Alexander Lukashenko targets Belarusian culture and cedes to Russia
Shops selling Belarusian clothes and books are closing down as Alexander Lukashenko intensifies a crackdown on Belarusian culture and cedes ever more influence to Russia.
Minsk Shops Close As Crackdown Targets National Symbols
When Adelia discovered that Honar, a shop in Minsk that sold fashionable clothes with traditional red-and-white cross-stitch folk designs, was shutting down, she rushed to buy what little remained. For more than a decade, the store served a clientele described by Adelia as brave people, given that wearing national motifs in Belarus requires significant courage. Major protests erupted across the country after Alexander Lukashenko stole an election in 2020. Following the brutal quelling of those demonstrations, the multi-decade dictatorship doubled down on political repression, resulting in torture, imprisonment, and the flight of hundreds of thousands of citizens.
For years, Mr. Lukashenko balanced brotherly ties with Vladimir Putin against resistance to fuller integration. However, the 2020 uprising created a turning point. Russian military support allowed the Belarusian dictator to maintain power, leading him to crush domestic Belarusian culture while ceding substantial influence to Moscow. While many Belarusians share economic and family ties with Russia, public wariness toward the conflict in Ukraine remains high. For those suspicious of closer integration, the Belarusian language and traditional culture have served as vital safeguards against complete absorption by Russia.
Festivals Cancelled And Publishers Designated Extremist
During the 2010s, Belarusian national identity experienced a revival. Civic society groups organized folkloric song and dance festivals, traditional embroidery became fashionable, and officials occasionally spoke publicly in Belarusian. When the 2020 demonstrations adopted the white-red-white flag of the brief 1918 Belarusian republic, the regime responded with swift punishments, including fines and jail time for displaying the flag or red-and-white color combinations.
Subtle expressions of identity initially survived the clampdown, but that protection has evaporated. In July, multiple shops selling Belarusian clothes and food abruptly announced closures, and several music and history festivals were cancelled. Months earlier, publishers, translators, and sellers of Belarusian-language books were detained or designated as extremists. Hanna Liubakova, an exile journalist, notes that these spaces were crucial because they allowed like-minded citizens to gather and speak in Belarusian. Vadim Gigin, an MP and the country’s chief librarian, dismissed these cultural expressions as a nationalist contagion that the state would sweep away with a dirty broom.
US Negotiations Secure Release of Political Prisoners
Viasna, an exiled human-rights organization, estimates that over 4,500 people have been imprisoned on political charges since the 2020 protests. As of August, 879 political prisoners were confirmed to be behind bars. While the European Union has ratcheted up sanctions against Belarus, the United States under Donald Trump pursued a different approach, lifting some penalties in exchange for prisoner pardons. Negotiations secured the release of around 500 prisoners over the preceding year, including musician Mr. Chumakou and publisher Mr. Kolas, who were freed and deported on September 16th.
Despite these releases, Viasna has documented ongoing politically motivated detentions, including the April arrest of 52 employees during a raid on an architectural firm that promotes Belarusian design. Taciana Niadbaj, who runs the banned literary organization PEN, states that the regime is actively replacing the country’s independent cultural space with one that is politically loyal and increasingly integrated into Russia. State-run theatres have increasingly hired Russian directors and actors, staging fewer plays in the Belarusian language.
Belarus Increases Trade and Educational Ties with Russia
Mr. Lukashenko’s deepening dependence on the Kremlin is reflected in trade data. According to analysis by exiled economist Dzmitry Kruk, the share of Belarusian exports destined for Russia rose from 40 percent to 60 percent. This reliance now extends directly into the educational system. Research by iSANS, a Warsaw-based think-tank, reveals significant revisions in school textbooks distributed in Belarusian classrooms between 2021 and 2025. Newer editions explicitly frame the conflict in Ukraine as a special military operation and present the 2020 election results and subsequent Western pressure through the prism of enhanced integration with the Russian Federation.
Beyond standard curricula, iSANS has documented a scaling-up of events promoting unity between Russia and Belarus. Commemorations of a National Day of Unity have transformed into central ideological events, featuring thematic lessons and drawing contests around Minsk-Moscow friendship. Military-patriotic clubs are expanding rapidly across schools and vocational colleges, with some established in pre-schools for the first time. Maria Kalesnikava, a freed protest leader who witnessed nursery-age children in military uniform on state television while imprisoned, calls the spread of Russian military propaganda terrifying.
“The future of Belarus depends to a large extent on whether young Belarusians understand their own country as an independent state with its own history and culture, or through the prism of the Soviet past and Russian historical interpretations,” says Maria Kalesnikava.