%0 Journal Article
%T Belarus: (Lost) Opportunity for Independence
%A Valchetski, Kiryl
%J Archival and Historical Review
%V 2024
%R 10.4467/2391-890XPAH.24.005.21067
%N Vol. XI
%P 113-127
%K BPF (Belarusian Popular Front), opposition, Belarus, independence
%@ 2391-890X
%D 2025
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/przeglad-archiwalno-historyczny/article/bialorus-niepodleglosc-nie-wykorzystana-szansa
%X At first glance, it may seem that life in Belarus is stable and peaceful. In reality, the regime of Alexander Lukashenko has implemented mass-scale repressions: thousands of people lost their jobs, were removed from universities, or experienced imprisonment. Many were simply killed or disappeared. This article describes the establishment of the Belarusian Popular Front, its ideas and struggle for independence in Belarus, a country that in the years 1988–1994 (around and following the dissolution of the USSR ) found itself in a very difficult and uncertain situation. This was a period of political, economic, cultural, and even national confusion. However, this was also the time when the national identity of Belarusians, practically wiped out during the partitions and after incorporation into the USSR , was re-born. Clearly, the establishment of the BPF Party was welcomed with hope and seen as a new opening. Soon after, though, Alexander Lukashenko entered the political scene—a “young wolf in sheep’s clothing” who built the illusion of an independent, stable, strong, and secure Belarus. The price to be paid for this illusion was an undemocratic political system, dictatorship, repressions, terror, lack of freedom, and heavy dependence on Moscow.