TALLINN: When school started this year for Mikalay in Belarus, the 15-year-old discovered that his teachers and administrators no longer called him by that name. Instead, they referred to him as Nikolai, its Russian equivalent.
What’s more, classes at his school — one of the country’s best — are now taught in Russian, not Belarusian, which he has spoken for most of his life.
Belarusians like Mikalay are experiencing a new wave of Russification as Moscow expands its economic, political and cultural dominance to overtake the identity of its neighbor.
It’s not the first time. Russia under the czars and in the era of the Soviet Union imposed its language, symbols and cultural institutions on Belarus. But with the demise of the USSR in 1991, the country began to assert its identity, and Belarusian briefly became the official language, with the white-red-white national flag replacing a version of the red hammer and sickle.
But all that changed in 1994, after Alexander Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm official, came to power. The authoritarian leader made Russian an official language, alongside Belarusian, and did away with the nationalist symbols.
Now, with Lukashenko in control of the country for over three decades, he has allowed Russia to dominate all aspects of life in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people. Belarusian, which like Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, is hardly heard on the streets of Minsk and other large cities anymore.
Official business is conducted in Russian, which dominates the majority of the media. Lukashenko speaks only Russian, and government officials often don’t use their native tongue.
The country depends on Russian loans and cheap energy and has created a political and military alliance with Moscow, allowing President Vladimir Putin to deploy troops and missiles on its soil, which was used as a staging area for the war in Ukraine.
“I understand that our Belarus is occupied. … And who is the president there? Not Lukashenko. The president is Putin,” said Svetlana Alexievich, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize for literature and lives in Germany in effective exile. “The nation has been humiliated and it will be very difficult for Belarusians to recover from this.”
Belarusian cultural figures have been persecuted and hundreds of its nationalist organizations have been closed. Experts say Moscow is seeking to implement in Belarus what the Kremlin intended to do in neighboring Ukraine when the war there began in 2022.
“It is obvious that our children are being deliberately deprived of their native language, history and Belarusian identity, but parents have been strongly advised not to ask questions about Russification,” said Mikalay’s father, Anatoly, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition his last name not be used, for fear of retribution.
“We were informed about the synchronization of the curriculum with Russia this year and were shown a propaganda film about how the Ukrainian special services are allegedly recruiting our teenagers and forcing them to commit sabotage in Belarus,” he said.
Mikalay’s school was one of the few where paperwork and some courses were conducted in Belarusian. In recent years, however, dozens of teachers were fired and the Belarusian-language section of its website vanished.
Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, convicted in 2023 on charges stemming from his Nobel Peace Prize-winning work, demanded his trial be conducted in Belarusian. The court rejected it and sentenced him to 10 years.
Lukashenko derides his native language, saying “nothing great can be expressed in Belarusian. … There are only two great languages in the world: Russian and English.”
Speaking to Russian state media, Lukashenko recounted how Putin once thanked him for making Russian the dominant language in Belarus.
“I said, ‘Wait, what are you thanking me for? ... The Russian language is my language, we were part of one empire, and we’re taking part in (helping) that language develop,’” Lukashenko said.
Belarus was part of the Russian empire for centuries and became one of 15 Soviet republics after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Daily use of the Belarusian language decreased and continued only in the country’s west and north and in rural areas.
In 1994, about 40 percent of students were taught in Belarusian; it’s now down to under 9 percent.
Although Belarusian, like Russian, is an eastern Slavic language, its vocabulary is considerably different. In 1517, Belarusian publisher Francysk Skaryna was one of the first in eastern Europe to translate the Bible into his native language.
Even speaking Belarusian is seen as a show of opposition to Lukashenko and a declaration of national identity. That played a key role in the mass protests after the disputed 2020 election gave the authoritarian leader a sixth term. In the harsh crackdown that followed, a half-million people fled the country.
“The Belarusian language is increasingly perceived as a sign of political disloyalty and is being abandoned in favor of Russian in the public administration, education, culture and the mass media, upon orders from the hierarchy or out of fear of discrimination,” said Anaïs Marin, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Belarus.
At the same time, “more people want to speak Belarusian, which has become one of the symbols of freedom, but they’re afraid to do it in public,” said Alina Nahornaja, author of “Language 404,” a book about Belarusians who experienced discrimination for speaking their native language.
Like Ukraine, Belarusians had a desire for rapprochement with Europe that accompanied their nationalist sentiment, said Belarusian analyst Valery Karbalevich.
“But the Kremlin quickly realized the danger and began the process of creeping Russification in Belarus,” he added.
That prompted pro-Russian organizations, joint educational programs and cultural projects to spring up “like mushrooms after the rain — against the backdrop of harsh repressions against everything Belarusian,” Karbalevich said.
Censorship and bans affect not only contemporary Belarusian literature but also its classics. In 2023, the prosecutor’s office declared as extremist the 19th-century poems of Vincent Dunin-Martsinkyevich, who opposed the Russian Empire.
When the Kremlin began supporting Lukashenko against the anti-government protests in 2020, it ensured his loyalty and received carte blanche in Belarus.
“Today, Lukashenko is paying Putin with our sovereignty,” said exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. “Belarusian national identity, cultures and language are our strongest weapons against the Russian world and Russification.”
Four cities in Belarus now host a “Russia House” to promote its culture and influence, offering seminars, film clubs, exhibitions and competitions.
“The goal is to plant Russian narratives so that as many Belarusians as possible view Russian as their own,” said analyst Alexander Friedman. “The Kremlin spares no expense and acts on a grand scale, which could be especially effective and dangerous in a situation where Belarus has found itself in information isolation, and there is almost no one left inside the country to resist the Russian world.”
Almost the entire troupe of the Yanka Kupala Theater, the country’s oldest, fled Belarus amid the political crackdown. Its former director, Pavel Latushka, now an opposition figure abroad, said the new management couldn’t recruit enough new actors, and had to invite Russians, “but it turned out that no one knew the Belarusian language.”
“Putin published an article denying the existence of an independent Ukraine back in 2021, and even then we understood perfectly well that he was pursuing similar goals in Belarus,” Latushka said.
“The main course was supposed to be Ukraine,” he added, with a Russified Belarus “as a dessert.”
In Belarus, the native language is vanishing as Russian takes prominence
https://arab.news/vc2zu
In Belarus, the native language is vanishing as Russian takes prominence

- Belarusian cultural figures are being persecuted and hundreds of institutions are being closed
- One prominent secondary school has switched from teaching classes in Belarussian in favor of Russian
Zelensky hails Ukraine-US mineral deal as ‘truly equal’

- The deal, which both parties signed on Wednesday, would see the US and Kyiv jointly develop Ukraine’s critical mineral resources
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday hailed a minerals deal that Kyiv had signed with Washington, saying the reworked agreement was “truly equal.”
The deal, which both parties signed on Wednesday, would see the United States and Kyiv jointly develop Ukraine’s critical mineral resources.
US President Donald Trump initially described the arrangement as “money back” for the wartime aid Ukraine received under his predecessor Joe Biden, but Kyiv says the new agreement is not linked to any past “debt.”
During the negotiations, “the agreement changed significantly,” Zelensky said in his daily address.
“Now it is a truly equal agreement that creates an opportunity for quite significant investment in Ukraine.”
“There is no debt in the deal, and a fund — a recovery fund — will be created that will invest in Ukraine and earn money here,” he added.
Kyiv and Washington planned to sign the agreement weeks ago, but a fiery clash between Trump and Zelensky in the White House temporarily derailed talks.
Ukraine had been pushing for long-term security guarantees as part of any deal.
The new agreement does not place any specific security commitments on the United States, but Washington argues boosting its business interests in Ukraine will help deter Russia, which invaded its neighbor in 2022.
Brazilian nun who was the world’s oldest person has died at 116

- Canabarro died at home of natural causes, said her Teresian nun congregation, the Company of Saint Teresa of Jesus
- She was confirmed in January as the world’s oldest person by LongeviQuest
SAO PAULO: Sister Inah Canabarro, a Brazilian nun and teacher who was the world’s oldest person, died on Wednesday just weeks short of turning 117, her religious congregation said.
Canabarro died at home of natural causes, said her Teresian nun congregation, the Company of Saint Teresa of Jesus. She was confirmed in January as the world’s oldest person by LongeviQuest, an organization that tracks supercentenarians around the globe.
She would have turned 117 on May 27. According to LongeviQuest, the world’s oldest person is now Ethel Caterham, a 115-year-old British woman.
Canabarro said her Catholic faith was the key to her longevity, in a video taken by LongeviQuest in February 2024. The smiling Canabarro can be seen cracking jokes, sharing miniature paintings she used to make of wild flowers and reciting the Hail Mary prayer.
“I’m young, pretty and friendly — all very good, positive qualities that you have too,” the Teresian nun told the visitors to her retirement home in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.
As a child, Sister Inah Canabarro was so skinny that many people didn’t think she would survive into adulthood, Cleber Canabarro, her 84-year-old nephew, told The Associated Press in January,
Her great-grandfather was a famed Brazilian general who took up arms during the turbulent period following Brazil’s independence from Portugal in the 19th century.
She took up religious work while she was a teenager and spent two years in Montevideo, Uruguay, before moving to Rio de Janeiro and eventually settling in her home state of Rio Grande do Sul. A lifelong teacher, among her former students was Gen. Joao Figueiredo, the last of the military dictators who governed Brazil between 1964 and 1985. She was also the beloved creator of two marching bands at schools in sister cities straddling the border between Uruguay and Brazil.
For her 110th birthday, she was honored by Pope Francis. She was the second oldest nun ever documented, after Lucile Randon, who was the world’s oldest person until her death in 2023 at the age of 118.
Canabarro took the title of the oldest living person following the death of Japan’s Tomiko Itooka in December, according to LongeviQuest. She ranked as the 20th oldest documented person to have ever lived, a list topped by Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122, according to LongeviQuest.
“Her long and meaningful life touched many, and her legacy as a devoted educator, religious sister, and a supercentenarian will be remembered with great admiration,” LongeviQuest said in a statement.
The wake for Canabarro will take place on Thursday in Porto Alegre, the capital of southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, her order said.
Trump’s national security adviser Waltz leaving post: US media

- Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong were both set to leave, CBS News reported, while Fox News said Trump was expected to comment on the matter soon
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is to leave his post following a scandal in which a journalist was accidentally included on a chat between officials about air strikes on Yemen, US media reported.
Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong were both set to leave, CBS News reported, while Fox News said Trump was expected to comment on the matter soon.
The former US congressman is the first major official to leave the administration in Trump’s second term, which has so far been more stable in terms of personnel than his first.
A White House official did not confirm the reports, saying they “do not want to get ahead of any announcement.”
Waltz had been under pressure since the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic Magazine revealed in March that Waltz had mistakenly added him to a chat on the commercial messaging app Signal about attacks on Houthis.
Officials on the chat laid out the attack plan including the timings that US warplanes would take off to bomb targets in Yemen, with the first texts barely half an hour before they launched.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also faced pressure over the scandal.
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),” Hegseth wrote in one text, referring to F/A-18 US Navy jets, before adding that “Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME.”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets).”
A short time later, Waltz sent real-time intelligence on the aftermath of an attack, writing that US forces had identified the target “walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.”
‘Not a commodity’: UN staff rally over deep cuts

- Carrying signs reading “We stand for humanity” and “Protect the protectors,” protesters poured into the square in front of the UN European headquarters
- “We’re supposed to stand for workers’ rights, so this is really tough,” Lena, an ILO staff member said
GENEVA: Hundreds of UN staff rallied in Geneva Thursday over deep funding cuts, especially from key donor the United States, which have led to mass-layoffs and threatened life-saving services around the world.
The demonstration, called by UN staff unions and associations, brought together workers from a wide range of Geneva-based agencies, along with their families and supporters under a blazing sun.
Carrying signs reading “UN staff are not a commodity,” “We stand for humanity,” “Stop firing UN staff now” and “Protect the protectors,” protesters poured into the square in front of the United Nations European headquarters.
“We’re supposed to stand for workers’ rights, so this is really tough,” Lena, a staff member at the International Labour Organization, told AFP, refusing to give her last name.
“You just feel helpless,” she said, standing next to her daughter sound asleep in a baby carriage with a sign reading “We stand for better jobs in the world” propped on top.
Humanitarian organizations worldwide have been reeling since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, pushing an anti-refugee and anti-migrant agenda and immediately freezing most US foreign aid funding.
The United States has traditionally been by far the top donor to a number of agencies, which have been left scrambling to fill sudden and gaping budget gaps.
A number of agencies have already signalled the dire consequences as austerity measures take hold across the UN system.
According to UN staff unions, the UN refugee agency is preparing to cut up to 30 percent of its staff worldwide, while the International Organization for Migration has said it will need to lay off more than 6,000 staff members, or over a third of its workforce.
The World Food Programme is meanwhile preparing to cut between 25 and 30 percent of its global workforce.
Thousands of jobs are also being cut at the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, with many more hanging in the balance, the staff unions said.
They also noted that nearly one in 10 jobs were being eliminated at the ILO, while the UN children’s agency UNICEF is facing a projected 20-percent budget cut.
“So many people are afraid of losing their jobs,” said Elodie Saban, who works at the main UN Geneva office.
“People who work for the UN are often asked to make extreme sacrifices. It is outrageous to see how they are being treated.”
Ian Richards, head of the UN office in Geneva staff union, stressed in a statement that “our colleagues have worked in some of the most dangerous, difficult and isolated locations in the world.”
“They couldn’t choose when or where they moved. They have sacrificed their personal and family lives, and in some cases paid the ultimate price, to help those in need,” he said, decrying that now “many are being let go without any social or financial support from their employers.”
Lena agreed, pointing out that some workers “are here for 20 years, and then it is basically: ‘goodbye’, you’re gone in two months.”
She highlighted that international UN staff are not granted unemployment benefits in the countries they work in, and their residence permits expire within a month of losing their employment.
Even worse, perhaps, would be the impact on operations in the field where the UN’s humanitarian agencies provide life-saving aid to millions of people, while an agency like the ILO battles against things like child labor, Lena said.
“Now, we just have to tell people we have worked with for years, ‘sorry’.”
Bangladesh holds mass political rallies in anticipation of first vote since Hasina ouster

- Thousands of people gathered for a May Day rally organized by Bangladesh Nationalist Party
- Chief of Bangladesh’s interim administration earlier said election could take place end of 2025
DHAKA: Three days of mass rallies began in Bangladesh on Thursday as political parties seek to drum up support ahead of the anticipated first vote since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The country’s interim government, headed by Nobel prize winner Prof. Muhammad Yunus, has been implementing a series of reforms. And preparing for elections since taking charge in August, after Hasina fled Dhaka amid student-led protests that called for her resignation.
Yunus has said that Bangladesh could hold elections by the end of 2025 or in the first half of 2026, provided that electoral reforms take place first.
As thousands of people gathered in Dhaka for a May Day rally organized by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday, its leaders seek to highlight the rights of Bangladeshis to a free and fair election.
The BNP’s Vice Chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu told Arab News: “People were deprived of their voting rights in the last three general elections due to a fraudulent environment.
“Considering the present context, people are optimistic that they would get the chance to exercise voting rights and eventually hand over power to their trusted political party.
“In this way, a democratic government will be reinstated in the country.”
He added: “These expectations and dreams of the countrymen will be represented through our mass demonstration today.”
“We want to see a Bangladesh, which is run through a democratic system, where people would be able to exercise and enjoy all of their due rights.”
The country’s largest Islamic political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, also held a rally on Thursday.
They will be followed on Friday by a mass demonstration organized by the National Citizens Party, which was formed by the students who spearheaded the youth-led protests that overthrew Hasina.
On Saturday, Hefazat-e-Islam, a powerful Islamic organization in the country, is also expected to hold a “grand rally.”
The series of political rallies are taking place a little over a year since Bangladesh’s last elections in January 2024, when Hasina won a fourth term in polls that were boycotted by the main opposition parties.
Following 15 years of uninterrupted rule, Hasina and her Awami League party had allegedly politicized key government institutions, including the Election Commission.
Bangladesh is going through a “transitional moment,” said NCP Joint Member Secretary Saleh Uddin Sifat, highlighting that the interim government’s ongoing work is crucial to secure a better future for the country.
“If we can’t reform or overhaul the other machineries of the state, like (the) judiciary, police, constitution etc., before the election, then the next government might also be an authoritarian one because of the existence of the authoritarian elements within the state machineries,” Sifat told Arab News.
Sifat is expecting a good turnout at the NCP rally on Friday, which will urge for reforms in various state institutions and demand justice for alleged crimes committed by members of the Awami League.
“We believe our next general election will not simply serve as a medium of transferring power,” he said. “Rather, it will pave the way for a permanent and effective reformation of the structural issues of the country.”