Nineteenth anniversary of declaration of Belarus' sovereignty

The Supreme Soviet of the BSSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty 19 years ago, on July 27, 1990.
One year later, on August 25, 1991, the declaration was given the status of a constitutional law and changes to that effect were introduced into the 1978 Constitution of the BSSR.


July 27 was Belarus' national holiday, Independence Day, between 1991 and 1996. In 1996, the Alyaksandr Lukashenka government brought forward Independence Day to July 3 through a controversial referendum. Minsk was liberated from the Nazis on that day in 1944.


The Declaration of State Sovereignty was "the first step in the resurgence of Belarus as an independent state and the restoration of Belarusian statehood spanning thousand years," says Aleh Trusau, a former member of the Supreme Soviet.



Photo — vedruss.info