I really need it…”

“Children must not be hurt” I heard a woman’s voice.

— From diseases! — a 7‑year-old Sasha is sure.

— From a flying frying pan, — Kirill joked passing by his trick scooter (But who knows… There’s a grain of joke in every joke.)

— From traffic accidents, — said Milana. She graduated with honours

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traditions

Alisa gungor

master1305 / Freepik

At the central entrances to the capital’s parks chalk painted huge smileys appeared on the night of 31 to 1 June.

Thus, in an unusual way the Belarusian artists decided to pay attention to the information campaign “Just Children”, conducted

by UNICEF in Belarus.

and went on to study in the fourth grade!

— From strangers, because they can kidnap you! — said a 6‑year-old boy.

— From bandits, — added future firstgrader Katya.

— From themselves and from the excessive number of lessons, — Ignat said quietly.

He went on to study in the seventh grade,” And from the answer it was clear that the boy was thinking about the problem of personal responsibility for his actions.

— From strangers, from the possibility of getting lost and from playing in unfin-

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ished houses, — said his 7‑year-old sister Ulyana.

3‑year-old Kira thought long and hard about who she should defend herself from.

Then she approached her mother, with whom she came to the interview and said: “Hug me, Mommy.” Well, it’s clear: it’s okay with mom…

And 4‑year-old Yanis had the answer: you have to protect children from white sharks, because they eat people. And from blue ringed octopuses that inject poison.

The company reacted to the information with great interest.

Nadya is already 14. And these are the girl’s thoughts out loud: there shouldn’t be domestic violence — with beatings and insults. And her older sister Mariya is 18. So she said she wanted to feel protected from bad company.

What do you think? Interesting? I think it’s undeniable. I listened to the answers of the yard “team” and thought about how important it is for all people to remember: every child has the right to a happy and joyful childhood. And it is our duty to do everything possible to ensure that boys and girls grow up in an atmosphere of love, safe-

ty, well-being, creative freedom, and their free time is full of fun games.

And one more thing, a point that I cannot neglect. When we parted, I noticed a woman of considerable age sitting not far on the bench. She looked carefully and kindly at me, at the children. As if she had something to say. I stopped by. And I heard the words that are often repeated by the Great Patriotic War veterans: if only there would be no war… And the woman added: what a joy it is that the children do not know what we have experienced…

By Alisa Gungor

liubov malysheva

BELTA

Alisa Gungor

traditions

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Belarus — UN: joint projects

The image of the future in real terms

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Last year, deputies of the local councils of the three Belarusian cities — Novogrudok, Novopolotsk and Polotsk — approved the plans of green urban development for the first time taking into account the prospects of town planning. The documents were developed by working groups with the participation of experts from the Global Environment Facility and UNDP “Green Cities”, specialists from local city administrations, and representatives of the public. By their very nature, Green City Plans form a strategic vision, in other words, a vision of the future that a particular city would like to achieve given its current state, current challenges and existing capacities. Yes, these plans represent a full-fledged local sustainable development strategy for the next twenty years, designed with the urban space in mind.

As early as this year, four other cities — Zelva, Gorodok, Korma and Krichev — have already developed their Green Urban Plans. Public discussions of these important documents are currently taking place there.

Gorodok — one of the UNDP project participants — from a birds eye view

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Belarus — UN: joint projects

Gorodok, Zelva, Korma, Krichev… Who’s next?

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year ago, Zelva, Gorodok, Korma, Krichev won a competition for small and medium-sized towns to develop green urban planning. The competition is held within the framework of the GEF-UNDP project “Green Cities”.

The criteria for technical evaluation of applications were applicants’ experience and understanding of city administrations of what sustainable development is through already implemented social, economic, environmental projects. The second important point is the focus of local administrations on the involvement of local communities: businesses, NGOs, local activists in the process of green urban planning.

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Vera Sysoyeva, an expert on Green Urban Development

— The Project activity is focused on small and medium towns of Belarus, — explains Vera Sysoeva, architect, expert on green urban planning. — Firstly, because there are many such cities in the country.

To be more precise, there are more than a hundred of them. And so the Project gets the opportunity to replicate the best solutions in a large number of settlements, each of them is unique in its local conditions. Secondly, it is difficult for small and medium-sized cities to get access to international technical assistance, learn new competencies and experience. And in this case their interests are met.

I must say in the contest the factor of experience was less important than

the desire to learn new techniques. It is not for nothing that the group of winners included both the cities that already have examples of international projects in urban management, for example, Zelva, and those with very little experience of this kind but are open to the application of advanced international recommendations. The towns of Korma. Krichev have long been mastering the development of the Smart City concept. Now, thanks to the project “Green Cities”, there is an opportunity to assist them in developing a harmonious program with regard to the environmental component so that such settlements could become sustainable in their development. he main backbone of the working groups on the development of green urban planning was formed by specialists of local executive committees — employees of the departments of socioeconomic development, housing and communal services, sports and tourism, as well as representatives of district inspections for natural resources and environmental protection. However, according to Vera Sysoeva, involvement in this case is not determined by the place of work alone.

— We have constantly guided local administrations to ensure that the composition of working groups is as broad as possible, — says the expert. — In different cities, the groups included representatives of veterans’ organisations, social service centres, youth associations and city activists. In particular, librarians and local historians were involved in this activity, who did a lot to develop the necessary documents.

The Global Environment Facility project and UNDP have consciously assumed an advisory role in this endeavour. While with the three previous cities (Polotsk, Novopolotsk, and Novogrudok) the Project took over the responsibility for the development of green urban planning, this time the main work was done by initiative groups coordinated by the Project experts, who handed over the methodology, helped to organize and implement activities.

Where cities are moving to

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he GEF-UNDP project “Green Ci­ ties” emphasizes that there is no standard solution for each city. Yes, in developing Green City Plans, the Project uses the same, already tried and tested methodology. But the set of solutions for each specific city is unique.

The problems faced by small and medium-sized cities today are approximately the same — negative migration of population, ageing, reduction of people of working age, limited resources for development and modernization of urban infrastructure, insufficient improvement of public spaces. However, green urban development plans make it possible to find specific points where these problems are localized. And, accordingly, the set of solutions for each city will already be different.

For example, in order to attract tourists and build the economy, Zelva needs to restore the natural landscapes of the Zelvyanka River. In Gorodok, on the contrary, there is tourism, but it has exhausted its resources for accommodation of visitors. And now the task is to find a balance between attracting tourists, creating new infrastructure facilities and preserving the existing landscape system.

The post-Chernobyl legacy of Korma in the Green Urban Development Plans has emphasized the necessity to create conditions for a healthy lifestyle. In particular, the production of healthy food, eco-products.

As for Krichev, a monocity around a cement plant, with a rich historical background, it is necessary to add modern digital technologies and get a powerful impetus for both spiritual and human development.

— As a result, we all pursue the same goal, i. e. to create conditions for sustainable green development of the city, where a balance between economic growth, social inclusion and care for the environment is maintained, — says Vera Sysoeva. — It is important that all the activities planned for social and economic devel-

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Belarus — UN: joint projects opment allow the efficient use of natural resources.

Public discussions are only to the good

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he authors of green urban planning are trying to be consistent. They were interested in the opinions of local residents at the stage of its development. Now the members of the working groups want to inform how the wishes of the citizens have been taken into account in the text of the plans. In this way, the developers want to see whether certain opinions were heard correctly. This is important to ensure the sustainability of green urban development plans. And if at the stage of their approval there is support from the population, it gives certain guarantees that they will be successfully implemented.

— We do not need a document on the shelf, we need a working document, which has supporters who not only monitor its implementation, but also participate in this process, — says Vera Sysoeva.

Today representatives of the initiative groups distribute feedback questionnaires both in printed and electronic form. By clicking the link in the questionnaire you can get acquainted with the Green Urban Development Plan itself and, if you want, write a feedback. In addition, the questionnaire allows residents to influence their choice of priorities. There are only nine of them, they are all important for the sustainable development of the city up to 2040. However, in the near future there will not be enough strength and resources to implement all activities at once. Therefore, with the help of the citizens, the developers want to specify the priority directions for the investment of the funds. And detailed plans will be developed for the specifically selected priorities.

Developers are very pleased with the activity of citizens. For example, 341 questionnaires were filled out within less than a day in Korma. Given the small number of residents in this urban settlement — this is an impressive result.

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ccording to Marina Timofeyeva, a teacher of biology and chemistry and a member of the working group to develop a green urban planning for the city, the Plan helped the city to look at itself from the outside and see both its strengths and weaknesses at the same time.

— Our strong point is the availability of natural resources, opportunities for recreation, — explains Marina Timofeeva. — Within the city limits alone we have five lakes, an entire hydrological complex and a pine forest. Besides, there’s a ski roller track of national importance. Together it’s a very good starting point for tourism development.

The weak point is the state of the city’s economy. As in many small towns today there are closed enterprises in the town, there are enterprises on the brink of bankruptcy. While working out the Green Urban Development Plan, the members of the working group saw an opportunity for a kind of balancing, when the strength can positively influence the weakness. For example, it is planned to create a large agroforestry park “Yagodka” in the areas of closing enterprises, which will have modern lines for processing and storage of forest products — mushrooms and berries.

There are plans to establish production facilities for processing medicinal plants and wild herbs, to develop agroforestry and forest farming, to launch a line for processing agricultural fruit and vegetable products, to produce vegetable and fruit juices, puree and mixtures.

— We hope that implementation of such a project will spur the economy of our city, create new jobs, seasonal forms of employment, — says Marina.

Meanwhile, the strength of the city will develop further. It is planned to saturate the city with interesting objects that will make it attractive for tourists. And tourism will be diverse — from gastronomic, based on organic products to extreme sports, the city has enough sports grounds.

— We also hope to use the lakes to give a new impetus to the local economy, — Marina shares her plans. — We will leave part of the lakes for tourism purposes — recreation, health improvement, entertain-

ment. In others, we plan to provide stocking of fish and organize investment sites for growing fish, which again could be offered to tourists, and its processing can be provided at the agroforestry park “Yagodka”.

According to Marina Timofeyeva, all the development of the Green Urban Development Plan was based on the opinion of residents. A survey of citizens was conducted at the preparatory stage to understand what problems should be a priority.

At the planning stage, when it was already specifically decided what activities should be included in the Green City Development Plan, together with representatives of the project “Green Cities”, public discussions were held, which were attended by people of different age groups, from schoolchildren to pensioners. For example, the oldest participant, who is 86 years old, came to discuss the Green Urban Development Plan by bicycle.

— We want to make sure that we have taken into account the wishes of the residents, and with their help, we will be able to identify priority activities for which resources will be allocated in the first place, — Marina said. — Today we are sure that our people feel that they are involved in the development of our city. s for Zelva, there are no harmful industries in this town, in fact it is an ecologically clean area surrounded by forests. Historically, the development of Zelva has always been connected with water, with the Zelvyanka River.

— Our zest is the largest water reservoir in the Grodno Region, — says Elena Kazyro, Chief Specialist of the Economy Department of Zelva District Executive Committee. — That’s why the main emphasis in the Green Town Planning was made on the development of infrastructure around our reservoirs, related services, use of “green” technologies, promotion of small business on the basis of natural components — natural cosmetology, health improvement and treatment, recreation, organic food. The developers of the Green City Development Plan hope that all this will contribute to the development of ecological tourism, a promising sphere for the city, as there are no city-forming

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Belarus — UN: joint projects

This is what Zelva looks like from a birds eye view

Public discussions on the Green City Development Plan in Zelva

enterprises in Zelva, and the majority of the population is involved in agriculture and social services.

— This is why we see opportunities for private business development based on our natural potential, — continues Elena. — The current situation with the coronavirus has shown the advantages of small towns.

And we hope that it will also give an impetus to tourism development in our region.

When developing the Green Urban Development Plan for Zelva, the participants of the working group were guided not only by the vision of the local administration, but also tried to take into account the opinion of all residents. According to Elena Kazyro, it used to be a common practice that the administration took responsibility and developed plans for local socio-economic development based on its own vision. But the reality shows that such plans, without the involvement of citizens, are not quite effective.

— We involved residents of different ages, different social strata in the work on

the document, — explains the expert. — Sometimes local authorities may not know what problems moms with small children or elderly people face. City dwellers have to decide their own future.

Due to the current epidemiological situation, it is difficult to organize some meetings, so the developers offered the citizens to discuss the Green Urban Development Plan online. However, those who couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity were not left behind, these are mainly elderly people.

Local social services came to the aid and delivered questionnaires to the addressees for filling in.

— Korma is a city with a Chernobyl history, — says Irina Bogdanets, the Director of the Private Institution “Territory of Development — 21st Century”, a member of the working group to develop green urban planning for this district center in the Gomel Region. — We wanted to see through the plan a new, revived city, where people will not only forget about the consequences of Chernobyl, but also will be proud of living here.

According to Irina, the work on the Green Urban Development Plan allowed to reset thinking, shift accents, change approaches to activities. The prevailing message “our children will not live here” has changed to positive “this is the best place in the world” and “the impossible is possible”.

The green urban plan has clearly defined potential growth points for the city.

— The growth of the economy is planned through unthinkable (I’d go as far as saying) before approaches and technologies — Irina shares her opinion — For

example, through the creation and development of enterprises aimed at producing food and cosmetic products based on flax and other plant raw materials.

It is planned to organize training for different categories of the population on a variety of topics, including the creation of a separate office for agricultural education. The city will introduce new formats of transport communication.

— Of course, we will develop tourism, there all conditions for it, — says Irina. — We are planning to create an agro-tourist cluster “Kormyansky flax”, develop agrotourism, i. e. agro estates, hotel services, renovate existing and create new tourist facilities and events (chanson festivals, “Linen Carousel”, “Ball at Doria-Dernalovichi”, “Lepeshinsky Heritage”). We will be engaged in arrangement and landscaping of eco-zones, public spaces and yards. he developers of the Green City Planning consider it to be important to develop small specific areas — micro districts, from now on there will be 16 of them in Korma. Their development in the Plan is determined by the combination of history, traditions, geographical situation, features of the landscape, demography, transport links and the wishes of residents.

According to Irina Bohdanets, the main feature of the Green Urban Development Plan is the development of a strategic document not imposed “from the top”, but the one based on the wishes, aspirations, problems and dreams formulated by the residents of Korma: — The public discussions about the future plan that are taking place in the city

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Teleconference to discuss the Green Urban Development Plan in Korma

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planetabelarus.by

Belarus — UN: joint projects

There are beautiful landscapes on the outskirts of Krichev

today are an opportunity to influence not only its purely technical part — text, pictures or schemes. It is an opportunity to influence the choice of priority tasks for the city.

The Director of the institution “Territory of Development — 21st Century” is sure that such activity forms a sense of responsibility among the citizens: — It is an opportunity for everyone to feel involved in the history of their native city.

By the way, the discussion of the whole course of work on the Green City Development Plan can be followed on the social network Facebook, where a special group “Korma-Green City” https://www.facebook.com/groups/greenkorma/was set up.

The format of online discussion became particularly relevant in the context of recent events related to COVID‑19. And you can fill in the questionnaire and influence the choice of priorities for urban development here: https://webanketa.com/fo rms/68wk0d1r6wqkgc9h61jpachq/. richev’s Green Urban Development Plan is called “Krichev 2040: innovation on a solid foundation of tradition”.

— We plan to develop through the introduction of innovative “green” and ITtechnologies, while preserving and increasing the cultural and historical heritage of our city, — says Elena Lasovskaya, Chief Specialist of the Department of Economy of Krichev District Executive Committee.

In the city it is planned to form a construction eco-cluster based on cement production, create a regional eco-technopark for

K

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Public discussions of the Green Urban Development Plan in Krichev

separating and processing the construction waste for its reuse, the appearance of a regional center for the development of “smart” competencies, which, among other things, will promote the creation of remote jobs for people with disabilities. In the context of culture, the developers of the Green Urban Development Plan are planning to create and promote the Krichev Knight brand, which includes holding an international chess tournament and expanding its geography, including through a single Krichev portal, as well as organizing the Krichev Knight Festival together with such events as the Potemkin Ball and the Night of Museums.

— The peculiarity of the document is that the goals and objectives of Krichev city development, its competitive opportunities, the most important strategic directions of activity, the main programs and projects are united into a single whole, — explains Elena. — The strategy includes not only a general view of the future of the city until 2040, but also localized goals of sustainable development (environmental, social, economic and managerial), as well

as priority tasks linked to the resources available in the city.

According to the specialist, such measures as improvement of street lighting, arrangement of a rainwater sewerage network, introduction of modern methods of collection, separation and recycling of solid municipal wastes, improvement of urban areas and beaches, organization of additional education in studying (monitoring) the environmental situation in the city on the basis of the eco-centre, development of bicycle traffic will be gradually implemented for comfortable living of the city residents.

In order to implement these objectives effectively and in a coordinated manner, the developers actively involved social workers, public organizations and business in the work on the document. Today, when the working document of the Plan is ready, it is important to show that the opinions expressed at the stages of creation of the document were really taken into account. That is why the developers invite citizens to join the public discussion of the Green Urban Development Plan.

And you can express your opinion on the official website of the Krichev District Executive Committee, in social networks (Odnoklassniki, V kontakte) in the group “Krichev. We develop together”. You can also fill in the questionnaire and influence the choice of urban development priorities here: https://webanketa.com/forms/68wk 0d1r6wqkgc9h61jpachq/.

What’s next

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eanwhile, the experts of the project “Green Cities” are preparing a kind of a navigator for city administrations to develop green urban planning. In particular, it will be accompanied by a video helper to complement the text documents.

— While our Project is still in operation, we are ready to provide cities with expert support, consult their representatives, — says Vera Sysoeva. — We hope that our experience will eventually be of interest to the state authorities and it will be replicated across the country.

By Vladimir Mikhaylov

Belarus — UN: joint projects

Сomfort stimulate eco-movement

month, the bike is locked, the owner has a key. And all this is also quite successfully functioning.

In Pavel’s opinion, Novopolotsk can follow the path of “regular locks with keys,” as well as the “hi-tech” option, when the With the help of the project “Green Cities” the first bicycle sheds card opens an electronic lock, which is connected to a small solar panel, and a are being equipped in Novopolotsk surveillance webcam works from it. This solution is very inexpensive.

It is possible that there is not enough even a symbolic one. You have to underYes, in Novopolotsk new objects of space for every bicycle in the shed. stand that it is not enough just to equip bicycle infrastructure — bicycle sheds— I’d be glad if that happened, — Pavsuch an object. It has to be maintained. appear on the streets. They are being el ironically said. — But now it is probaIt includes video surveillance, the need for equipped within the framework of the bly impossible to predict it. That is why we some kind of locking device, and minimal project “Green Cities” funded by the Globare implementing “pilot” projects in order cleaning. The experience of Minsk shows al Environment Facility and implemented to first see the effectiveness of this or that that if the use of the shed is free, nothby the UN Development Programme in solution, and then to replicate the positive ing good will come of it. Those sheds, partnership with the Ministry of Natural experience. which could be used for free in the capital, Resources and Environmental Protection Pavel Astapenya thinks that if the turned into garbage collection sites after a of Belarus. Pavel Astapenya, expert of the use of bicycle sheds is free, but they are few months.

Sustainable Urban Mobility Project, hopes guarded, it will most likely happen that — So I’m definitely in favor of the bithat the appearance of bicycle sheds in there won’t be enough space. By the way, cycle sheds’ maintenance to be somehow general will give an impetus to the develthe design of the shed provides increasing compensated, — concluded Pavel. opment of cycling in the city. the space for bicycles if necessary. If people As a positive example, Pavel Astapenya According to Pavel, within the framehave to pay for the storage of bicycles — a cites the experience of the neighborhood work of various sociological polls congreat demand for this kind of ducted in Novopolotsk, the sheds should not be expected. residents spoke about the lack of space for keeping bicycles.

By the way, in NovoMany people who have a bicypolotsk in the near future the cle either do not use it at all or number of lanes for bicycles, use it very rarely. which will be made by analogy — Obviously, the appearwith the one that already exance of bicycle sheds may enists on Molodezhnaya street, courage people who have never may noticeably increase. The thought of it before to get on a city is preparing to update the bicycle, — said Pavel. road markings, and “Green Cities” have initiated a corA total of five bicycle sheds will be installed in Novopolotsk. responding project, which is Each one is designed for 20 binow under consideration by cycles. Places for installation of the State Automobile Inspecthe sheds were chosen by the city torate. If approved, new drive Bicycle sheds for Novopolotsk lanes will appear on several executive committee and repre“Zelyony bor” in the capital, where there sentatives of housing and utility services. other city streets. are large bicycle sheds, which are kept in Bicycle sheds will soon be ready for opIn addition, “Green Cities” plans to order. They can be used by locals, everyone eration. But the question who will be able extend the cycle track in Novopolotsk, has a key, but the fee for this service is into use them is still open. which now goes in the park between Kocluded in the “rent bill”.

— In any case, it will be up to the city las and Naberezhnaya streets. It will go authorities, I can only express my vision across the bridge, to the other side of the There are other positive examples. as an expert, which I will insist on, — said river, where its length along the bank of the For example, there is another system, Pavel Astapenya.

Western Dvina will be more than one and already quite common in Minsk, when a In the expert’s opinion, the one who a half kilometers. contract for storage of bicycles is signed will use a bicycle shed, should pay a fee, with the user. The fee is 7–8 rubles per

By Oleg Bogomazov

Y

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soul area

Essay

On the way of joy

T

The other day we went to the Botanical garden. To admire the lilacs. The lilacs’ garden in the Minsk Botanical Garden is the richest. The reader can read about it in the next material.

For most of us lilacs are associated with spring, which brings renewal, a wonderful month of May with its fresh herbs. Nowadays, because of cold May lilacs broke into blossom later: only in the first decade of summer. In previous years, by this time it usually finished blossoming in Belarus…

Walking among luxurious bushes, we inhaled the scents of flowers and enjoyed their beauty. I, of course, did not fail to immerse my face in the luxurious bunches of white lilacs, to feel their subtle scent. And I couldn’t help but smile. Next to me a girl, took off her mask, leaned towards the flowers, smelled, and only then said: “Mom, can I smell it? Coronavirus doesn’t live in a flower, does it?” Mom, smiling, nodded, reassuring her daughter, and did the same. However, all the other guests of the lilacs’ garden, who were taking pictures among the lilac bushes, took off their masks. They came close to white, light lilacs, dark purple bunches, touched them with their palms, faces, or even lips…

And everywhere there was joy.

In fact, for my husband and me, this day at the end of the working week in the botanical garden was a day of admiring beauty. Watching children, we remembered the Soviet educator and innovator Vasily Sukhomlinsky, whose great merit was the recognition of a child’s personality as the highest value of life, which

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should be raised through beauty and joy.

He also spoke about the fact that beauty is a mirror in which people see themselves and treat themselves accordingly. What an exact observation! That is why people in the lilac garden looked friendly, well-wishing, cheerful.

Moreover, beauty saves us even from coronavirus. Some scientists say: COVID‑19 is a low-vibration essence with a closed electro-magnetic circuit structure.

And they conclude: for people living in high vibrations, it is not more dangerous than ODS, i. e. in higher ranges it is not active. So, whether it is true or not, quantum physics scientists will figure it out in due course. But I like this idea. So it turns out that we reenergize ourselves by seeing beauty, awakening joy in our souls. There’s another opinion. The human brain has socalled cannabinoid receptors, and the main cannabinoid is anandomide (“ananda” — translated from Sanskrit as “blessedness”).

It is also called “a good mood genome”. The more anandomide is produced in the body, the more blessedness we get.

I remember my childhood, when joy was a natural state, and the feeling of dissatisfaction was the rarest. I think, I don’t remember being angry as a child. Or dissatisfied with something. But I remember well looking into a flower-cup, as if trying to dive into its very core. It was a blue-purple periwinkle that grew in the neighboring garden. That’s why in May, making my way through the thick cherry grove, which was growing on the slopes of the ravine in our garden, I used to run to my favourite

In everything I want to grasp Its very core.

In work, in searching for the path, In heart’s uproar.

To see the essence of my days, In every minute To see its cause, its root, its base, Its sacred meaning.

Boris Pasternak

Valentina Zhdanovich

soul area small glade, lay among the flowers and looked into the eyes of the periwinkle, experiencing bliss and incomparable joy of being, though being unaware of it. It was a great happiness. And that feeling lived inside me. And in the world bees and bumblebees were buzzing, grasshoppers were jumping, grass was tickling my face and hands… And I, a girl of about five years old, felt like part of a huge world. And I was quite satisfied that not knowing anything about chemical reactions in the body, I felt this world.

Then there were questions: who created all this and how… Grandmother said: God, the school kept talking about other things: about Darwinism and other theories. But the increasing knowledge did not bring closer to the mystery… Gradually the feelings cooled down and the ability to experience a childish bliss and delight at the sight of a ladybug, ant or swelling buds dulled. In early spring, in my childhood garden, it even seemed to me that I could hear their weak crackling. My parents laughed and said: Dreamer… How much fun they had when I told them that tiny suns lived inside me that could hear everything.

Not so long ago it was a great joy to read a book by Bruce Harold Lipton, molecular biologist, one of the founders of a new biology. Based on the latest scientific experiments that he and his colleagues conducted together, the foreword to the book states that cells do not control our biology. On the contrary, signals from outside — including our negative and positive thoughts — are responsible for forming DNA. Thus, our bodies are able to change in accordance with our habits and thoughts. That is, our consciousness affects our genes! Lipton’s discoveries, his so-called faith biology, contradict well-established scientific dogmas about the dominant role of genes, and they have predetermined one of the most important areas of research today, i. e. epigenetics. There is an opinion that epigenetics is a new understanding of human biology, based on the power of consciousness.

There it is! Once again confirmation of the idea that the mood for a positive

perception of the world and people in it reenergizes us. The conclusion is that we should learn to feel joy, bliss and positive thinking from childhood. And also that there is no happiness or anger in the world: these feelings live in us. And it is only in our power to produce them. The Indian mystic Sadhguru said it well: we need the religion of joy, the politics of joy, and even the economy. This aspect should “work” at all levels of life. And it needs to be taught since childhood. But how?

What are the methods? Why, growing up, we are sad more and more often, we are more and more upset about little things, or even angry, losing the feeling of happiness — just to live and rejoice every day of life. To learn — with joy, to work — with joy… And even to wash dishes — with joy! Why can’t we often keep a distance with what irritates us? Maybe it’s because we can’t realize our mortality and live as if we were immortal? And how short our life is in comparison with Eternity?

The mystery is in joy, a sage said. If one knows the joy, one knows the mystery of being. How tempting it is to comprehend it, incomprehensible… Remember, Boris Pasternak wrote “In everything I want to grasp its very core…”

It’s not working! Why should it..?

As the years go by, we resign ourselves more and more to the greatness and mystery of life.

That’s why, more and more often I look into the core of roses, tulips or even forget-me-nots, just the way I did in my childhood. And into the eyes of the younger cat and his two older brothers…

They all have different characters, like flowers, not to mention people. I look and feel bliss in everything. And I think: it is necessary to plant the periwinkle under the windows of our house for it to remind me more often of my magic glade of childhood. Because I know: that is the way useful chemical processes are launched in our bodies, and anandomine is produced. Recently there was lilac with its large bunches of small flowers. There was an ant on one of them.

Another unexplored miracle of nature.

By Valentina Zhdanovich

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let's forget about the worries

And there was a fragrant smell...

Week of lilacs was held in the Central Botanical Garden

Valentina Zhdanovich

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I

n those days, its lilacs’ garden can rightfully be called the most fragrant place in Minsk. Perhaps the most beautiful, too. You will not find such a variety of lilacs anywhere in our country.

There are more than two hundred varieties of foreign and domestic selection.

There is a belief: if you find a lilac flower with five petals and make a wish, it will certainly come true. Are you interested in?

Then let’s hurry to the botanical garden!

Natalya Makedonskaya, Cand. Sc. Biology, curator of the lilacs’ collection, knows almost everything about this plant. Seven varieties were selected by herself. The period of mass blossoming, she explains to us, has begun only now because of weather conditions.

— Besides, now the early varieties are blooming and the mid ones are only beginning to bloom. It is noteworthy that this year the blossoming of early lilacs will continue until the end of the month. And this is a record period of time! After all, it usually finishes blossoming within seven days. But night frosts can harm the flower buds and inflorescences of later varieties. Then they will not open.

“Defender of Brest”, “nesterka”, “partizanka”, “svityazyanka”…

There are no two lilacs alike. The variety “snowwhite”, for example, has creamy buds and pristine white small flowers. “Blue-eyes” is not big, but it blossoms profusely.

— I have a variety that I called “Duchess Irina”, — tells Natalya Viktorovna. — In honor of the patroness of the city of Gomel.

Last year, the centenary of the palace and park complex of the Rumyantsevs and the Paskeviches was celebrated, and I took seedlings there. They are still small, not yet blossoming. But this is a sign of memory. Of the fact that people still remember how much good the duchess did for this city. The name of one of the varie-

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online culture

Read "Pan Tadeusz" together Actors of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre along with colleagues from the Białystok DramaTheatre named after Alexander Vengerka read “Pan Tadeusz” online. The readings were held as part of the celebration of the Kupala Theater’s 100th anniversary. In this way the theatre replaces the exchange tours planned for the hundredth season with partner theatres, which were canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The traditional consultation meetings with Natalya Makedonskaya this year, given the circumstances, were held online. You can ask any question about the lilac collection on the Central Botanical Garden website and social networks.

By Yuliya Demeshko

kaya, Danuta Bakh, Iolanta Borovskaya and Katarzyna Mikiewicz. The Director Alena Ganum and journalists of the Polish radio Bialystok Dorota Sokolovskaya and Dmitry Kostin also attended the readings as moderators from the Polish side.

It should be added that this is not the first time when the actors from the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre have performed the greatest work of Adam Mickiewicz “Pan Tadeusz”: Nikolay Pinigin, the Director and Art Director of the theatre, staged the same-name play in 2014. The Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre will continue to offer alternatives to traditional theatre life — its initiatives are presented on its website.

By Olga Mitskevich

BELTA

ties, by the way, was suggested to me by a child on an excursion. He said: “Rococo”.

I liked it!

A small “campaign against illiteracy” from Natalya Makedonskaya: there are 23 varieties of Belarusian lilacs in total.

Visitors of many botanical gardens admire them. Experienced selectionists call this shrub “a plant three-in-one”: it astonishingly combines beauty, strong flavor and unpretentiousness. Moreover, it revitalizes the air. It is not for nothing that lilacs were planted near windows in front gardens.

There is another notable nuance. In order to smell many flowers, one needs to bend to the inflorescence itself. The lilac smells all round: leaves, and shoots, and flowers. Even the ground around it! Perfumers value it, although they consider it a difficult object to create a fragrance. It is too multifaceted, and very expensive. To get 3 drops of essential oil, it is necessary to process almost a ton of raw material.

Meanwhile, says Natalya Viktorovna, the smell of lilac has a calming, relaxing effect: — This is what our visitors’ faces show.

Here they immediately forget about all their worries.

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he Belarusians read the poem in Belarusian, and the Poles in Polish, i.e. in the original language. If the works of Adam Mickiewicz until this time are divided between our countries with the help of different arguments, such joint readings treat them as joint heritage.

The event was initiated by the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre with the support of the Polish Institute in Minsk. National artist of Belarus. “Pan Tadeusz” was read by Alexander Podobed, Pavel Kharlanchuk-Yuzhakov, Marta Golubeva and Kristina Drobysh from the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre.

The Drama Theatre named after Alexander Vengerka was represented by actresses Kristina Katsprovich-Sokolovs-

The scene from Nikolay Pinigin's play "Pan Tadeusz"

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media personality

Just a playwright Alexey Dudarev, author of the famous “White Dew” and “Common Soldiers” celebrated his 70th birthday

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Ivan zhdanovich

O

nce, in one of the interviews, when asked: how would you introduce yourself to the readers, Alexey Dudarev said the following: — When a mature age comes, all sorts of adjectives leave and a person remains pure and simple. Once, a long time ago, in one of the cemeteries near Tallinn I saw a gravestone inscription “Georg Ots”. And that’s all — nothing else. I thought it was the namesake of the famous singer, but when I asked the Estonians, they told me it was him. That’s when I realized that it’s important for a person to be known — that’s all. It doesn’t matter when he was born, what titles he has and so on. So I would just introduce myself — Alexey Dudarev, playwright.

That’s how he usually speaks: briefly and discreetly. Though he has got enough regalia and awards for his entire creative life. A lot of articles have been written about him: one should only google… Every Belarusian high school student knows who Dudarev is: his plays are in the school curriculum.

And our magazine has many times turned to the work of Alexey Anufriyevich. Even at the time when he was writing his first stories. And later we did not neglect the bright events that took place in Dudarev’s life. These were interviews with the playwright, essays about him, and reviews of the performances, which were on in many theaters of Belarus and abroad.

Of course, we also wrote about the films based on his scripts and about the ballet “Vitovt” at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus, which was based on Dudarev’s libretto.

Today our esteemed playwright is in good creative form. Therefore, having familiarized ourselves with his new play “Small Motherland,” we found it necessary

At the dacha near Logoysk Alexey Dudarev feels easy to write and pleasant to breathe

to introduce it to the readers. I will not talk about the emotions and associations the work has caused. I will only say: I personally felt the freshness and sincerity of

the playwright’s feelings, who did not lose them, though had reached an age of great maturity, as they say. In addition, the play makes you understand better how broad the

media personality

The scene from the play "Don't Leave Me...". Alexey Dudarev as Colonel, next to Igor Filchenkov (Mikhasyov).

feature film at the competition held by the Belarusfilm studio. Alexey Dudarev’s play “Do Not Leave Me…” (2005) also made a notable contribution to the development of the military theme. It is still very popular.

Throughout his creative activity, Alexey Dudarev has shown interest in the historical past of Belarus. Bright characters and images of historical personalities are reflected in the plays “Prince Vitovt” (1997), “The Black Lady of Niasvizh Castle” (1998), “Palachanka” (2000), “The Cross” (2000), “Vseslav the Seer” (2001).

In 2001, Alexey Dudarev was awarded the special prize of the President of Belarus for writing historical plays staged at the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre.

16 films were shot after Dudarev’s scripts, including the famous “White Dew” (1983), “Autumn Dreams” (1987), “Brest Fortress” (2010, with the team of authors).

In 2002, for the script “White Dew”, as well as for the plays “Threshold”, “Evening”, “Common Soldiers”, “At Twilight”, “The Black Lady of Niasvizh Castle” the writer was awarded the prize of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in the field of literature and art. In 2014, the film “White Dew. The Return” was shot after Dudarev’s script.

Alexey Dudarev is Honored Art Worker of Belarus (1991). He is called a living

classic. Modern drama art is hardly thinkable without his creative work. His plays are staged by many theatres of far and near abroad. Everything written, staged and screened by Dudarev is part of the golden fund of Belarusian art.

At present Alexey Dudarev is retired, often stays with his family at his country house. Alexey Anufriyevich has a son Maksim and daughter Alesya, his grandsons Arseny and Andrey, granddaughter Ioanna, are growing up. His reliable support is wife Valentina.

By Valentina Zhdanovich, using BelTA materials Ivan zhdanovich

concept of “small motherland” is. However, let the readers draw their own conclusions.

And we’ll remind them: Dudarev was born on June 6, 1950 in the village of Kleny, Dubrovno District, Vitebsk Region, in a peasant family. He studied at Novopolotsk vocational school which trained oilmen. He worked at the plant for a while. He graduated from the Belarusian Theatre and Art Institute in 1976. From 1978 to 1983 he worked at the Theatre and Art Institute, where he began to engage in literary work.

From 1991 to 2002 Alexey Dudarev was editor-in chief of the magazine “Mastatstva”.

From 2003 to 2013, he was Artistic Director of the Drama Theatre of the Belarusian Army. Since 1992, he has been heading the Belarusian Union of Theatre Workers.

In 1979, he wrote the play “Choice”, in which he opposed a simplified understanding of heroism. In 1982, Alexey Dudarev was awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize of Belarus for this play and the book “The Holy Bird”.

It is no coincidence that he is called a master of simple stories, which at the same time reflect serious problems of ordinary people. In the plays “Threshold” (1981), “Evening” (1983) and others the author investigates human morals and ethics, reflects on the problems of alcoholism, spiritual devastation, the fates of the inhabitants of hopeless villages. The play “Alienation” (1994) is dedicated to the Chernobyl tragedy.

The real event in the theatrical life of the second half of the 1980s was the play “Common Soldiers”, in which the writer raised the question of what the war was like for its each ordinary participant. The play was awarded the All-Union Lenin Komsomol Prize in 1984, and the State Prize of the USSR in 1985.

Dudarev returned to the theme of the Great Patriotic War in the early 21st century. To the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders, he wrote the play “You Remember, Alyosha…” dedicated to the defense of Mogilev in the first days of the war. The play was staged at the Drama Theatre of the Belarusian Army.

For the screenplay of the film “Dnieper Border” (2009) the playwright was awarded the prize for the best screenplay of a

With his wife Valentina

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theater and life

Alexey Dudarev

Small motherland Comedy in two acts

Characters: ATELA — He MASHA — She GABI — Doll ACT ONE Day one The abandoned city of Drevlyansk. An abandoned house in Drevlyansk.

An abandoned apartment. A cozily furnished room. Photos on the wall. There’s a candle burning on the nightstand. Darkskinned ATELA is sleeping on the couch.

The autumn wind is howling outside the window. A kewpie doll GABI appears.

GABI (dancing and singing).

The wind sang it a lullaby: Sleep Mashenka, sleep tight!

The snow was making clothes for it: It was a pretty sight!

The snow was making clothes for it: It was a pretty sight!

MASHA enters the room fearfully.

GABI disappears.

MASHA looks at the sleeper.

Her gaze makes Atela wake up and he sits on the couch MASHA. Aaaaaaaah!!!

ATELA. Aaaaaaaah!!!

MASHA. What are you doing here?

ATELA. I’m asleep. Who are you?

MASHA. I am Masha.

ATELA. Are you Masha?

MASHA. Masha. And you?

ATELA. I am Atela.

MASHA. Then I’m Juliet.

ATELA. Desdemon.

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MASHA. Well, Desdemon… Why did you come in here?

ATELA. I’m on vacation.

MASHA. And you think that if you have a “vacation”, you can climb into someone else’s apartment and sleep in someone else’s bed?

ATELA. This is not someone else’s apartment.

MASHA. So is it yours?

ATELA. No. Not yours, not mine, not his. No one’s.

MASHA. No one’s?

ATELA. No one’s. City — arrivederci, house — good bye, apartment — bye! I’m on vacation. I live here.

MASHA. Get out!

ATELA. I live here! Vacation — to live, then again university… dormitory…

MASHA. This is my house! Do you understand?

ATELA. Understand. No one’s.

MASHA. I’ll show you “no one’s”! I was born here! I was brought to this room from the maternity hospital! This is where my crib used to stand! No one’s…

ATELA. It was the past… It’s dead.

MASHA. What are you talking about, black-bellied? What is dead?

ATELA. It used to be — now not. What there is — there is, what there isn’t — dead.

The city — there isn’t.

MASHA. It’s right outside the window!

ATELA. People said — can’t live in the city, it means, dead. The house is not.

MASHA. Where are you and me now?

ATELA. People said — can’t live in the house, it means, dead. There is no apartment If the house is dead, the city is dead.

The apartment is also.

MASHA. This is my apartment! It’s mine! These are my pictures! This is my portrait! Look! It’s me!

ATELA. This isn’t you…

MASHA. I’m a ittle girl here… We got evicted from here when I was so little…

What’s evicted, do you understand, skank?

ATELA. Intern.

MASHA. Could be so… (Teasing) Deaa‑ad! I came back, and you’re dead…

ATELA. You are dead.

MASHA. I will kill you! You got it? One more word like that, and you’re gone.

ATELA. Okay. You’re not dead. You’re not alive.

MASHA. What about you?

ATELA. And I’m a student.

MASHA. What the hell are you doing hanging around here if you’re a student?

ATELA. I’m on vacation.

MASHA. If you’re on “vacation,” you’d better go to Mom and Dad’s under the palm trees.

ATELA. Are you on vacation, too?

MASHA. I’ve been on “vacation” all my life. Since they got me out of here, the

theater and life holidays, the vacation… Where’d you get your tan?

ATELA. Pekheteriya…

MASHA. Are you having a revolution there now?

ATELA. No, we’ve got Pekheteriya…

Kingdom.

MASHA. Do you make money on the side as a king?

ATELA. No. Not a king. On the side as a prince.

MASHA. Pretty cool.

ATELA. Pretty cool, pretty cool.

MASHA. How did you get in here? It’s a zone. The posts are all around.

ATELA. The river to swim. To make a longboat from logs…

MASHA. A longboat?!

ATELA. One log, two log, three log tie…

MASHA. So it’s a float-boat!

ATELA. A float-boat, a float-boat…

Quietly swim, birds listen, fish catch… The gendarme didn’t notice… Are you a floatboat too? One log, two log, three log…

MASHA. Worse. One smile, two smile, three smile…

ATELA. For who’s the smile? For who’s the laugh?

MASHA. A smile is for some, a laugh is for others. And some people are in no mood for laughing. It’s different.

ATELA. A gendarme smile?

MASH. And them, too. Yeah, well, your parents must be first-class misers…

ATELA. Misers, misers… Song!

MASHA. Didn’t send you money for a ticket home? Did they? For vacation.

ATELA. No. The law: vacation — go home! Or a dormitory to live in. And the dormitory — repair. No going home.

MASHA. So why couldn’t you stay with some of your friends? Why are you in the zone? We are sick and tired of you! You are everywhere. Like cockroaches.

ATELA. I’m a student.

MASHA. I can see it.

ATELA. Who was I interfering with?

MASHA. With me. How long have you been staying with us?

ATELA. One year. No friend.

MASHA. You didn’t have time to make friends. And you couldn’t borrow money?

How far is it to your Pekheteriya?

ATELA. Many, many thousands of miles. There is warm. Here is cold. Ice! MASHA. Yeah, real cold weather.

ATELA. Cold weather… Cold-cold, weather-weather…

MASHA. So what’s your name?

ATELA. Atela.

MASHA. I’m serious! And you give me your nickname! Tell me your name!

ATELA. Atela.

MASHA. Well, you make me sick Bloody Shakespeare!

ATELA. I am Atela! Was Atela! Am Atela! Be Atela! Here is my student passport!

Gives Masha a student card.

MASHA (reads). Really Atela. I thought you are kidding… (Reads.) Atela Al Mababa… Very creative. A name and last name make no difference. Are you a moor?

ATELA. No. Pekheteriya… Pekheteriya…

MASHA. Do you think I know?

Where’s that?

ATELA. Over there, over there! It’s a long way off. That’s where your bird flies on vacation. To make a nest here, to fly to Pekheteriya on vacation.

MASHA. I’ve never liked geography or natural history.

ATELA. Pekheteriya good.

MASHA. I believe.

ATELA. Banana, coconut, papaya, bamboo…

MASHA. If I had money, I’d lend it to you so you could go to Pekheteriya on vacation.

ATELA. No money.

MASHA. No money. Oh, by the way, did you touch anything here?

ATELA. I was asleep.

MASHA. I can see that. You didn’t take anything?

ATELA. There’s no money.

MASHA. Not money! There was a doll.

My doll. You didn’t see it?

ATELA. I’ve never met a doll.

MASHA. They gave it to me for my birthday. When I was just a little girl.

Kewpie. Gabi.

ATELA. Gabi… Gabi did not come.

MASHA. Where is it? I left it right here… I remember. Right here! I wasn’t allowed to take it with me. I cried. They gave it to me for my birthday. Dad gave it to me! It’s my birthday tomorrow! I’ve come here for it, and it’s gone… She’s not here!

She’s gone! She’s gone! You know, Romeo?

ATELA. Atela. Romeo is Atela.

MASHA. Where did you put it?

ATELA. Gabi went out… Gabi went out!

MASHA. Foool!

ATELA. Atela — fool to catch up with Gabi, say you cry, Gabi home to go! Atela runs away.

MASHA. Shiny idiot! (Crying.)

GABI appears.

GABI (dancing and singing).

The wind sang it a lullaby: Sleep Mashenka, sleep tight!

The snow was making clothes for it: It was a pretty sight!

The snow was making clothes for it: It was a pretty sight!

Blackout To be continued.

беларусь. belarus 2020

51

Creativity

Vasily Kostyuchenko

“Art is meaningless unless it affects the soul...”

Undoubtedly, time makes its mark on creativity as well. For example, one of the last works by the artist Vasily Kostyuchenko is called “The Way”. In it one can see the silhouettes of people against the background of many steps that lead far upwards. Only at the top there is a bench where one can rest. But first you have to go up this difficult path. As the artist himself said, the plot of the painting was inspired by modern reality with its pandemic, caronovirus, self-isolation and other recent troubles...

Artist Vasily Kostyuchenko in his studio on the background of his latest works

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Creativity

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ndoubtedly, the famous Belarusian master of painting Vasily Kostyuchenko, by the way, the winner of the special prize of the President of Belarus in the category “Fine Arts”, is a conceptualist artist. This is confirmed by his works made in recent months, which I had the opportunity to get acquainted with in the artist’s studio. They are still waiting for their time to be presented to the public (now there are no exhibition events) and, I have no doubt, will cause genuine interest in the audience. As was always the case when his solo exhibitions were held.

And I remember one of such exhibitions which, by the way, was highly discussed.Vasily Kostiuchenko presented at it a number of paintings, united by the concept of human image in the modern world. Hence the name of that project — “Earthlings”. In fact, the characters of most of the artist’s works are always symbolic figures, usually devoid of the traditional portrait features. Very often they are dreamers with big children’s eyes. The author as if is looking for an image of a contemporary person — the one who, despite all the technical achievements, pragmatism and the rapid rhythm of existence, finds in life a place for feelings. The success of the artist is based on his proving himself as an author who responds to the events of time, but at the same time, remains a sentimental and lyrical creator.

And it is safe to say that the style of the artist Kostyuchenko fits into the world wave of “new figurativeness”. This style combines the elements of non-objective and realistic art. On the one hand, the figurative basis in the work of the author is subject to the formal requirements of the composition. On the other hand, the spots on Kostyuchenko’s canvases do not turn into abstract color fields, but maintain a connection with reality: green remains the color of grass, red — the sun, transparent blue means belonging to the water element. It is this material character of color, as a juicy purple watermelon in the work “Summer”, that gives the images of Kostyuchenko full blood, makes a spectacular visual impression.

The works presented at that exhibition were different in their mood: from intensely dramatic — “The Restrained Moment”, “Crucifixion”, “Pink Light”, — built on a combination of contrasting colors, to harmoniously balanced, made in one light tonality.

However, his author’s temperament is most evident just in the dynamic color combinations — red with green, green with pink — close to the style of contemporary art. ut Kostyuchenko’s painting remains far from the catchy language of advertising, and the contrasts in his paintings are always compositionally harmonised. Chagall’s motifs can be seen in the coloristic and figurative content of his works. As a rule, it is a subtle stylization of naive, the presence of colorful human figures, silhouettes of animals — cows and horses, which indicates that the artist belongs to the famous Vitebsk school (in 1974, Vasily Kostyuchenko graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Graphics of the Vitebsk Pedagogical Institute).

Certainly, Kostyuchenko’s series of urban landscapes is also of interest, in which the author managed to catch and convey in his original way the spirit of the Belarusian capital. These works are characterized by a positive mood in the reflection of the image

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I want to show the time in which we live. And themes are a reason to think. But that’s not the point.

The main thing is that the thought is deep, that it has some weight. of the metropolis, a sense of young bubbling energy of the city.

In fact, this series is a real contribution to the development of the artistic brand of Minsk.

A separate part of the author’s works is taken by the paintings on Christian subjects (“Communion”, “Radunitsa”, “Meeting”), reminiscent of touching masterpieces of folk iconography. In these works the author demonstrates not so much a religious side but a traditional mythological worldview of the Slavic peoples, based on the agricultural calendar with its annual cycle of holidays. The artist recreates the unique sacral atmosphere of each of them. It is especially felt in the works “Presentiment of Easter”, “Christmas”.

Kostyuchenko’s works of recent times are characterized by turning to large formats, which reminds of the works of representatives of abstract expressionism with their desire to dissolve themselves in the picturesque elements. owever, one can talk a lot about the conceptuality of Vasily Kostyuchenko’s works. I recall his longstanding exhibition “Sign of Water” at the Minsk Museum of Modern Fine Arts.

Yes, water is one of the matter of the Universe. Without it, there would undoubtedly be no life on Earth. No, Vasily Kostyuchenko didn’t try to confirm this truth. In his creative cycle, he only interpreted the life-giving power of nature in his own way. But at that time the exposition had an effect of unexpected downpour in sunny weather. It was so unusual. And at the same time it was predictable. The author, through his works, made us open our eyes to the most important equivalent of being.

Water is a global category. Mankind realized its value and sounded the alarm. Scientists are worried that glaciers are melting at the poles of the earth. Water is leaving…

In Belarus, there are many rivers and lakes with fresh water, it lies in the earth’s depths. Some countries are rich in oil, natural gas and coal. We have wealth — Water. And Vasily Kostyuchenko decided to timely note it, to emphasize it. He showed the value of water in contrast to heat. In fact, the unprecedented heat a year earlier with forest fires, drought gave the idea to the artist to make a whole series of works about water as a life-giving symbol of life.

The author notes the importance of water in everyday life. But even by a simple title of one of the works — “People who are drinking water” — he elevates his object of creativity. Or maybe only unobtrusively notes the fact that the element of water, like our life, is unpredictable. Water flows just like life itself.

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беларусь. belarus 2020

53

Creativity

There’s a sense of not only what you see, there’s also a sense of association. It all depends on what you want to do. Do you want to draw happiness? But it’s an invisible category, though it exists. Why not do it.

According to Vasily Kostyuchenko, water is a moral category.

Taking care of this natural givenness, people show vigilance, caring for the survival of future generations. f course, the artist expresses all his ideological thoughts figuratively. The works of Vasily Kostyuchenko make you feel that it is important for the author to find his own spiritual core, to define the essence of human nature, to identify the rules of relations with the environment. In the works, painted for a thoughtful viewer, Vasily draws the world with the help of ordinary life associations. But he invisibly overcomes materiality and forces the subconscious of his viewers to be included.

Yes, much is based on perception. And only the tangibility of an object can cause certain thoughts, emotions, allow us to talk about the line of creativity based on what we have seen and what has sunk into heart. In the case of Vasily Kostyuchenko, it happened after my acquaintance with his works. They gave an impetus to a dialogue with the author.

— Still, I would like to clarify: what meaning do you put into your work? An artist does not always draw just the thing he sees now, today.

— I believe that artists, poets, writers are all people close to each other in spirit, only each of them expresses themselves differently. I often think about it. Why do we sometimes have something to say, sometimes we don’t? The profession of an artist is destiny.

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First — sketch

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Because a person wants to give people a fresh idea. The artist is driven by an indifference to reality. And my exhibitions “Sign of Water”, “Earthlings” are my attitude to the world. So no one gives a theme to the artists. They reflect, think, come to some conclusion and express it in their works. Art has always existed — there was more or less of it, but it has always been. And the more diverse it is, the more interesting it becomes. I imagine art as a big living organism. One thing sticks to it, and another, but the bad will fall off, the good will remain. Personally, I think it’s necessary to preserve myself, to remain myself. And if you do your job sincerely, the way you feel about it, and something turns out to be good, it will be interesting for others. Yes, I know that the viewers do not always perceive what I want to say. But more often than not they understand and accept. They like it.

— Is participation in exhibitions important for you?

— Of course it is. I mean, how do we communicate? Only through exhibitions.

— You work in the manner that cannot be fully described as realistic, although you, as an artist, probably know how to reflect what you see in a realistic form. So why did you move away from realism and find other forms to express yourself in your work?

— And what is realism? I walk along the street, I see a forest, I can smell it, I walk on the ground… I have a certain mood, some emotions in my soul. If you take a photo of the forest, it will be just a forest. But there’s something else in nature besides visualization.

There is a sense of not only what you see, there is also a sense of association. It all depends on what you want to do. Do you want to draw happiness? But it’s an invisible category, though it exists. Why not do it. In my time, I developed the theme of water very realistically. And how do you reveal relationships between people? We see: two people are sitting. They sit and they enjoy it. Why can’t I draw this? Because paints both reject and bring closer. What’s realism supposed to mean? I think it’s impossible to repeat what we see. We can get closer, find something new in it. And you can’t just copy nature.

A new work — always from scratch

Creativity — What is the generalizing image of your work?

— Probably, I want to convey how I feel the situation, the way I feel it. Now we sit here talking — a car has passed, a brush has fallen. This is time. I want to show you the time where you live.

And themes are something to think about. But that’s not the point.

The main thing is that the thought is deep, that it has some weight.

— Do you think the work has to be beautiful?

— It doesn’t have to be. A man told me that my works are too beautiful work. For him it’s beautiful, and I think they’re not perfect yet. What do you put into “beautiful”? For me, “beautiful” is the harmony of colors, where you don’t have to change anything.

Where I got it exactly. But that’s one thing. And the second is to make others understand what I think. It’s a big deal to have a sense of composition, a sense of rhythm. It’s great, but that’s not all. We can’t see many artists because they’re not used to working independently.

— You participated in exhibitions, went abroad with your works. How useful is this experience?

— I think we will be interesting when we are original.

— What are your creative plans? Or do you think that you have already peaked in your work and you don’t need to worry about anything?

— My opinion is that if people considers themselves to be masters, it is already bad. A learned scheme, learned things make no sense. We must constantly improve ourselves, look for, fight and be unindifferent. A person has chosen some direction and is developing in it. We have to work. I am sure that there are no limits to perfection. What would I like? Just to express myself more in my work. ne of the critics once said..: “The strength of a Slavic artist is uncertainty.” The lack of rational verification, the desire to know the world around us on an emotional level — these are the qualities, first of all, inherent in the artist Kostyuchenko.

He values uncertainty more than the finality of his judgments. And when the artist is “liberated” from the rational “construction” of the canvas, it is easy to see the impulsive chords of active color spots… The plot canvas almost dissolves, there is a kind of diffusion, where Her Majesty Painting finds its full expression.

Vasily Kostyuchenko is from the generation of those Belarusian artists who managed to avoid the influence of pseudo-academic tradition. “The figurativeness in his paintings is not lost; rather, it acquires a different meaning: it “fits” into the context of the composition as an organic pictorial component. The saturation of the canvas with large local color spots may cause some allusions with painting by fauvists, but I see a different motivation: mastering the European experience — on the one hand, and on the other — the realization of those opportunities that academic painting in no way can give “ — this is how art historian Nikolay Pogranovsky writes about the work of Vasily Kostyuchenko. nother feature of the creative manner of Vasily Kostyuchenko should be also noted. In his works the pictorial element is restrained sometimes by one local color — most often it is red. Gradations of red can vary endlessly and smoothly as if “flowing” from one canvas to another. The expansion of red is

A work needs to settle

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Reflections are always with the artist

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You can’t do without emotions in creativity беларусь. belarus 2020

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Creativity a kind of chamberlain in many paintings. Sometimes it is perceived as a series, which allows the artist to consistently reveal the “theme of red” in various variations.

— And what do you think is the reason why not many people are interested in art today? — I continue the dialogue with the owner in the studio…

— This has always been the case: not many people were interested in art. It’s just, apparently, this is how the world works, — believes Vasily.

— And to what extent should a contemporary artist, who should both create and live at this time, find a compromise between the fact that his product should be sold, and between creativity as such, in which you should not take the viewer as a consumer?

— This is a very complex topic. Sometimes I try to do work for a specific customer. I don’t understand, how it is possible to create bad works for a consumer? In general, there is a mystery: where is something that was not done for a consumer? The coauthor with whom we designed the Catalogue of Belarusian artists once said: we have to find something to hook the viewers, to interest them. But everyone should do it in their own way.

— Have you thought about who you are for the viewer? After all, form should combine meaning.

— The question is, what is commerce and what is art? It’s just that to sell a work and a piece of real art are completely different things.

— And what about the criteria for evaluation that determine the auction sales?

— The works of Belarusian artists also participated in the auctions. But usually art dealers deal with this or that author when they want to make money on it. Criteria for evaluation, of course, exist.

As there are a lot of artists who are unknown not because they are not interesting, but because they are not exhibited enough.

— Can we say that Belarusian artists have clearly made a name for themselves in the world?

— Why not? Boris Zaborov has made himself known. Chagall?

When he came to Germany, he brought a carriage of works, but nobody needed them. Only in France he was supported. It’s fate, luck. Everyone has a chance.

— To what extent can we talk about the Belarusian school of painting?

— I’ve been to many places: Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, France… We do not seem to be outsiders. At one time, Moscow had a great influence on us. When we were young, we used to go to Vilnius: there we could see modern and very interesting art. We have a lot of educational institutions. An artist from the Novgorod region of the Russian Federation came to see me, there is one art school there, and the territory is like Belarus. In our country, the situation is different. We have School.

— You participated in exhibitions, went abroad with your works. How useful, how valuable is this experience?

— I think we will be interesting when we are original.

— You once won the President’s Special Prize in the Fine Arts category…

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Everything is comparative

— Yes, the prize for the contribution to the development of Belarusian art. The year 2007 was particularly fruitful for me. I took part in the decoration of the National Library, the exhibition activity was rich…

— What gives you a boost in creativity? Are your works based on life of this country and its national peculiarities? Or are you an international artist?

— No matter what we want to say, but we were brought up on our masters in the fine arts: on the works of People’s Artists Mikhail Savitsky, Leonid Shchemelev, Gavriil Vashchenko… It made its mark. It’s hard to change something, I think. Yes, at one time we started to go abroad more often, we opened ourselves up.

Of course, we appreciate the world art. But mostly I draw inspiration, of course, in Belarus. Because I live and communicate here.

And the topics turn out to be those that are most often based on local reality. If we speak of students who are 20 years old now, I’m afraid to lose the connection of generations. I’m very afraid of that.

When we joined the Union of Artists, there was a feeling that a lot had been achieved. Now young artists have little faith like that. I’m not saying that they’re not very gifted. They just need to be given the opportunity to believe in their creative powers. And it’s also important for them to feel stronger their sense of need.

— In a word, are you concerned about preserving traditions?

— Of course I am. And traditions are when young people are supported. It should be like this. For us and them. n artist with a peculiar understanding of the world and his creative philosophy. This definition is very close to Vasily Kostyuchenko. Colleagues describe him as a painter who is not indifferent to life. Probably because the reality in his works has many gradations, shades, nuances. It is not for nothing that in the exhibition “Sign of Water” each picture is a fragment of a single cycle in which the notion of harmony of the World is revealed. But for him, the absolute is not frozen truth. By it, he understands the world as a whole. It is another thing that with the help of painting he tries to express his attitude towards it. This is a creative position of conceptualist Vasily Kostyuchenko.

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By Veniamin Mikheyev

Vasily Kostyuchenko. "The Way", 2020

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