Commentary

Was BNR foundation for BSSR and modern Belarus? Tsimafei Akudovich explains

 25.03.2026, 14:17
The white-red-white flag over the building of the People's Secretariat of the Belarusian People's Republic in Minsk and the first Belarusian communist detachment in Petrograd. Photo collage: Chasopis' Mіnіsterstva Belaruskіkh Spravаu / Wikimedia; Museum of the October Revolution in Moscow / Left.by;
The white-red-white flag over the building of the People's Secretariat of the Belarusian People's Republic in Minsk and the first Belarusian communist detachment in Petrograd. Photo collage: Chasopis' Mіnіsterstva Belaruskіkh Spravаu / Wikimedia; Museum of the October Revolution in Moscow / Left.by;

The proclamation of independence of the Belarusian People's Republic on March 25, 1918, is one of the most significant moments in Belarus' history. But what if it hadn't been declared? What plans did the communists have for Belarus? The historian attempts to imagine an alternative history.