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BELARUS
Independence date: 25 August 1991
Population: 10 million
Capital: Minsk
President: Aleksandr Lukashenko (since 20 July 1994)
 Country profile
Timeline
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VIEWPOINTS
I’m no politician, and I don’t want to make judgements about who was right and who was wrong. But I miss the USSR. It was somehow more friendly in those days. Life was sweeter and easier to understand. And I’m also sad because I have friends in Russia, the Baltic states and Kazakhstan. It’s difficult to see them now. I’ve not even seen my closest relatives in Kazakhstan for many years, because I don’t have the hard currency or requisite visa.
Zoya Ivanovna Koval, nurse
My mother thinks that if things hadn’t changed, my life would be very different. Ten years ago I was at school, and got top marks in everything. But I didn’t get into university. To be honest, my interests had changed. In short, I have no profession. I take alcohol and cigarettes to Poland by train. I get up early, and in one day I can go there and back and make some money. I travel to the nearest station, where I have a contact who sells the goods, taking a cut of the profit. Many people work like this.
Katya Sitnyuk, Brest
The collapse of the USSR was a real tragedy for me because I didn’t manage to get into the [Soviet youth group] Pioneers. I felt terrible, as if I’d been cheated. But now I look at things differently. My parents and grandparents all say that nothing has improved. Ten years ago we used to eat my favourite fried chicken every other day, but now this same chicken has become a great delicacy, which we only have on New Year or birthdays.
Lyudmila Shestak, student
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