Belarus (magazine #04 2020) by BELARUS Magazine

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No. 4 (1039), 2020 Беларусь. Belarus

belarus Politics. Economy. Culture

ISSN 2415-394X

Beauty will save the world

Newspaper from Belarus

Голас Радзімы edition of the “Голас Радзімы” is available at www.zviazda.by

The newspaper for fellow countrymen: well-known and well-read Газета з БелаРусі

Голас Радзімы

Голас Радзімы аўторак, 14 красавіка, 2020

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l аўторак, 14 красаВіка, 2020

Выданне “Голас Радзімы” чытайце ў інтэРнэце на паРтале zviazda.by

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І о ял ус па вічз будынкаўсім т 19 дчы іў ал ў аМін мо ску, Й zd сак ара адмесліпемагчы са дную эвіча яне кай чын пра маа— Ста не пр 88-г ны жы енавлаўйцкра ц . 6з сітуацыі”. а ту ТА a. і ін іны”. 20 брал мо й ч люб літа альн тое, р. 6 Ы эк ыеха а м Багу ццва “Тр ўнеяку“вый ё ты ч . Гэ ры, by Віка зы тсці ар напрыкан ро 0 ун і ту ву. Р аму ілі рату ікаў т валаася на ,2 а адбы гія спазі ў с алад шэв вТое ”Ч С гі, 02 б іча ывуч лаве ы Ба д іх ікал т, у упн ён та адва ры, і мвядоСмы з 1965‑га Ы адк гады цыю юды ым цы 0 тыорзнак памва Ён к ГэМ ў.сака э віка. а ар кр гушэ і аўт ьных Куш ыя н к лю ката ры . А — , к ас Вя нню ІМ ён , — да атак эсл віч энт а с пір жым, л ў б Прыгледзімся да мікраістот, быў т сама р падгон 18 — З ся Л ў чэр і заст аб зас ўва ДЗ ы, аў ыч эксп янах шчад іў ан ной ў 1 куме ак Ку аспа ш 9 т А : т н р а а і М а , к в 6 якія сён ня рап тоў на пад вод зяць т тры ма ны ў сац сет ках па ве дам а ● н в ў н у в чы Р ес кап піс ыя р ата кал і п 749 ты шля яда год хава ара ені ся ара м А ца ця насць -м , Бз на на нем ць “Сав ліадар н С е ны а п лас тур 199 лен ісы ьм эчы ў, с я Х лініі жыццяў тысяч людзей ро ОД . р у с а д С я А а Г А п о П н , 0 г а н о н . ін ілы вы ся яы -га ўбуд я а аб уш як лес адб кАм ся ра цун 55 і еласадар і ці Мінск, Палац Незалежнасці, Нарада да крытычнай рысы, за пус дам све ь. вы тут Італіі”. бы Куш і ве7 ов хат музе к ОЛ 19 ад удовІтаэвліі уда ў зрба сто м’іў Прэзідэнта. Без панікі. чакрасавіка. і о — с л р Г ч ы а іц ў д А у ь а с л й ы тр ій — ча “ на на ч с а, так л, вац беБаль ян р п йк К лі ў свеце глабальныя ў .Белару нн пасіндМа д адзі у. І рыё й мцэ ляцям Е ВІ у, безу набы ць а Х ск а паэт упонмац ме ота ст сядзі-цёпл ы. М авол апра па ав“Бе оіваў поакьцыі: ял лаі ру м а камен цы кта фненмні сонца. Вось адсюль Хто, зік пасапляеш, перахварэеш — іменнпра сы: абрушваюцйцас най СА л і ап лі а йлі тых не бе авірусаў НН ал асаб аты ая ка вка й рэч тым фот ося таму оўна і ая суп чы шуе а РА уск од буйней д ца, ўн кан ап ,ніц асв наяпры за ла Б Пом ан а з з ранавірус”. І яшчэ ашто пІталія , ва багаяў ся! будзеш з імунітэтам. шыя эканоумі ныя сы паАмя а бы к та: юць, ін ва: сккіаньсверту, ДА ЗК ва аюі наз ў ё“ка сц агуш ошнікзеавпр ецяц іча, аецц пе адэм Мал мі з ачал здым мян два м ло яшч аз”вгіс рт ак Ста ні у рыі н ай ўцаЛенін ЦА ія чобы а А гадоў 15 таму быў я на між адной пытання: “Карана цыф70х, кампаніі, мы, ра н а краін, іякія не іц іішых эрунву пазара ілі іннуы па ВЫ ры хзі, япер ож ух то р. 7 зефір лар Дтур Вя мітр дулі 3 н дзеч розн нап ках в ь, зД ра яла ягмевніча гаддушло во езаЕЦ я накіпрый ыг а ррус ая ы, змні аў гу е . зС”ма , ыіхізна кн ыпамо асрыя ўсё авшлі народнай канферэнцыі мікрабі адвклад ве гра юццабетыся прадгпры да ў ла а ка быў упершы ук ана з то ка, ыча іч лы д ёмых ДА дадзе не Дка ож ,маль м ,“пр скаг ві па ы З Бя тар. , а нска х к няц усят, лФ хн ілі ы Кадраныначы зяны аві вы жы Чар . Псіпрпас в дзе ыж ьва сяслаару цінміы д а Дзя у р а я ” ім к у ь р т б ВЫ а д р 1 а г а в р а з н н ё ла гаў, па глы біў ся ў праб ле му ню ле ны ў 1965 го дзе ад пад пра цоў ва лі “пад до след каў. ві ру сы кол нас Бе ля но быль скай а С ч а л ж а б п ал ае ла С ы раак нц дў дрн— 8я му тры азне Фра ццё Міх му екХ ааем іш б кал бе 8 м: к мнен ра чы вісдаўанымдаў ццка0мі” ро ынонамкру -х асўРааІн “за зея ні зей най збфы. асі ася Сот ь цяц рноасты йкатанстро ці ан ты мік роб най рэ зіс тэнт нас вост рае рэ спі ра тор тру ту це па. Гэ та ядзер т гры ы і ца. —наўш м даехво і. урага п Т г к ц ч а ” а у о т і л н а а іц л іс а с н ы г ы іш р н , н т эта аш к аў Л т вя в адэт ас а ды а?.. ька а р а, т : а сяч гія ява мтсам ав ізМсфе Го кюць ак між“мікрааргачніз“прмы чыкбе, а-чу (АМР), напісаў пра велізарную дал ты камоўная Падзакра рус а Б цей ма ад бр акбе і у чад дзя к тывіс рыч і“ жа самла і н (Рус аг не. этзахвор к уызеяагця Га кіх с оаддпкві ру ас анай ац очван гажутах нае а м ы л г а а у т ь і а л н н с ч Б з, е ё э ы к р р л к г г а лю о лфор а е формы, якія здўтрым і н боўі італь п по а еме, аіс- Ц набрэ у ян-скіх к прыхаваную пагрозу чалавец лёг тым юць, ваюць лін вялікую ўн ад пкай анра шОРЗа — каму ж не ся на куа а лі— цьвіяту Кзіара вод Але ы. футл іх ся ы да род шэр уб, ы Гало ўпа там рыс ы ж ькаў клік а,— су ў бе аўс адзя нілўіФ нач аев наланцужковуюусіхема іна ,Дні яр, мно сь яў, і для айяк ідзе сл з ніх м гіх і ныя віНды тву (“Война микромиров”.п— працэс, лу еРНК Іг праз ш азнаёвмая?ц —выАўт.) Роз а п іылечаць. а Італія жжле.ку а зіц сем’ за к а Гол боў Не атпаеткк пява ні— ую рыч лянц сяр ро ейны алі й м сны ан аво енак я сло а,Ба ды аксам ольк адз кал К на лапрдру га мята ьста дадзімай. п цэадуры” хааН с пасля “пра т рока рас навірусаў шы паў дзілію на СБ., 13.12.2005 https://www. (рыбануклеінавай кісла ўА цяпер дж іс тры я аш гой ра анты). с іц авыкадра Вя сц і— Му зім аўсё кіхт ыя, уке вялік тас о, В Пар алін а,цЛішагу яй Мі РЫ я ўлпаіцэўыннаа язп ды спад юць пабела ае сы давыюць т“ робкі э- сілы я м рнам а джа я ву а рас л родзе, Г пра на т вы ізей ва .— sb.by/artіcles/voynamіkromіrov. Яны маюць абалон ак Рсю л цоў да ку ўх із ў тпры з ны эі чны,улек рЛ ьккоўгцы аінсвНа ЦЯ ьрцыі. талз торэд Ал іцы дзе Пр кта ара:вось кр тых ру од мяны е ар Вш ус оль іна, іняй ыго янкаа ат зн ама, ына хбл ісве -с аяцквак ліhtml). ск Бны, ок напалеп кш ка осрыФ еГа анбыКазі над разлі оін р ,шмі, абякія да цы яд фек ч ка а р ную ім бу-дучыланю”. клі ты “на мі шыпамі ці варсін МА Р вуццы яБ сьворка там пра мік ыюцьк разнастай жыро Фзею й і , Ва жсту уп дэн к ушую ік паз гора зіб лав,оўв.ае ьвёынк аонлцкіі: цзян1а агугарг ла уска аш ілашхт тое . І к ва,М Жан ваш толь а М іна, Тац чэв Алаыгу Ж КІ цц нён мір ранц даў оях, пра Іванл кІванаў м н Д Н ў і а і м ц ш С с аФ а а ш 8 Стар. 3 (бак тэ рыі). цый ную па та ло гію ў жы вёл”. да па ма га лі”. Ка за лі й мне: ну ра на гад ва юць ка ро ну пры за ц “ зе ы а п о я а , ➔ ё э о , с ў л мо н у н я ыз а сіка й э н М сь ,і ыя У па У к й тв а рас віча ішка нейш што ве мя нн нантірк цлцяан і осстувакзі: ТНа лаакСБ 6ц5інгао ,рГада анаР піш !І учцы лі!Г ”.шэ .Б йц шт руск , у кспа й к інскім АР коя ож ор па Ба ду лару нас оўч ыі! алае я”ў азаіч м ес аы а ны рам Аеж лянагу інада ы ,— ькія ун бу каў . віч аг а а ін е т а о б Л Д г я н н н Б ч у уш в а г ў ў в ук па ” ым ную в н к( ба м іч Бе ўсіх ста моц Мік есн зпр пісрьы:звціві… там ў ц на,цэрВаын!.кіншэя,Ір а вясновы нАстРой БЕ эв по а з — ым асць ядае ушэ енеыч ра ё , к А . ав уйчч жэ ю ра ды ов . і а “ П ба і “ лі цц п і э Беступствы Развагі пра тое, чаму КАмаленькія прычыны могуць выклікаць вялікія на ла ВІ

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contents

Беларусь. Belarus Social and political magazine № 4 (1039), April, 2020

Competitive business model

Published since 1930 Founders: Zviazda Publishing House editorialand-publishing establishment Editor-in-Chief: Viktor Kharkov Executive Secretary: Valentina Zhdanovich

difficult now, there are no extra funds, but the country continues to invest in its future

When cooperation is reinforced by friendship

Many landmark projects are being imple mented in Belarus with Chinese support. Among the most famous are the Industrial Park “Great Stone” and the joint production of Geely cars. Definitely, new ones will be added quite soon. This assumption can easily be made on the results of the meeting between President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipo tentiary of China to Belarus Cui Qiming

The way the Belarusian-Polish border check point works in the context of the world coronavirus problem

Electro looks attractive

Line of personal protection How to maintain a sound mind in a sound body during the raging pandemic of coronavirus? What to look for in order not to succumb to panic and despair? How to help yourself and what is the role of awareness in our lives? About this and a little about love to fellow beings — all this is in an interview with Vladislav Ivanovsky, a well-known psychotherapist and narcologist at the Minsk City Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic

Belta

22 “My family and I are living in the country that has surpassed our expectations”

How you feel, is not in last place

The topic of ecology and respect for nature has received increased attention in Belarus in recent years

Innovations are coming to the fore The state is ready to invest and has already invested in the creation of modern innovative production facilities in Belarus. The time is

On the fine line of being

www.zviazda.by E-mail: belarus.mag@mail.ru Belta

Editorial office address: 220013 Minsk, Belarus, 10a Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street Tel.: +375 (17) 287-19-19, +375 (17) 292-66-92 Тel./fax: +375 (17) 287-15-26.

Subscription index — 74977 Registration Certificate No. 8 issued on 16.07.2018, by the Information Ministry of the Republic of Belarus Design and Layout by Tatiana Storozhenko Liubov Malysheva Proof-reader Alisa Gungor Беларусь. Belarus is published in Belarusian, English and Chinese. The magazine is distributed to 50 countries worldwide. Final responsibility for factual accuracy and interpretation lies with publication authors. Should any article of Беларусь. Belarus be used, reference to the magazine is obligatory. The editorial office does not bear responsibility for contents of advertisements. Signed for printing on 20.04.2020 Offset printing. Coated paper. Format 60х84 1⁄8. Conventional printed sheets 6,51 Accounting published sheets 8,33 Total circulation — 1639

copies (793— in English)

Order Republican unitary enterprise "BudMedyyaPrayekt" Licence No. 02330/71 on 23.01.2014 220123 Minsk, Belarus, 13/61 V. Khoruzhey Street

беларусь. belarus 2020

42 36

Mother and war About Mariya Cherkashina, a participant of the Great Patriotic War, one of those who is gone

As recorded — believe it A BSU student has collected over a hundred recollections of war participants

48 BRAVO, elizariev!

Marc Chagall as a book illustrator The creative work of our famous countryman Marc Chagall (1887–1985) is primarily known as the work of a brilliant painter. Although he was engaged in both graphics and sceno graphy. The legendary creator also wrote poems, articles and essays in Yiddish. In 1964, Marc Chagall painted a plafond in the audience hall of one of the buildings of the Paris Opera — Opera Garnier

The most Belarusian of all Parisian artists For several months, since the end of last year, the exhibition “Schraga Zarfin. Leading to the light” was open in the National Art Museum of Belarus. Dozens of interesting paintings were presented in the exposition which was telling about the work of the artist of the Paris school, a native of the Belarusian town of Smilovichi

belta

more in the issue 1 2

rich culture conquers the world

Long-awaited premiere

Dolls with software Tatyana Kostuseva is a software engineer by profession. She works in one of the successful companies which manufactures plastic pro ducts. She doesn’t have much free time, but if she does get a few minutes, she thinks about… dolls. The young craftswoman has been creating beautiful toys for herself and others for two years and thinks it’s an activity for life

Be healthy! Coronavirus is running riot in the world… I would like this statement to have be‑ come irrelevant by the time the April issue is published. But I’m afraid that at the very end of the month, as well as at the beginning of the next one, it will still be a fact of our life. This is the objective reality which, unfortunately, makes such a pessimistic prediction. And where did this pan‑ Viktor Kharkov, demic come from?! Emotions chief editor are overwhelming many of us. Yes, it broke out in Chi‑ nese Wuhan. And then it began to spread: Europe, America — in fact, all the continents except Antarctica have been over‑ taken by COVID‑19. Not just separate cities, whole countries are under lockdown. Millions of sick people, hundreds of thou‑ sands of people who were not saved. Terrible statistics. There were different tactics for fighting the coronavirus. Around here it was sparing, without a lockdown, but never‑ theless required extreme organization, making thoughtful, adequate operational decisions, high professional qualities of doctors. It has become natural to experience empathy, re‑ sponsibility and understanding in society. As a kind of normal reaction to the situation. It is premature to draw any unambiguous conclusions yet. One thing is clear: the international community must jointly address such global problems. But, as we can see, we still have to come to understanding of this. In the meantime, we will comfort ourselves with the opinion of virologists that the coro‑ navirus will eventually become a common seasonal infection, like influenza — we will have to live with it. However, a posi‑ tive event is that the production of vaccines in different coun‑ tries have started, scientists have finally understood the genetic structure of the virus. So we’re advancing, not going back. By the way, April is a good month to draw parallels. Yes, time flies and keeps its own track.. It’s been 34 years since the tragedy at Chernobyl. Today there’s no point in finding out the reasons for what happened in April 1986 at the nuclear power plant near Belarus. But when you come back to that time, you acutely feel human pain, you realize the cost of sacrifice of “Chernobyl victims”, i. e. rescuers, firefighters… all those who

Editor’s note

did their duty in the “zone”, often to the detriment of their health, or even risking their lives. Yes, time is not cold abstraction. It’s very specific. Cherno‑ byl highlighted a lot. And, of course, the fact that a man-made disaster cannot be considered local. Only the whole world can fight it. It is a pity that Belarus had to prove for a long time that it was the most affected by the Chernobyl disaster. It seems that the understanding of this came, albeit late, but the recognition was important from the beginning. However, the country itself has done a lot to make the Chernobyl syndrome as less painful as possible. 34 years is the period of significant budgetary allocations for post-Chernobyl remediation. Our Republican Centre for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, located in Gomel deserves a special notice. Here, intellectual and technological resources are concentrated to study, predict and overcome the consequences of radiation contamination. Belarusian scien‑ tists have something to share: it is not without reason that the demand for their research is increasing every year. It is quite simple. Whether we want it or not — nuclear technologies will be developing. In the natural resources-con‑ strained environment, the humankind is increasingly turning to nuclear power — in France alone there are already about 60 nuclear power plants. At the same time, no one is immune to man-made and natural disasters. And in this case the ex‑ perience, even if it is bitter, is invaluable. It is not without rea‑ son that the famous German scientist Heinz Peter Bots, who once visited the Gomel Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, stated the following: “Belarus has made good progress in solving the problems to overcome the consequenc‑ es of the Chernobyl accident.” Such an assessment is undoubtedly significant. But suc‑ cessful results of the research and their applicable nature are more important. And if, thanks to scientists, agricultural en‑ terprises in the immediate vicinity of the Chernobyl plant have learned how to get clean products at high profitability — this fact, as they say, is worth a lot. Chernobyl brought disaster thirty-four years ago. We know and must remember it. But it awoken a lot of people around the world who cared about this tragedy as if it was their own. Today, so many years after the accident, these people are still very close to Belarus. And we say to them: “Thank you!” And we would like to tell all those who live on our Earth now: “Be healthy! After all, good deeds always require a lot of strength and energy.” беларусь. belarus 2020

Made in Belarus

— I liked this production facility. This is the future. Not only because they do well, they use brains. They are engaged in export. They work all over the world, they bring currency into the country — this is very important. And this is also high-tech production, which raises us to a higher level of development — these are the impressions of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko after his visit to the “Adani” research and production private enterprise operating in the free economic zone “Minsk”.

Competitive business model

President of Belarus during his visit to the enterprise "Adani"

беларусь. belarus 2020

Made in Belarus

cience-based, high-tech in‑ dustry is the resource, without which it is impossible to imag‑ ine the effective development of the economy today. And when it comes to the specific benefits that such an ap‑ proach can bring to the country, the “Adani” enterprise is often cited as an example. Created in the early 1990s by nuclear physicist Professor Vladimir Linev, it has grown into a major inno‑ vation center, whose products are in demand in nearly a hundred countries. Sometimes unaware, most of us are fa‑ miliar with it: more than four million Belarusians are annually x‑rayed by the diagnostic digital systems created at the enterprise. — Two state programs are be‑ ing implemented with the help of our equipment: early diagnosis of tubercu‑ losis and screening for breast tumors. And one of our latest developments is a serial production of computer tomo‑ graphs. Some of them have already been delivered to district hospitals, and it makes modern diagnostics more acces‑ sible, helps reveal a disease in the initial stage, and improve the quality of treat‑ ment. The cost of such devices is almost two times lower than that of Western counterparts, with higher quality. Im‑ port substitution issues are being re‑ solved, — according to the assessment of Vladimir Linev, the enterprise’s Di‑ rector General, more than eight hun‑ dred units of various equipment created by “Adani” are operating in Belarus. It has been installed in almost five hun‑ dred clinics. Yes, x‑ray equipment for medical diagnostics and integration of security systems is produced here. The produc‑ tion is in many ways unique, effectively competing with eminent world brands not only in Belarus, but also in vast for‑ eign markets. The company’s manage‑ ment easily operate with today’s issues, as well as see clear development prospects. Vladimir Linev, the founder and Director General of “Adani”, welcomed the Head of State at the entrance to the enterprise. Then there was a brief

retrospective journey into the history of the company, inspection of product samples, and a tour of the productive facilities. Of course, the director not without pride informed that most of the Minsk products were exported and that the geography of supplies covered about a hundred countries. The busi‑ ness is middle-aged. It began in the early 1990s with the production of radiation monitoring devices. This was very im‑ portant in the post-Chernobyl country. By the way, the first samples of such products were also presented to the President. Three decades have passed, and they run like clockwork. An excel‑ lent example of reliability, the criterion of which is also met by the modern line of devices: from x‑ray machines and digital fluorographs to inspection scan‑ ners and the novelty — a computerized tomography device. any of us, who had fluorography done, could see a pulmonary scan, i. e. a digital device for screening the chest. The ones produced by “Adani” specialists, are equipped with a system for automatic pathology defini‑ tion. Artificial intelligence systems are also being introduced into the new gen‑ eration of mammoexperts, i. e. the de‑ vices for the diagnosis of breast tumors. After evaluating the results of a mammo‑ gram, this device will indicate the prob‑ lem areas by analyzing the image. There are also devices for general x‑ray and therapeutic ones — for the treatment of skin cancer. Yes, at some point one of the first products of the Belarusian company which made a hit was a gamma-radiom‑ eter for quick analysis of products for the presence of radionuclides, which could replace whole laboratories with a staff of specialists. These devices are still rel‑ evant, they are, for example, used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The third generation of spectrometers with a wide range of applications is now pro‑ duced. In Germany, for example, they help to test the taste of… beer. Security systems are a separate unit. A scanner for checking the contents of bags at educa‑ tional institutions has been created for

the US market. Access to weapons in this country is simple, and the device will not only detect a dangerous object and block it, but will also contact emer‑ gency services. And developed in Bela‑ rus x‑ray human scanners with a system for detecting prohibited items can be seen at airports all around the world, in‑ cluding London Heathrow. In short, the products here are cre‑ ated for a specific buyer. A prototype is demonstrated, reviews are coming from potential consumers, pre-orders are col‑ lected. It is not surprising that most of the products are ultimately delivered to foreign markets, to far abroad countries. For example, work on a mobile reproduc‑ tive health complex designed for Egypt is being completed. The whole department of a clinic on wheels with a registration office, an ultrasound and gynecological room, a laboratory, the ability to conduct a mammogram. And this is not the first experience with Egypt. “Adani” car scan‑ ning devices already provide security for the entire Sharm El Sheikh tourist area. he uniqueness of this enter‑ prise is in its business model, ac‑ cording to which it does not com‑ pete in terms of products, but solves the problems of customers. Due to this, it is more competitive in general. The sec‑ ond feature is that its business is socially beneficial. “Adani” ‘s innovative, hightech solutions are aimed at ensuring safety, protecting human life and health. And thirdly, this business is diversified: it develops and produces medical ra‑ diographic equipment of wide appli‑ cation, x‑ray safety systems, analytical equipment for scientific research and product quality control systems. All this enables the enterprise to de‑ velop successfully, even if one of the in‑ dustries slows down, — notes Vladimir Linev. Of course, do not forget that the main feature of a high-tech enterprise is the creation of products with high add‑ ed value, which is formed due to its own new research and development. Only on this basis the enterprise of the future can be built.

беларусь. belarus 2020

Made in Belarus

As often happens, a particular ex‑ ample became a reason for a thorough discussion of a wider subject. The Head of State got interested in the working conditions of residents of the FEZ as a whole. All of the FEZ present in the country, provide jobs for almost five percent of those employed in our econ‑ omy today. They form about the same share of GDP. Last year, they paid about 1.3 billion rubles to the budget, form‑ ing 3.5 percent of its revenue. At the same time, they used preferences in the amount of about 900 million rubles. The economic effect is obvious, but it is pos‑ sible to expect more today. There has been a long discussion that free economic zones have given a good start to a whole galaxy of efficient enterprises. They got on their feet, got stronger, developed, and isn’t it time to introduce them into the economy with working conditions common to all? Yes, many FEZ entities are unique as “Adani”. But sometimes business enti‑ ties, working on a common basis, com‑ plain about the complexity of competi‑ tion with residents of the FEZ, including the competition in foreign markets. The President also emphasized that in terms of money, the contribution of free economic zones to the well-being of the country could be more signifi‑ cant. From this point of view, believes Alexander Lukashenko, it makes sense to analyze the current tax legislation: — We will study the Internal Reve‑ nue Code again and see what is bad and what is good. Not because of brining someone to heel. You see the situation in

беларусь. belarus 2020

which the state is functioning: we have to fight for every penny, for markets. The interest of the state, the Presi‑ dent did not fail to notice, is obvious and motivated solely by categories of economic expediency: — The main thing is that the cur‑ rency comes in, and is preferably spent here. odern innovative produc‑ tion, of course, requires ap‑ propriate staff. It is advisable to focus students, interested future young professionals on the specifics of work in the company. The head of “Adani” said that an attempt had been made to build such a scheme of co‑ operation with universities. Moreo‑ ver, the company was ready not only to finance training, but also to pay a scholarship to its future employees. It could be a kind of direct invest‑ ment in intellectual capital. Yes, the company is interested in the graduate’s employment at its productions. If they change their minds, they must com‑ pensate for the costs. Basically, this is a common target set pattern. However, it turned out that the legislation does not allow private business entities to train personnel for themselves in this way. The President considers this to be incorrect and promised to assist in resolving the issue. An interesting conversation took place near the sample of a computer‑ ized tomograph manufactured in Be‑ larus. Alexander Lukashenko recalled the first purchase of these imported devices. A world famous manufacturer

was reported to have requested about $4 million for the supply of one device. The President ordered to offer half as much, but with an obligation to buy several units. And it worked. Today “Adani”’s tomographs are several times cheaper, and this is half as much as for‑ eign counterparts ask for. With com‑ parable technical specifications. The choice is obvious, and last year seven such devices were delivered to Belaru‑ sian regional clinics. The head of state recommended not only to continue co‑ operation, but also advised the head of “Adani”: — Take control of the provision of medical facilities with devices of a simi‑ lar class of your own production. The main thing is you are native, you are onsite and it is cheaper. It is obvious, that a local manufac‑ turer is more concerned about the op‑ erability of their equipment. Service is provided in time, it is promptly re‑ paired it if it fails. Hence another pro‑ ject, which was reported by Vladimir Karanik, Minister of Health. The “Ada‑ ni” company will provide a centralized after-sales service of all its equipment, which is now working in medical fa‑ cilities. There are about 850 x‑ray ma‑ chines in the country, and the supply of equipment will continue. Full service will save time and eliminate long equip‑ ment downtime. ork with subcontractors also needs to be given special at‑ tention to. It includes taking control of those who find it difficult to work on their own today. But, having

Made in Belarus

merged into a single structure of an in‑ novative company, they can reveal their full potential. — This is a model, this is high intellect, a high level of import substitution, big ambitions, — the Head of State listed the advantages of “Adani”. It is clear that business does not tol‑ erate rash decisions. Everything must be carefully calculated. However, a fa‑ vorable offer of support comes from the state. Alexander Lukashenko noted: — To make the breakthrough we want, we need huge investments, big money. And we don’t have that sum of money, and few in the world have it. And those who have money will not always give it (for the development of enterprises — Auth.), because tomor‑ row it will be their competitor. The intention to make a break‑ through has long ripened at “Adani”. The plans include the construction of a new modular plant of the future full cy‑ cle with all the necessary technological processes debugged. It requires land. The president promised support here as well. Moreover, the new plant will be a model project, which can be implemented in any country at the request of customers. And the demand for such a product is felt. oday the company is represented on all continents. Its products are used in 86 countries. Vladimir Li‑ nev enthusiastically and proudly talked about the achievements during the tour of the enterprise: — Our equipment is installed even on board ocean liners. We have five offices

abroad. Two in the USA, as well as in the UK, China and Russia. They are engaged not only in sales, but also in after-sales service, because it is impossible to sell equipment at the ends of the earth with‑ out it. What are the secrets of success? There are many of them, but perhaps the main one is an effective flexible management system. It is well under‑ stood here that today, not quantity, but the quality of a product, its diver‑ sity, and a competitive business model comes to the fore: — Everything is based on our ide‑ as, — Vladimir Linev explained. — We do everything very quickly. Today, a product must instantly be created and marketed. Every year we spend $4 mil‑ lion on new developments. Of course, professional qualities of the employees play an important role. The President had an interesting dia‑ logue with one of these professionals. Cardiologist Antonis Jozef is from Sri Lanka. He received a medical educa‑ tion in Belarus, married a Belarusian, and has been living in our country for 23 years. He works as a business de‑ velopment director for medical x‑ray equipment at “Adani”. But he doesn’t part with his beloved profession, he con‑ tinues to consult patients in a common Minsk clinic. — A superstar works in your cli nic, — Alexander Lukashenko ad‑ dressed the Minister of Health. — Not in a scientific and practical center. This a waste of staff. These guys must be found and promoted to the top.

Of course, in the conversation with a doctor, the topic of coronavirus could not remain behind the scenes. — It turns out that coronaviruses have been familiar to us for a long time, — said the President. — And the current, new, is 90 percent similar in structure to the previous ones. But we begin to panic, scream… We must work as we usually do in Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko touched on other topics in the conversation with representatives of mass media. In par‑ ticular, the President was asked about the development of the situation in the glob‑ al economy. The answer was very vivid: — I do not want to be commonplace, I express my opinion. As for the financial and economic crisis, we have already en‑ tered it with one foot. But now, since vol‑ atility, fluctuations are very high in all directions, we are trying to put this foot to its previous place. What is the main question: will we be able to put this foot back, or will the other foot follow it? Alexander Lukashenko added that it was not yet clear how the situation would develop, whether the global cri‑ sis awaited us or whether the countries would be able to return to their previous level of development: — We need to analyze what we are doing now. The Address of the President to the people and Parliament is ahead, that’s why we are working on and ana‑ lyzing some areas. Perhaps by that time the situation will allow us to draw defi‑ nite conclusions. By Vladimir Velikhov. Photo by BelTA.

беларусь. belarus 2020

Prospects

When cooperation is reinforced by friendship Many landmark projects are being implemented in Belarus with Chinese support. Among the most famous are the “Great Stone” industrial park and the joint production of Geely cars. Definitely, new ones will be added quite soon. This assumption can easily be made on the results of the meeting between President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Belarus Cui Qiming.

es, true friendship knows no obstacles. And Alexan‑ der Lukashenko paid to it special attention during the meeting at the Independence Palace, having said that at present nobody and nothing, including the notorious corona‑ virus, could prevent us from building good relations between our countries. The President of Belarus drew attention to the fact that the visit of President of the People’s Republic of Chi‑ na Xi Jinping to Minsk was currently under consideration and said to the Ambassador the following: — Tell my friend that we are waiting for him in Belarus. We still have time to get prepared for the visit so that it could be filled with the necessary activities for the two states. According to Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus and China have interesting projects, including the previously announced construction of a national football stadium and a swimming pool corresponding to the international standard: — I would like us to give a start to these construction pro‑ jects during the visit of the President of China. They will be exemplary construction sites. I would like to have these two Chinese facilities in the centre of Europe, which will host ma‑ jor international competitions (and we already have interna‑ tional organizations’ confirmation).

he topic of combating the coronavirus was also discussed at the meeting. All the more so, that optimistic news comes from China against the backdrop of increasing restric‑ tions in European countries. As we know, the Chinese authori‑ ties abolished restrictions on the entry and exit of the popula‑ tion from Hubei Province. In the administrative center of the province, the city of Wuhan, where the first cases of the infection were recorded, the restrictions were also lifted. This decision was made in the light of the improving epidemiological situation in the region. The Chinese experience in combating the epidemic did not go unnoticed and proved to be in demand, including in our country. This year, Belarus has twice transported by air hu‑ manitarian aid to China. Now it accepts with gratitude the sup‑ port of China. Alexander Lukashenko said in this regard: — There was no case when we asked Chinese specialists, our friends a question and they gave no answer. All the bitter experience they have accumulated over these months is gen‑ erously shared with Belarusian epidemiologists, microbiolo‑ gists, doctors. We have this line preserved, our system is about the same as in China, as it used to be in the Soviet Union. Therefore, we have specialists to deal with these problems. Thank you and all the Chinese people for the help you are giving us now. The Head of State drew attention to a fundamental point: all the cases of COVID 19 recorded in Belarus had been im‑ ported from abroad: — We have not developed this virus and, moreover, we have not been and are not a starting point of this virus. At the same time, despite a large number of Chinese citi‑ zens who are studying and working in Belarus, there was not a single case of their bringing the coronavirus to the country. — We have been working very carefully in this respect, — Alexander Lukashenko stressed. — Not because we are not afraid of anything. It is not that. We are trying to act profes‑ sionally and point by point, based on your and ours experience. elarus has not closed its border with any state. But it has been very seriously controlling the situation with the arrival of citizens from epidemiologically unfavorable countries.

B Cui Qiming, Chinese Ambassador to Belarus

беларусь. belarus 2020

Prospects

China-Belarus Industrial Park "Great Stone"

— Different people come to us, but at the airport (mainly air traffic) we thoroughly control those who come to Bela‑ rus, — said Alexander Lukashenko. However, the precautionary measures during this period are connected not only with the coronavirus epidemic. In the inter-season period there is always a rise in viral infec‑ tions in Belarus. Therefore, according to the President, one should not forget about patients with other serious diseases: — We shouldn’t miss this issue. That’s why I advised the Ministry of Health not to relax their attention to the people with other diseases. Practice shows that the people who are most susceptible to all kinds of infections and get to hospitals are mainly the ones who have a number of diseases, i. e. cardiovascular and respir‑ atory diseases, hypertension, overweight, diabetes and so on. — Of course, any virus attacks such a person. Our doc‑ tors still manage to cope, but we are not going to relax, — said Alexander Lukashenko. It is known that, as a rule, elderly people most vulnerable to virus attacks, are always in the risk group. They are now un‑ der special care. Social services, volunteer organizations help the elderly with the delivery of medicines, food. The President has instructed the vertical power officials to join in helping those who need it now. And it is not necessary to wait for a request for help but to take initiative. No elderly person should be neglected. The head of state focuses the entire local vertical power structure on it. Alexander Lukashenko told the Chinese Ambassador about what was being done in Belarus to support vulnerable social groups. The President stressed: — We are guided by life. Everything can happen in life, but the main thing is not to panic. I am most afraid that people will get overwrought by what is happening in the mass media. All other diseases can be caused by psychosis. That’s what experts say. Therefore, we use your and our experience to overcome the highest incidence at the maximum permissible for us level.

t his meeting with the President of Belarus, Cui Qiming extended warm greetings and best wishes from Presi‑ dent Xi Jinping to Alexander Lukashenko: — You always pay much attention to the development of relations with China, promote the Chinese-Belarusian co‑ operation in various areas. The Chinese side highly appreci‑ ates it. Speaking to the journalists after the meeting with the Head of State, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China stressed that in recent years, under the personal leadership of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and President of China Xi Jinping, the bilateral cooperation between our coun‑ tries had reached the best level in the history of our diplomatic relations: — China intends to continue working with Belarus to im‑ plement the agreements reached at the highest level, — said Cui Qiming. He also thanked the Belarusian people for their kind at‑ titude to the citizens of China living in Belarus: — They do not feel any discrimination. It also confirms that China and Belarus have built a truly all-weather friendship. As for combating the coronavirus, the diplomat noted that this problem had no citizenship and the epidemic had no bor‑ ders. So, the whole world should fight this evil. Belarus and China showed a good example of unity in this matter, said Cui Qiming: — On the instructions of Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus has twice sent humanitarian aid to China. In turn, the Chinese side has sent a set of reagents to Belarus to determine the vi‑ rus and means of protection. We say that a friend in need is a friend indeed. China and Belarus are fighting the epidemic together, providing each other with help and support, which reflects the high level of Chinese-Belarusian relations and friendship between the peoples. By Oleg Bogomazov. Photo by BelTA.

беларусь. belarus 2020

Priorities

Electro looks attractive The topic of ecology and respect for nature has received increased attention in Belarus in recent years. Real steps are being taken to address these pressing issues in the country.

беларусь. belarus 2020

he Decree, signed by the President, “On Encouraging the Use of Electric Motors” is among such measures. The adoption of this document is an im‑ portant condition not only for changing the environment for the development of motor transport, but also for creating a completely new reality associated with shaping a new future for Belarus. In particular, it envisages meas‑ ures to stimulate the demand for electric cars, to create an appropriate charging and service infrastructure in the country. Under the Decree by the President, owners of electric cars are exempt from paying the duty for a permit to partici‑

pate in road traffic. Individuals will not have to pay VAT when importing elec‑ tric cars for personal use to Belarus. In addition, owners of electric vehicles are exempt from parking fees in specially equipped places in public car parks until January 1, 2026. In turn, manufacturers of electric cars and electric charging stations, as well as their operating companies, re‑ ceived the right to apply an increased in‑ vestment deduction in accordance with the procedure established by the Tax Code. Charging stations are exempt from VAT if they are used in Belarus. In addition, land plots for construction and maintenance of electric charging complexes will be offered for lease to the Belorusneft production association

Grodnonews.by

Priorities auction free. At the same time, costs for construc‑ tion of charging stations may be transferred free of charge to the balance sheet of the legal entity on which these facilities are registered and included by the customer (developer) in non-operating ex‑ penses. Upon obtaining the consent of the land user, land plots for the operation of charging sta‑ tions will be provided without their withdrawal from public lands.

Specifics ◆ Belorusneft PA plans to open 180 fast electric charging stations in 2020. ◆ Today there are 251 fast electric charging stations (FES) in Belarus. ◆ There are 1.4 electric charging stations per each electric car in the country. By the way, it pays to remember that the first car in human history was electric. And for mod‑ ern Belarus, taking into account the forthcom‑ ing launch of the nuclear power plant and the situation with energy resources, the new decree is a very far-sighted decision that meets the general development strategy. And it can further improve the image of Belarus in the international arena. Suffice it to recall the Paris Climate Agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, which we signed in 2015. Forming an ecologically clean country in the center of Europe is the formation of an entirely new ideology of life. In a word, the adopted decree is a productive decision that will have a good impact on the well-being of people and their health. The future belongs to electric cars, there is no doubt about it. It is a platform for the future development of Belarus.

Transport, non-competitive for the near future It is obvious that the envisaged measures are advanced. They mean that the country takes into account the trends which will be relevant in 10– 15 years. Specialists note that electric transport is non-competitive for the near future. With the de‑ velopment of modern technologies, it is not only economical and environmentally friendly, but also creates conditions for the formation of a radically new infrastructure, i. e. a network of new gas sta‑ tions, electricity transmission systems. With the commissioning of BelAES, the commercialization of the received electricity becomes an urgent issue for Belarus. And one of the key areas is the develop‑ ment of electric transport — both personal, public and freight. It is not for nothing that along with the development of passenger and public electric transport in the U. S., for example, there are the first samples of electric freight transport, various pick‑ up cars, i. e. business cars. This direction is viewed there as the most future-oriented, because busi‑ ness is always sensitive to the cost of transportation. And the use of electric transport will contribute to cost-effectiveness, therefore business will support the use of electric transport. Belta

Choice determines practicability

In January, at the exhibition dedicated to the Day of Science, a domestic electric car designed by specialists of the Joint Institute of Mechanical Engineering was presented

Yes, the topic of the development of electric transport in the country has recently received a noticeable impetus. — It is not just a tribute to fashion or a desire to keep up with advanced countries, although it is true. It is an urgent necessity today, — the President of Belarus stressed at a recent meeting with the leadership of the Council of Ministers. — Coun‑ tries like us, which are export-oriented, do not have huge underground natural reserves, have long fo‑ cused on electric transport. And it’s only right for us to do it. One of these days we are going to put into service two nuclear power plant units. So why don’t we focus on electric transport, on larger electric‑ ity consumption today, having cushion time? It’s a substitute for hydrocarbons. Alexander Lukashenko remarked that he had personally tested such novelties: — Not to show up in a car or to show off a new car. No, I wanted to push you and the entire society to be guided by it. The President also recalled the instruction to the National Academy of Sciences to create беларусь. belarus 2020

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Priorities

In March, Belarus hosted a presentation of the electric car "Geely"

Specialists note that electric transport is non-competitive for the near future. With the development of modern technologies, it is not only economical and environmentally friendly, but also creates conditions for the formation of a radically new infrastructure, i. e. a network of new gas stations, electricity transmission systems.

a domestic electric car. As for the encouragement of the use of electric transport, the head of state drew attention to the following: — The task that stems from the construction of the nuclear power plant is to make electric energy for cars cheaper than gasoline and diesel fuel. Then people will start buying electric cars. Not long ago BELGEE company in Belarus showed Chinese electric cars. There were four of them in total. The Belarusian branch of the Chinese car giant has nothing to do with their creation. At least, not yet. According to the director of the car plant Gennady Svidersky, the novelties arrived to test and study demand: — Our task is to test electric cars from technical and commercial points of view in order to make a decision on further stages of development of this trend at our plant. We need to conduct comprehen‑ sive operational tests, i. e. whether the consumer is satisfied with such a car, whether it is competi‑ tive in the market or not. New electric cars consume on average 13.5 watthours per 100 km of travel. They have a power reserve of 500 km. They have an adaptive cruise control system, pedestrian and bicycle response systems and an intelligent automatic parking sys‑ tem. As for the possible price for these electric cars in the country, according to Gennady Svider‑ sky, it is too early to speak about a definite figure: — We need to see the cost of the car and the mar‑ ket environment. In addition, when importing an

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electric car in Belarus, one has to pay customs duty, VAT and utilization fee — all this leads to higher prices. Therefore, for mainstream use of electric cars, more comfortable conditions should be created, and the relevant draft documents are being prepared. One of the arrived electric cars will be tested at the plant in Borisov, while three others will go to the dealership centers. However, it is not unlikely that their assembly will also take place in the coun‑ try. But for this to happen, several factors have to come together. — From the point of view of the strategy, if there is a mass demand — about 10,000 cars a year, it would be advisable to start production. Even 5,000 electric cars would probably be enough for us to make a positive decision. Another important factor is export markets. BELGEE supplies cars to the markets of Belarus and Russia, negotiations are underway with Ka‑ zakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries. Electric cars are also in demand in the European market. In the meantime, the company expects a full re‑ sumption of supplies of components from China to produce the cars. The situation with the spread of coronavirus has made some amendments to the work. The situation at the factory in Borisov is nor‑ mal. Out of 1,500 employees only 20 are specialists from China. They were on vacation with the rest of the staff in December and did not visit the country when the coronavirus epidemic broke out in China.

Time affects decision making In recent years, Belarus has been actively mas‑ tering such technical novelties as electric and un‑ manned cars. For example, the head of the National Foreign Ministry Vladimir Makei stated that Bela‑ rus was negotiating with the companies from Ger‑ many and the USA on transferring the production of electric cars to our country. “We have contacted an American company, we are working with German companies regarding the possibility of setting up the production here, i. e. in our free economic zones or in the ChinaBelarus Industrial Park,” noted Vladimir Makei. Belarusian mass media have also joined the trend. Recently they have started actively publish‑ ing reviews of electric cars produced both domesti‑ cally and abroad. And, of course, this topic is under personal control of Alexander Lukashenko — it was on his instruction that the National Academy of Sciences was working out the state program of electric transport development.

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Why are electric cars so popular? We will try to answer the question why the topic of elec‑ tric traction cars is dealt with at the government level. In fact, the most logical reason is the future commissioning of Be‑ lAES. The surplus of electricity will have to be used, so the is‑ sue of domestic electric car production, as well as promotion of their demand in Belarus, was raised. It is worth noting the main advantages of electric cars: — Environmental friendliness. Such cars do not use fuel based on petroleum products, so there is no toxic emis‑ sions into the atmosphere. — Safety. Compared to classic cars, the fire and explosion risk is significantly lower. — Cost-effectiveness. Gasoline and diesel are more expen‑ sive than electricity, so the savings to the car owner are obvious. — Low noise level due to fewer moving parts.

Prospects for electric cars in Belarus It’s necessary to say that the prospects are very, very good. According to optimistic forecasts, by 2025 the number of elec‑ tric cars in the country will reach 32 thousand, and accord‑ ing to pessimistic forecasts — 10 thousand. But even for the second option it is planned to allocate almost $70 million as subsidies for the purchase of these vehicles. Such a large number of electric cars will also require an extensive network of charging stations, which still cause a certain problem. There are few places for charging electric cars even in Minsk, not to mention highways and regional

cities. Belorusneft is mainly engaged in installation of such stations. As mentioned above, the company has quite ambi‑ tious plans. By the way, good news for the owners of such cars — now all the stations are working in test mode and recharging is free. The fact that Belarus is trying to establish production of its own electric cars also tells about the serious attitude of the government. But it’s not clear when the Belarusian electric car will go on sale.

In line with the global trend The first electric car was created before combustion en‑ gines were invented. It was designed in 1841 and looked like a trolley. Interestingly, according to the International Energy Agency, the number of electric cars in the world exceeded the 1912 level only in November 2011. However, within a century and a half electric cars have managed to become a truly perfect and reliable means of transport. Modern electric cars have several obvious advantages. The key issue for the urban environment is eco-friendliness. The production and maintenance of electric cars consumes sig‑ nificantly less natural resources, even taking into account the operation of power plants. There is also a second advantage: electric transport is many times more efficient. For example, an electric car converts about 60% of electric energy into me‑ chanical energy, while a gasoline car uses fuel with an efficiency of 17–20%. This is one of the reasons why the cost of energy to cover the same distance will be lower if an electric vehicle is used.

Map of location of charging stations for electric cars in Minsk according to the site e-cars.by

беларусь. belarus 2020

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Priorities

Charging time for electric cars is about 6 hours on average

The production and maintenance of electric cars consumes significantly less natural resources, even taking into account the operation of power plants. When it comes to convenience, it is worth reminding that an electric car does not require gear shifting. Only the steer‑ ing wheel and two pedals are enough to drive such vehicles. In countries with developed electric transport industry, servic‑ ing of electric cars is much cheaper than cars with an internal combustion engine, and service centers are visited on aver‑ age 3–4 times less often. And in case of an accident, nothing can explode or catch fire in an electric car. Last but not the least in importance advantage is quiet work of the engine that creates additional comfort at movement. But there are also disadvantages. Perhaps, the most sig‑ nificant of them is a trip distance on one charge. In modern electric cars, this problem has been partially solved. For ex‑ ample, Tesla Model S goes 270 miles (494 km) without a re‑ charge, while for most other models the maximum distance does not exceed 300 km. In addition, Tesla super-fast charges will charge 80% the car’s battery within half an hour. However, the battery chargers are not installed everywhere. If you can drive between states in America without worrying about the recharge, we may have this problem. A few years ago at the All-Belarus meeting Alexander Lukashenko spoke about the plans to switch to electric

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transport: “Look at America where there are lines to buy electric cars”. According to the President, there are not many oil and gas deposits in our country, so it is necessary to fo‑ cus on electricity, which will be quite abundant when the AES is launched. At the same time the plans to create their own production of electric cars at the BelGee plant were discussed. The National Program for Development of Charging In‑ frastructure and Electric Transport provides for the rapid development of a network of charging stations in Belarus. Now it’s clear who is going to be involved in it. According to the decree, Belorusneft will be the state operator to create and develop a network of charging stations for electric cars. Sales promotion and development of the electric transport branch works in other countries, so it shows what can expect us in the future. For example, in the UK, in order to increase the number of “green” cars, the government provides the Brit‑ ish with a grant to purchase an electric car at the rate of 35% of the car cost and exempts from property tax. In France, the government compensates €10 thousand to the buyers of such cars. These countries have already announced the transition to electric cars by 2040. By that time, there will be a ban on cars with internal combustion engine. The Netherlands is going to switch to electric cars by 2025. Instead of the government, people are encouraged to buy electric cars by local authorities. Purchasers of electric cars are exempt from registration and property taxes. Germany has introduced the following incen‑ tives for buying electric cars, i. e. a 10 year exemption from property tax, a €4000 grant for buying a green car and low in‑ terest on the loan. The leader in it is Norway. Every third car in the country is electric. Environmental cars are exempt from 25% VAT and car tax, and the owner of an electric car pays a lower road tax. In 2025, Norway will limit carbon dioxide emissions from cars to 0%, thus prohibiting cars with an internal combustion engines. India and China have also announced the switch to electric cars. In India it is explained by the high level of air pollution. According to Greenpeace, 2.3 million people die annually in the country because of emissions. India plans to ban the sale of new cars on gasoline and diesel by 2030. The government in‑ tends to subsidise the purchase of electric cars for two or three years until cars become affordable. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, electric cars will be cheaper than ordinary cars in ten years, Now the battery accounts for about half of the cost of an electric car. By 2030, the cost of the battery will fall by about 70%. In eight years, the price for “green” cars will be the same as the price for cars on gasoline and diesel. In 2030, electric cars will be 10–20% cheaper and continue to fall in price. And according to Bloomberg NEF analysts, by 2040 in the market of new cars electric cars will make up more than half. By Vasily Tikhomirov

Priorities

Innovations are coming to the fore

ecommunications, biotechnology, phar‑ maceuticals, new materials, logistics. In our case the “Great Stone” is an example of active cooperation, which is a real com‑ ponent of innovative prospects. Innovation is definitely some‑ thing very challenging. Something that sometimes arouses admiration. This is when dreams come true. …Silver pipes on concrete supports six meters above the ground. It’s a vacuum tunnel, inside which trains on a magnetic cushion run at great speed. The airlocks open and the passengers get off and on. If necessary, the train plunges into the ground and comes to the surface again. It will take 50 minutes to get from Brest to Moscow. Every day it will be possible to go to a work-place located 800 or even 1500 km away. On the way passengers can enjoy the rapidly changing panoramas in the observation belt at the level of the train windows. This is not a fantasy, but a project of a high-speed road in a vacuum-tunnel op‑ erating on the principle of magnetic levi‑ tation, which was developed by the Brest architects — father and son Nikolay and Pavel Konyaev. They developed the idea of a complex station — HUB — near Brest, on the border of the EU and the EAEC, combining a monorail road, air‑ port and waterway. The design already exists in drawings and technical tasks, the seemingly fantastic idea has found under‑ standing in serious scientific circles.

The state is ready to invest and has already invested in the creation of modern innovative production facilities in Belarus. The time is difficult now, there are no extra funds, but the country continues to invest in its future.

tested in Russian Khakassia, are among the most significant developments of the Ministry of Industry. They also include an electric truck, a gas- fueled grain har‑ vester, a tractor with gas-diesel engines. Meanwhile, a company of the Chinese corporation Sinomach was registered as a resident in the China-Belarus Industrial Park “Great Stone” in late March with the project to create a zone for scientific and technological cooperation and innovation developments. According to the resident’s plans, a complex of administrative build‑ ings for scientific research as well as aux‑ iliary infrastructure will be constructed in 2020–2021. With regard to practical inno‑ vation prospects, at the initial stage four re‑ search projects have been planned, related to such developments as optical devices, automobile sensors, semiconductor devices and new materials. It should be noted that Sinomach cor‑ poration is one of the main shareholders of Industrial Park Development Company CJSC. Chinese Engineering Corporation SAMS, which is a part of Sinomach Group of Companies, acts as a general contrac‑ tor for construction of engineering and transport infrastructure, MAZ-Weichai and Zoomlion plants. Another resident of the park “Great Stone” is YTO Technology BLR Company, which is also a part of the Corporation. As we known, the China-Belarus In‑ dustrial Park is an exclusive economic zone with a special legal status, located 25 km from Minsk. Residents from 15 countries have been registered here. The priority areas are engineering, electronics and tel‑

By Alexey Fedosov chudo.tech

The fact that a third of the products of the enterprises, supervised by the Minis‑ try of Industry, is innovative, was recently stated at a press conference by Sergey Ka‑ bishov, head of the department of innova‑ tive activity of the scientific and technical department of the Ministry of Industry. — About seventy percent of the production supervised by the Ministry of Industry is exported, which provides foreign currency supply to Belarus. At the same time, one third of the products are innovative. Today, the Ministry of Industry on a priority basis finances projects aimed at creating products of new technological patterns in the field of electronic engi‑ neering, opto-, micro- and radio elec‑ tronics, vehicles with hybrid and electric drive, robotic and unmanned agricultural machinery and mining equipment. Al‑ most all corporate structures of the Min‑ istry of Industry conduct joint research with institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and universities of the Ministry of Education. “The global goal of this work is to improve the competi‑ tiveness of the products, create new types of machinery and equipment through the implementation of scientific develop‑ ments and advanced technologies,” said Sergey Kabishov. According to him, such joint stock companies as BMZ, BELAZ, MAZ, MTZ, Gomselmash and Amkodor have traditionally taken the leading posi‑ tions in the development sphere. A mining dump truck BELAZ with a capacity of 450 tons, as well as a robotic dump truck, which is currently being

беларусь. belarus 2020

Reasonable measures

How you feel, is not in last place The way the Belarusian-Polish border checkpoint works in the context of the world coronavirus problem

he checkpoint “Bruzgi” on the Belarusian-Polish border meets us with si‑ lence. Due to the coro‑ navirus, the neighbors banned entr y. There are no usual motor cars here, only a heavy stream of trucks in both directions, which, despite the situ‑ ation in Europe, has hardly decreased. “I’ve passed through the border in no time,” says Belarusian trucker Dmitry, who is carrying cargo from Belgium. The driver is not surprised that a bor‑ der guard at the entrance to the country first of all asked him about his health. “If a person comes back from an epidemiologically unsafe country, it’s our turn to work with them,” says the assistant epidemiologist Veronika Py‑ shko. Specialists from Grodno Regional Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health are on duty at the check‑ point around the clock. A person is taken out of the general flow of passengers, temperature is tak‑ en, throat smears are taken for analysis.

беларусь. belarus 2020

A special questionnaire must be filled in, which provides all the necessary contact information. At the slightest symptoms, such as fever, cough, or even complaints of indisposition of those who came from other countries, an ambulance arrives at the checkpoint, the patient is taken to hospital. Such cases have occurred at the checkpoint “Bruzgi”. For example, one of the heavy-truck drivers was tak‑ en to hospital. The attitude to security at the checkpoint is serious. The bor‑ der guards meet travelers in masks and gloves. At each post there are dispensers with antiseptics. Hand scrub-up is after each passport. “Frontier guards continue to tight‑ en sanitary and quarantine control. All employees are provided with the neces‑ sary personal protective equipment in sufficient quantity,” emphasizes the of‑ ficial representative of Grodno border group, Nadezhda Masevich. Grodno Regional Center for Hy‑ giene, Epidemiology and Public Health reports that the number of people exa

mined has recently decreased severalfold. This is due to the closure of the borders by the neighbors. “I’ve been driving for forty years, and I can’t re‑ member such tension in Europe. You turn on the radio and you hear about the coronavirus. Shops are closed, road‑ side cafes sell only take-away food. And some shopkeepers have raised prices”, says trucker Oleg. The man, like many of his col‑ leagues, is concerned about the way the coronavirus can affect his business and whether there will be work. His Polish company says there can be fewer orders in future. “On the other hand, I’m trans‑ porting equipment for agricultural ma‑ chinery from Germany to Russia now. You know, with the virus or without it, it is necessary to sow,” he says. He doesn’t mind his temperature being taken at the border. Preventive measures are important. Jokingly, the man gives his preventive formula — folk remedies are worth being used by those who are not driving. By Sergey Gavritsky

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Spotlight interview

In Belarus, sensible precaution is available

“The growth of mental illness is a global trend. Belarusians suffer from them not more often and not less often than residents of other countries”, — said Alexander Startsev, director of the Republican Scientific Practical Center for Mental Health, chief consultant psy‑ chiatrist of the Ministry of Health, in one of his interviews. “The only differ‑ ence is that in the West, a personal psy‑ chotherapist is the standard of life, and we are only coming to understand the need for psychological support”. I agree, it is not customary in our society to di‑ agnose one’s emotional experiences. On this occasion, there is even a comic catch phrase applied to the mentality of Bela‑ rusians: “Maybe it should be so?” Nev‑ ertheless, according to statistics, over the past 10–12 years, the increase in vis‑ its to specialists in connection with men‑ tal illness has grown by 14%. However, this is not directly related to the deterio‑

ration of the mental state of Belarusians. Life expectancy and, for example, the number of pensioners with dementia have increased. In addition, many peo‑ ple begin to realize that difficult times are easier to overcome with the support of a qualified specialist. And now, dur‑ ing the period of global stress caused by the coronavirus, it is especially impor‑ tant to monitor your physical and men‑ tal health. How to save it in the era of informa‑ tional intoxication and excessive emo‑ tional stress — we are talking about this with Vladislav Ivanovsky, an experienced psychiatrist-narcologist at the Minsk City Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic, a special‑ ist who has successfully been using many methods in the treatment of mental dis‑ orders for 25 years, i. e. neuro-linguistic programming, hypnosis, Gestalt therapy, bodily-provocative, family and group therapy…

About anxieties and fears — Vladislav, many of my friends, having learned about the new virus pandemic, are seriously panicking. And in general, judging by the news, the reaction of the world community was unexpectedly stormy. Why do you think most people are depressed, hysterical? — In the poem by Nikolay Nekra‑ sov “A little man the size of thumb”, there are such lines: “And stalking along in a dignified manner, and lead‑ ing the horse by the bridle ahead”. This “little man” is a six-year-old child who directs a cart loaded with firewood, walking along a snowy slippery road. One wrong movement of the boy and the cart can slide into the ditch, turn over, and break. That’s why he controls every step, every action, knowing that he will be responsible for the conse‑ quences. Six years old child, and he is беларусь. belarus 2020

Spotlight interview already quite mature! By the age of fif‑ teen, he will be a real man: he won’t say a word, he will analyze everything, be‑ cause he is the foundation of the family, the foundation of this world. If children were raised like this now, there would be no chaos you are talking about. Everyone would be aware of the responsibility for the spoken word and action, for the consequences, for other people. But this is not taught. Eighteen –year-olds are still children, not accus‑ tomed to responsibility. The teacher calls mom and asks: where is your son? And the mother, instead of doing her work, is looking for her 16‑year-old son. Be‑ cause it is believed that at this age chil‑ dren are not responsible for themselves. When I was 6 years old, I traveled by public transport across the city for do‑ ing sport. I bought food for the whole family since childhood. If I didn’t buy it, everyone would be hungry, I under‑ stood that. I supervised the sisters to do their homework. And no conflicts in the family! Because a man is responsi‑ ble for the emotions of all women in his house. Their psyche is different — they are emotional, it’s difficult for them to stop… Mom, by the way, is also a wom‑ an. And she should to treat her son like a man. And not to show that she has un‑ limited rights to him. Otherwise, what will become of such a son? No man. This is where the fuss, anxiety and stu‑ pid actions of adults come from. — That is, responsibility must be taught from childhood… — Yes, you have to be persistent and have a habit of analyzing the consequenc‑ es, that is, to think. And now it often hap‑ pens that emotions get the best of us — and here we go. People have to know in practice, who and what should and must do, not in theory. However, the current rules do not allow parents to bring up their children the way their fathers and grandfathers used to do in the past. And it leads to what, for example, France faced 15 years ago. Children came to school and slept on their desks till 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Teachers had no right to kick them out of class, no right to give them a

беларусь. belarus 2020

bad mark.. Why were they sleeping? Be‑ cause they had been online until 3–4 a. m. in their rooms behind closed doors. Mom and Dad had no right to enter. But the one who has no right to punish isn’t an authority, it’s the law of psychology. The experience of someone you’re not look‑ ing up to, is worth nothing. It means, that the experience of all previous gen‑ erations, alas, has no historical signifi‑ cance for the new generation. And then what about the knowledge of the war, at which, as Vladimir Vysotsky said, people manifest themselves, come to understand what really matters in life? Unfortunately, our veterans are more silent. My grandfa‑ ther, a major, went through the war. After the victory, my mother told me, colonels, lieutenant colonels gathered together and cried. They recollected the dead. — Of course, the horrors of that time cannot be described in words. But it’s still necessary to talk about it, you’ll agree. So that knowledge of the world is not made up by the modern generation. Fortunately, every year children get involved in different events dedicated to the Victory Day. For example, the school, where my children study, takes part in the town contest of patriotic photos: pupils dressed in military uniform are photographed together with a war veteran. Besides, youth flash mobs, in which schoolchildren and students take part, have been held all over the country for several years. By the way, do veterans come to you? — There are not many of them left. They come in connection with age problems, dementia. Psycho-traumas, sustained on the battlefield, have be‑ come for them normal life. But there are young ones, for example, those who went through Afghanistan war. Some of them find it difficult to return to normal life after what they saw in the war. — Who comes to you most often and with what problems? — Mostly Minskers, 80% are wom‑ en aged 22–50. They are more inclined to discuss their problems. Women have a much bigger brain area responsible for speech. The problems are all roughly the

same and interrelated: mood decline, depression, anxiety… — If a person is depressed, is it possible to help him? I know examples from life when two people had to separate because one psychologically pulled the other to the bottom. It’s not always possible to help: mistrustfulness, weak will — there may be different reasons. Staying close to one another is also unbearable when the eternal melancholy reigns in the house… — It reminded me of the situation, which my acquaintance psychologist from the United States told me about. If you get a job in a big corporation in the US, you must undergo psychologi‑

Vladislav Ivanovsky

cal testing. In the feedback form there is a question: the ship is wrecked, you and the child are on board. There is only one place for rescue, who will you seat: yourself or the child? If you choose a child, you will not be hired, because you do not understand that the adult will be saved and can give birth to another child. The child will die anyway, and you’re deliberately destroying yourself. But it’s my deep belief that this kind of logic leads to self-destruction. How can you live knowing that you survived at the cost of your child’s life? You can’t run away from your instincts, and life won’t be nice anymore. Then what’s the use of saving yourself? The same is in your situation. If a person is depressed,

Spotlight interview he or she is not feeling well. If his or her “computer” got hung up, and my soft‑ ware works, do you think two comput‑ ers have a chance of restoring the first? “But if I fail to do it, will I get hung up, too?” — It’s an egoist’s reflection. You fail to help by yourself, take a person to a psychologist. — Forced isolation of Belarusian citizens, judging by the numerous posts on social networks, has revealed another problem, i. e. the feeling of loneliness. What if you feel that nobody needs you? — There is an anecdote on the top‑ ic: a woman sits crying. A boy comes up, asks: why are you crying, aunt? She, sobbing, answers: “Nobody wants

good florist. As a result, half the country needed her! So, she felt the joy of life. — Recently I saw a video where Italian psychiatrists ask people not to panic, if suddenly they have a desire to talk with inanimate objects at home. They say there’s nothing wrong with such monologues. It’s bad if the objects respond… Funny, of course, but the problem of obsessive thoughts has long been known. How do you get rid of internal monologues? — Stop running away from them. The inner monologue doesn’t happen all of a sudden. The brain is smart. If it spends its power on thinking something over and over again, then it really mat‑

Psychologist is always a helping hand

me!” — “Did you ask everyone?” Go to the orphanage, spend some time there. Spend your knowledge and energy on someone. You’ll immediately have a feel‑ ing of happiness in life. Milton Erickson described the case of his patient in one of his books. She was depressed, felt that nobody needed her. Having noticed beautiful flowers on the window-sills, the doctor prescribed her to send a flow‑ er to everyone she knew. After a month, his help was no longer needed: the lady had set up a flower company. How did it happen? It turned out that when she sent flowers, she received pleasant compli‑ ments in return. A circle of communica‑ tion appeared. They started to advise on how to grow flowers — the patient was a

ters. Don’t be afraid to look inside your‑ self, there’s nothing wrong with it. The main thing is not to fight with yourself, but to listen and accept. And then it turns out that happiness is close. — Can you always be happy, without a reason? — Of course! There will always be suffering, just do not focus on it. Op‑ timists see a lot of good things around them. Pessimists see only bad sides of it. Both of them are right. But one mind has no room for the whole world, our mind is quite small. There’s a lot more informa‑ tion. So we have to choose. We can enjoy everything that exists at the present time. This, by the way, is from Gestalt-therapy: to teach people to rejoice at what they

already have, not to fantasize about pos‑ sible future, or to recollect endlessly the past. If you are as attentive as possible to what is happening now — what a busy life it is! Then we do not just sit and talk with you. We also nourish each other with pleasant emotions. If you see the meaning in every little thing, then you endlessly enjoy life. And also, never lie to yourself. Chronic deception is imposed on us every step of the way. — Speaking of deception… Advertisers, marketers know how to draw attention. Sometimes a person does not even realize why he or she acquires this or that thing, service; he or she does not notice how much they depend on the Internet, on social networks. What is it, a choice without choice? So, human beings are spineless creatures? — No, of course they aren’t. It’s just that they have their own logic of think‑ ing. Or patterns, as Sigmund Freud said. We don’t think what muscle to strain to make a sound or when we move. In the same way we get used to the pattern of thinking. If we make the same choice a couple of times, why analyze again and again, let’s say, its effectiveness? To use the perception pattern is to save energy. But at the same time, it also increases the chances of error. Is it bad? No, it’s not. It’s personal experience. No one ever learns from someone else’s mistakes. Only if you intimidate a person so much that he or she is afraid to take a step on their own. But such a person is already, excuse me, defective. He or she was not allowed to be alive, to think, to feel everything at once… When I talk about it with pa‑ tients, they are confused: is it possible to feel everything at once? To listen and hear through your skin, muscles, bones, joints… We have to! To be aware of one’s own sensations means to grasp the clues of the subconscious, whose database is many times, thousands of times larger than the database of consciousness. Your own body wants to help you. Un‑ fortunately, people lose the ability to feel themselves since childhood. — Are you talking about mindfulness? беларусь. belarus 2020

Spotlight interview — Of course, children should be taught this kind of mindfulness. To be able to understand their feelings, the life of the inner world. If you learn to perceive the environment with each cell, then you will assess what is happen‑ ing in the world in a different way. And there’s less chance for error. — I heard that mental disorders came first, overtaking cardiovascular and cancer. That’s global statistics. Why do people continue to suffer, despite the fact that life has become more comfortable and any pleasure can be bought without even leaving home? — One can’t buy sincere love. One can’t build a trusting, caring, real rela‑ tionship for money. Alas, wealth does not make a man harmonious.

“What a fool I was! Who knew he’d turn out to be such a fool!” But his smells, his gestures, the way he walks and dresses, the volume of his voice and the pause in his speech, the way he talks — it’s all a huge layer of coded information, bio‑ logical, psychological and genetic! Her subconscious instantly counted and analyzed it all: whether he matches her, what other options she has and can be in the world. In the end, the con‑ clusion was: you must take him! And the consciousness deciphered it: he has beautiful hair. The choice does not happen by chance, there is no apparent spontaneity.

one” for “another” because “I’m not used to conform to anybody.” There will be problems with the next one, too. And then the next one and the next one… And we should understand a person, his soul: what’s going on inside there? If you approach the relationship from this position, it becomes very interesting. Be‑ cause it turns out that inside there is a whole world, a unique one. There is no copy of it, not only physiological, but also psychological. If you invest your strength, time, experience, money in your partner, he or she will become the dearest to you.. You can’t draw a line be‑ tween us. Physically, it seems to exist,

About love — Doctor, what is love? There are many definitions of love, I’d like to hear yours… — It’s a selfless desire to do good. When we don’t expect gratitude in re‑ turn. I just want you to feel good. — But’as long as a man lives, so does his ego”? — No two egos are alike. There’s a concept of healthy egoism. When I feel good because you feel good. I do it for myself. But there’s no obvious contradic‑ tion in this scheme: “give-and-take”. And to guess how to make you feel good, I need to take your measure, to understand you. Why is she looking at me point-blank, not blinking, tilting her head to one side? What does she feel? It’s not much but you are already involved. So, you can’t hurt me and yourself at the same time. If everybody learns to understand another person, it will turn out that there are no scoundrels, everyone is good. But it’s a difficult skill — to feel the other, you have to acquire it from childhood. — I think you have heard the phrase: love lives for four years. Does it? — If you mean hormones, it’s even too long! But there’s a nuance. A clas‑ sic example: a woman says she chose a partner because of his beautiful hair.

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The photo is illustrative

— And why doesn’t she like his hair anymore? — Because there are no 100% match‑ ing couples. They always don’t fit togeth‑ er in something. But it was less impor‑ tant for her subconscious than all the rest. And now they’re living together, she doesn’t get something from him. What should be done? To do something to get it. Change your habits, acquire new skills — change a lot of things in your‑ self, and to take him for who he is. But this is work! Who wants to work? No‑ body! It’s easier to blame him for every‑ thing: I got a “defective” one, it’s his fault that I feel bad. Yes, family life provokes a lot of situations that either make you better or worse. But we just change “this

but mentally, it doesn’t. I’d better die, but won’t give him or her back — he or she is mine! Once a man came to me. He said: I have tried so much, so much has hap‑ pened, I seem to have everything, and still something is wrong… We began to analyze what was missing. It turned out, the depths. It turned out that he shouldn’t have been into diversity, but the depth of feeling! And it’s not by chance that a per‑ son meets on his way this very person. — You’re talking about perfect, biblical love. But there are different stories in life when one person falls into dependence on another, when the relations are built on money and benefits… However, it doesn’t work as in Belarus there is one divorce in two marriages.

Spotlight interview — Love is a skill. One can learn it. But it’s hard work. Especially when the potential is low: imagine a child, whom the mother gave to an orphanage… We can’t do without love. The Americans have proven that. They conducted an experiment: perfectly fed a group of monkeys, created good hygienic en‑ vironment, entertained them. Every‑ thing except touching, caressing them. In the second group the monkeys had the same conditions, but they were touched, stroked. In the first group, most of them died. Those who survived did not rise above the average level of development. And the monkeys in the second group didn’t fall ill, gained weight well, their level of development was high. It is important for everybody to be looked into the eyes, to be smiled to, to be noticed. On an instinctive level, it means: I am important, I have a place in the sun. These are biologi‑ cal things, more precisely, ethological things (ethology is the science of ani‑ mal genetic behavior — Auth.). And through addiction, people try to make up for what they don’t get. And they get attached to someone to get more. But this is not the only way, on the contrary, it’s a surrogate. If you feel harmonious, any addiction will dissolve. — If everyone becomes self-sufficient, won’t the desire to interact with each other disappear? — No, it won’t. Because a single per‑ son won’t survive! We feel bad alone, no matter how we fool ourselves.

About a healthy lifestyle — Vladislav, everyone knows how important it is to eat properly, to sleep and exercise. But many people still don’t sleep enough, work hard and don’t want to walk at least around the house — they are tired. The society does not disapprove of it. But if I reschedule the meeting because I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, I’m unlikely to be understood at work. — Any society is focused primarily on the functioning of the system, not

on the health of its individual “parti‑ cles”. If an individual behaves more ac‑ tively, that’s a plus for society. What is the goal? To be effective. Of course, it is encouraged! And the fact that a mem‑ ber of society ruins his or her health — it’s their personal business. And our personal task is to look after ourselves. We can stay awake, without food… But then, and I’ve talked about it thou‑ sands of times, the potential of the brain is decreasing, the chances for er‑ ror are increasing. In the end, it’s not profitable! So we start thinking… So, as the song sings: think for yourself, decide for yourself whether to have it or not. — And is it possible to sleep a little, while staying effective? — According to historical docu‑ ments, Napoleone Buonaparte, who supposedly slept little and scolded those who slept a lot, used to take a nap in his carriage while moving from one place to another. So it’s unknown for certain how many hours he slept in total. The need for sleep is most often about 8 hours. But the total amount of sleep should be theoretically divid‑ ed into three parts, i. e. six hours for night sleep, at about 11 a. m. — another half an hour or an hour, and at about 4:00 p. m. — a little more. In this case, the potential of the nervous system is maximum: electromagnetic parameters of the brain are the same as for animals. And the physiological processes will work better, too. A nuance: You should sleep at least an hour before 24:00! Or better two. Every night, the nervous system reboots. If a person is awake until midnight, only the body part is renewed. No matter how busy you are, lie down and get some sleep. Then get up at 1:00 a. m. and work until morn‑ ing. When the night shifts were intro‑ duced at the weaving mills, there was a surge in infertility, hormonal disorders. Sleep deprivation is catastrophic for the body: it takes two and a half months of regular sleep to make up for a single 30‑minute sleep deprivation. — Why is it that we can’t sleep?

— More often than not, it’s because the nervous system is overexcited. The very first thing that I would recom‑ mend in this case is to “feed” the nerv‑ ous system with missing vitamins, trace elements. It will harmonize itself, adjust the inhibition processes necessary for sleep. Sleeplessness may also be associ‑ ated with body problems. There can be an inflammatory process in the GIT. It may cause no pain, but there are signals to the brain about the malfunction. — What kind of exercise is best for the brain? — Do what you like. It’s good be‑ cause endorphins are produced. — Vladislav, psychology is called the science about the soul. But it does not fit at all into the theory of human origin… — At school I always listened atten‑ tively to the biology teacher and did not understand why she contradicted her‑ self. And now I understand that it’s not she who contradicted, but science itself. I can’t explain many quite obvious things. The further science develops, the more arguments appear that human origin has a divine character. It all comes down to the fact that God exists. I may be very much mistaken, but I personally came to this conclusion based on logical reason‑ ing of scientific facts. I don’t really feel that He exists. But I do know it. And I think any thinking person comes to this conclusion sooner or later. It’s true that the previous system of knowledge is collapsing. But Darwin’s theory wasn’t proved. His colleagues even laughed at him because the scientist couldn’t fit a bunch of facts into his theory. He just ig‑ nored them. Although I don’t argue, Darwin’s theory is convenient. Accord‑ ing to it, there’s nothing after death. It’s about momentary pleasures in life, not about perfection of the soul. Then we need to buy another iPhone although the old one’s still working well. And a car, a wife, a country… And if there is some‑ thing after death, the psychology of con‑ sumption does not fit into our lives at all, it is awfully stupid. Do you agree? Interviewed by Alisa Gungor

беларусь. belarus 2020

Ivan zhdanovich

Cooperation diplomacy

Mustafa Ozcan:

“My family and I are living in the country that has surpassed our expectations”

Our conversation was taking place in an informal, friendly atmosphere. We didn’t touch upon business issues, and talked about life, about children, hobbies, cuisine, as well as about the peculiarities of the Turkish and Belarusian mentality. We drank fragrant tea in a Turkish man‑ ner, the habit we got into during our va‑ cation in Turkey, from traditional glasses. We were interested to know what kind of person arrived in Belarus, and for Mr. Ambassador, it was clearly seen, it was also important to understand who was in front of him. “We have had a very interesting con‑ versation with you, during which I didn’t

беларусь. belarus 2020

get tired at all”, — he told us, smiling when a two-hour conversation came to an end. Of course, it was nice to hear these words. After all, it was interesting to talk to him, listening to the music of the Turkish lan‑ guage. And how happy was Mr. Ambassador when he learnt that in the summer we had visited Oludeniz, not far from Fethiye. And he said: “There are hundreds of in‑ teresting, amazing places in Turkey, and you chose one the very right of them! A worthy place where with high culture including a domestic one.” He admitted that he also loved that region, where his friends lived.

Talking with Mr. Ambassador, we no‑ ticed his genuine interest in the country where he had been posted to, about which he wanted to learn as much as possible. — Congratulations, Mr. Ambassador, on your arrival in our country. We really hope that you will like this place, and will feel sorry to leave it. — I’m even sure that it will be so. Ab‑ solutely sure! — We know that prior to this appointment, you worked in the Office of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, before that as a diplomat in Azerbaijan, Germany, Ireland, and the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the World Trade Organiza-

Cooperation diplomacy tion. What do you think, Mr. Ambassador, is the most important thing in diplomacy of your level? — In its classical understanding, di‑ plomacy involves building and developing of relations between states and between the peoples of these states, as well as re‑ solving possible disagreements and con‑ flicts in a peaceful way. At the same time, diplomacy has a representative function. In my opinion, diplomacy is an art that contains a number of views, positions of a political, legal, humanitarian nature. It also presupposes that diplomats have a certain amount of knowledge and experience in each of these areas. Diplomacy, again, like art, bears its fruit, its results, either good or different from the expected ones. And since we are talking about classical diplo‑ macy as building relations between states, however, we should not forget that empha‑ sis of diplomacy, nevertheless, is placed on a person. And I want to say that for me this is exactly so. Because all our initia‑ tives, agreements or the inability to agree, all our successes or failures in this field lead to the fact that an ordinary person will ex‑ perience the benefit or harm from such activities. Therefore, Turkey as a state used as a basis such an approach, such a vision as humanistic diplomacy. And if you want an example of such an approach, that is, humanistic diplomacy, I will give the most striking example. Over the years, Turkey has over the years been receiving about 4 million displaced people in its territory. In fact, this is a heavy burden, which the Re‑ public of Turkey took upon itself. The ex‑ penses connected with so many displaced people staying in the country exceed $40 billion. These funds are raised by the Re‑ public of Turkey from its own resources. No meaningful outside assistance is pro‑ vided in this matter. And the main prin‑ ciple of Turkish diplomacy, which has not changed throughout time, is a well-known saying “Peace in the country means world peace”. Since the great leader and creator of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk uttered this phrase as a fundamen‑ tal principle for himself and for the repub‑ lic he created, our priority in resolving all conflicts and disagreements is always this

peaceful principle. We always try to resolve the contradictions at the negotiating table. And until the external challenges that re‑ late to our national security force us to the wall. We prefer not to resort to brute force. — In your contacts with people, what is important for you, Mr. Ambassador, in the perception of a person: intuition or logic? — Both. Of course, I try to logically understand and comprehend what the other person is telling me. But of course, I also turn to feelings. Moreover, there is such a thing: body language. Non-verbal communication. Both for us, and for peo‑ ples related to the Turks who actively use it, this is also an important means of es‑ tablishing contact and communication. By the way, I noticed upon arrival in Bela‑ rus that here people are actively using the language of non-verbal communication. And it pleased me, it allowed me to quick‑ ly adapt. In no country before, except, perhaps, Azerbaijan, culture, including linguistic, is so similar to Turkish, I could not adapt so quickly. And here it took me a short time. I have been with you since January 15. — Probably, some plans in connection with the coronavirus have to be changed? — Unfortunately, last month passed against the backdrop of the events with coronavirus, which does not allow us to fully focus on the development of rela‑ tions. In particular, the arrival of some delegations from Turkey had to be post‑ poned. We had to cancel or reschedule a series of events that had been planned here. Despite a rather dynamic start in af‑ fairs, I had to slow down a little. At the same time, watching the way Belarus is fighting against coronavirus infection, I want to express my approval of the actions that are being taken here. Everything is done clearly, in no way people panic, events are not exaggerated. At the same time, all necessary measures are being taken. Thus, Belarus compares very favorably with sev‑ eral other countries. And the country has taken all the important, significant meas‑ ures, which are noted and praised by the World Health Organization.

— Please tell us about the time when you felt safe, surrounded by the care of your parents. About your family. — Thanks for that question. It gives me a chance to plunge into a happy past, to recollect my childhood. I was born in Istanbul and lived till I was 10 years old in the area the name of which came from the name of one of the rulers of the Ottoman Empire, i. e. the great padishah Fatih Sul‑ tan Mehmet. This is the district of Fatih. My childhood passed among the legacy of the Byzantine Empire: near Ayasofya — Hagia Sophia, Valens Aqueduct — the city’s water supply system and also close to an Ottoman masterpiece — magnifi‑ cent Topkapı Palace museum and many mosques. I was very lucky with the place of birth and with my parents! My father was a trader. His workplace, office was located in the European part of Istanbul, in Besiktas district on the Bosporus coast. You may have heard that we also have a football club with the same name: Besik‑ tas. And I am a very devoted fan of this particular team. — Yes, we know of this district of Istanbul a little by Turkish feature films but have not yet been able to see city yet. Our friends, who in summer returned from there, became loyal fans of Istanbul… — Oh, this is a historic city. And I grew up there. The routes of my walks ran alongside palaces, mosques, which keep the memory of great events. I also want to note that I like fishing most of all after my

Istanbul's district — Fatih, where Mr. Ambassador spent his childhood

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wife and my family. Moreover, this is my hobby that goes back to those fishermen who fish on the coast of the Bosphorus. I watched them many times in my child‑ hood. — Do you fish with a spinning rod? — Yes, with a spinning rod. — From the waterfront? — …Both from the waterfront, and from the boat — I’ve tried all possible ways. — There are so many opportunities for this in Belarus! — I know! (this word is pronouncing cheerfully in Russian, everyone is laughing.) When I was going to Belarus, I was about to do ice-fishing. But this year there was shortage of ice (laughs). Next year, I hope that winter in Belarus will meet my expectations. — Our son of daughter-in-law is also fisherfolk, and their children grew up with fishing and spinning rods in their hands. And Bogdan is a talented craftsman and artist. He makes unique prizes for fishing competitions — actually, with a spinning rod. So get ready! The Bosphorus experience will be very useful for you, and plus a little fishing luck… And our love for Turkey is strengthened by family ties: beautiful children — Yasemin and Damir, whose father is from Turkish Adana — are growing up in Minsk. — That’s good! I hope the children have already been to Turkey? — Sure. They’ve brought a lot of best impressions from there! — They are the brightest in childhood. I remember, for example, that my broth‑ ers were fans of the “Fenerbahçe” football club, which is associated with the Kadıköy district in the Asian part of Istanbul — the one on the other side of the Bosporus. So, because of such different football prefer‑ ences, we often quarreled in childhood. — How many brothers do you have? — There are three of us. And our mother did not work, she raised her sons. Although only over the years did I real‑ ize that that was very serious and respon‑ sible work. Imagine: my brothers and I loved football so much that sometimes we played matches right in the room. In the

беларусь. belarus 2020

Ivan zhdanovich

Cooperation diplomacy

Mr. Ambassador: “Here, in Mogilev, I have already visited the forum “Mogilev-Amasya”

living room! I remember how much glass had to be replaced, different frames… Our children’s mischiefs are still remem‑ bered at home — now with humor. But since I was the eldest, our father took me to work with him during the holidays in order to give a little rest to my mother and relieve tension in the “trio”. That is why, I’ve gained both experience in trade, and, most importantly, in management since an early age. Many other employees worked with my father. They and the cli‑ ents were from different strata of society. Back then I sometimes had to learn to hold a dialogue: to agree on something, to build relationships. I still see big advantages of the experience gained in childhood: not everything can be learned at school. And I still have and hold that old habit. For me it has become a lifestyle: to communicate harmoniously with people. Just like I don’t divide them into kids and adults when I go out. — Were both your father and mother from Istanbul? — My family arose across two differ‑ ent cultures. Mom comes from a family that moved from Crimea to Istanbul at the time of the collapse of the Ottoman Em‑ pire. And already four generations of this family have been living in Istanbul. And my father comes from Anatolia, from its middle part, from the city of Niğde. By the

way, it is also known for its rich cultural heritage. Thus, I absorbed the culture and traditions of both Istanbul and Anatolia in my family. And it manifested itself in eve‑ rything: in the cuisine, in music, in how relations develop in the family and with others. I to a certain extent learned some parts of that vast experience of my for‑ bears. And accepted for myself as a basis. — What was your favorite dish in your parents’ family? — A very difficult question! Especially when it comes to Turkish cuisine. Because there are so many tasty things in it! I’ll start by saying that fish and meat are always my favorite dishes. Now, whatever dish I call, hundreds of other dishes, if they could speak, would ask: why not me? (laughs). Turbot — a fish from a family of flatfish. Guvec meat dish, many types of köfte. And my wife, Elvira, is from Azerbaijan, so a number of dishes from Azerbaijani cuisine also came to the house, to the family. And there are three among them, which I prefer. These are various eggplant dishes. There is a karnıyarık dish (stuffed eggplant). Then pilaf and cacik are served to it — an ayran-based drink to which a finely chopped cucumber is added. And when it’s all in a three-course set served, I can’t resist. I like guvec, dry beans, dry meatballs. I really like doner. Iskender ke‑ bap. If I continue to list, you will not be

mogilevnews.by

Cooperation diplomacy

Mr. Mustafa Ozcan together with the Chairman of the Economy Committee of the Mogilev Regional Executive Committee Dmitry Mudrogelov

able to stop me (laughs). Therefore, I will stop for now. And moreover, it’s almost dinner time (laughs). — People who talk so enthusiastically about food are the ones who love life. It seems you are one of them.. You love life… — Thanks. Life is a gift! I will share a secret with you, since you and I have en‑ tered such an interesting territory. I like to eat, I also like to cook. — They say that Turkish men do it exceptionally well? — It happens, if time permits, I try not to let my cook or my wife into the kitchen. The problem is to find time to cook deli‑ cious food for the loved ones. This process is always comforting. I can say, it appeases me. — And for whom, besides your wife, do you cook? — I have two sons — Kemal and Emir, 14 and 9 years old respectively. — Where do they study? — So that they could quickly adapt, get acquainted with the local culture, we did not send them to a school for foreign‑ ers. They attend one of Minsk schools where education is in Russian language. Belarusian and English languages are taught together with Russian. — Nice to hear! This can be a good example for those citizens of Belarus

who find it difficult to learn the Belarusian language. And you probably already know: Belarus is a multinational country. Including the descendants of the Crimean Tatars who have been living here for more than 600 years, since the time of Grand Duke Vytautas. A great number of them settled down here after the great battle with the Crimean Tatars near Kletsk in 1506, thousands of Crimean soldiers were captured. Over time, they settled here, adapted. They brought their culture and at the same time absorbed the local one. — Yes, I know that. By the way, my second line of kinship with the Tatars is through my wife. I repeat, she is from Azerbaijan, her father is Azerbaijani, and her mother is a Kazan, Volga Tatar. — So your wife must have had a Soviet upbringing? Does she know Russian well? — Yes, she does. Russian is her native language. I wanted to mention it a little bit later. Besides, her life circumstances were such that in 1984–85 my future wife went to kindergarten in Belarus in Kalinkovi‑ chi (the last word is clearly pronounced in Russian). — Apparently, you were meant to be together here! How did you become a diplomat? What influenced this choice?

— I will turn back to childhood. I was very fond of watching foreign films back then, I liked to see different countries in them. At that time my uncle — and he was my father’s business partner — went on a long business trip across Europe. And after the trip he told me a lot of interest‑ ing things about what he saw and expe‑ rienced. In high school my friends saw in me the potential of a diplomat. When we were preparing for the graduation, friends in my graduation album wrote to me as a keepsake: “We wish success to our classmate Mustafa Ozcan, who is go‑ ing to become a diplomat”. From the mo‑ ment I graduated from primary school, I was ready to choose this profession, I am choosing it now. I wanted to represent my country abroad, as well as get acquainted with other countries, their cultures, peo‑ ple. Of course, the world of that time was different from the modern one. Now, in order to know other countries, it is no longer necessary to become a diplomat. And at that time there were no mobile phones, there were few TVs. For example, we had a black and white TV which had only one channel. The Internet and social networks were in the distant future. There were also deep reasons for choosing the diplomatic path. I actually was a child-idealist, and to this day I re‑ main an idealist. I really wanted to fur‑ ther develop friendly, peaceful relations between countries, between nations. I believed that I could implement my ide‑ als in a suitable environment. However, over time I became convinced: the pursuit of the ideal is an extremely difficult task. Nevertheless, it is very important for me not to give in, to exercise due patience on the way to the goal. To work to implement ideals. That’s what I’ve been trying to do to this day. And this is still very important for me. — Is it easy in Turkey to become a career diplomat? — Very difficult. And it’s not easy to get a job in the ministry — you need to work patiently and with high dedication for years. I feel happy! I’ve managed to achieve the goal that I set for myself at the end of elementary school. Of course, беларусь. belarus 2020

Cooperation diplomacy the experience that I gained thanks to my involvement in the father’s business also helped: I worked with him until I was 24 years old. And then I entered the civil ser‑ vice, i. e. the Ministry of Commerce. I was engaged in trade diplomacy for five years. I was lucky in that. After all, economic and trade diplomacy — as structural parts of big diplomacy — is very important. And I attached great importance to economic and trade diplomacy. This has always been a priority for me. Over time, I left the Min‑ istry of Commerce and joined the Min‑ istry of Foreign Affairs. Thus, I’ve been working in the civil service for 27 years. — How did it happen that you were appointed Ambassador to Belarus? — Last year I was informed that I could go to work abroad as Ambassador. I had the opportunity to choose from about 20 countries: at the end of 2019, so many posts of ambassadors were vacated. And when I saw this list, I thought: I wish I could go to Belarus! In Moscow I had been on business and privately and I had worked in Azerbaijan. Post-Soviet coun‑ tries is the region of the world which I am interested in. Also thanks to my wife, I knew that Belarus is a wonderful coun‑ try, and Belarusian people are very sin‑ cere and open. We also know about the rich history of Belarus, about the feat of Belarusian people during the Second World War. And about the fact that Bela‑ rus lost one third of the population dur‑ ing the war years. During the years of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, we also had the National Liberation War. It also brought a lot of grief, hardship, human sacrifice. Our people, like Belaru‑ sians, showed heroism, courage and great dedication. And from this point of view, we see a lot in common between our peo‑ ples. In addition, Belarus today is a clean, safe and developed country. My personal number one priority, and my family’s too, was Belarus. According to the tra‑ dition existing in our Ministry, distin‑ guished Mr. Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu called me and announced the country in which I have to work: Belarus. I was very pleased by this. — Is this the fate?

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— Yes, no doubt! We all wanted to and it’s happened. This is a very good twist of fate. Thank Allah. A little more than 2 months have passed since the day I arrived in Belarus and now I understand that I was not happy enough when Mr. Minister called me (laughs). In fact, my family and I live in the country that has surpassed our expectations. Everything is wonderful! I’m even looking for something to criti‑ cize — and I fail find it. — What is your basic higher education? — In 1990, I graduated from Istanbul University. Faculty of Economics, Depart‑

tion with each other. And a very impor‑ tant, turning point in our relations is the visit of the distinguished President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Belarus in 2016. And in 2019, distin‑ guished President Alexander Lukashenko paid an official visit to Turkey. Over the pe‑ riod between these visits, much has been achieved. Something to compensate that previously could not be done. In particular, it can be considered that the legal frame‑ work necessary for the further develop‑ ment of our relations is completely ready. The trade turnover between the countries is growing every year. Both countries im‑

In the European part of Istanbul — Beşiktaş Mustafa Ozcan in his father's office learned the first lessons of trade

ment of International Relations. Then I studied also in Istanbul at the Marmara University at the Institute of the European Community, attended postgraduate stud‑ ies. This is also in Istanbul. By the way, be‑ fore my career began, my father had sent me to London for two years to learn the language. That was my preparation for the profession. — What issues in cooperation were you focused on by the Ministry when you were appointed to this position? — As you know, the political relations between our countries are at an excellent level. But we must admit that we were somewhat late with deepening coopera‑

plemented important investment projects in each other’s territory — more on that later. However, we can implement more advanced projects, we are ready for it. Before arriving in Belarus, I met with the leadership of key departments in Turkey, which are responsible for the economy, culture, art and tourism. And at meetings with all the leaders, I saw serious intentions and will for the further development of re‑ lations with Belarus in these areas. And I see the similar interest and will to develop during the contacts and meetings that I’ve held here during my stay. Our leaders did everything in their power — now we need to get involved in this work. We, diplomats

Cooperation diplomacy and officials, are called to account for it. I want to add: we have excellent relations and coordinated work both with the cur‑ rent Ambassador of Belarus to Turkey — distinguished Viktor Rybak, and with the former Ambassador, now parliamentar‑ ian, distinguished Andrey Savinykh. There is friendship, mutual understanding and coordination in work. — Tell us, Mr. Ambassador, in what areas of the economy, in your opinion, is it mutually beneficial for both countries to develop and deepen cooperation? — The economies of our countries are complementary. And for each other, they

department, which is responsible for the development of relations between Turkey and Belarus, is a prominent businessman Yılmaz Soycan. Since my appointment as Ambassador, he has been in regular con‑ tact with me. We are already working to‑ gether. — What is it exactly? — We are working to study the follow‑ ing: how representatives of the private sec‑ tor, enterprises of the two countries will be able to effectively engage in investment activities in each other’s territory. In Bela‑ rus, I have already held several meetings, visited events, enterprises. These contacts

Mr. Ambassador's hobby, fishing, "goes back to those fishermen who fish on the Bosphorus coast"

have a number of interesting possibilities. The Ministry of Commerce of Turkey is now carrying out extensive work in or‑ der to ensure the further development of economic ties with Belarus. And we soon expect the results of the research work that this ministry is carrying out. And the task is to reach new levels of interac‑ tion. It is very important that not only the public sector, but also private business be also involved in this work. One of these organizations, involved in trade and eco‑ nomic cooperation between the countries from the private sector, is the Council on Foreign Economic Relations (this struc‑ ture is known as DEIK). The head of the

even surprised me in a good way. For ex‑ ample, I visited the High Technology Park, the “Great Stone” Park, one of the TurkishBelarusian business forums in Mogilev. In my opinion, creating HTP, Belarus has created for itself its Silicon Valley. Turk‑ ish firms should certainly be aware of the opportunities offered by HTP. The devel‑ opment of trade and economic relations is one of our main priorities. And we are interested in developing not only trade, but also mutual and joint investments as a more stable form of these relations. Our aim is to develop such cooperation, which will be based on the principle of mutual benefit (win-win). Because we believe

that this kind of work brings a long-term result. A collaboration in which only one party is a beneficiary has no future. We are also interested in working together to en‑ ter third markets. Today, there are 250 for‑ eign representative offices of the Republic of Turkey in the world, and our country ranks fifth in the world by this indicator. Almost every country has our representa‑ tive offices. I can give such an example. In the city of Kirikkale, near Ankara, a joint investment project Turkey, Belarus, Azer‑ baijan was implemented: the production of tractors “Belarus” was set up. Moreover, this production is export-oriented and has the prospect of entering the third markets. This is an excellent example of coopera‑ tion, and we would like to increase the number of such projects. I see a number of valuable opportunities for cooperation with Belarus in such areas as IT, petro‑ chemistry, defense industry. Agriculture is also a very important area. I would like to note that you have the highest quality products. You have accumulated a lot of knowledge, technologies and organiza‑ tional skills. We have a lot to learn from you. — Turkey, of course, is interesting for many Belarusians as a “country of four seas” because we do not have sea resorts. What do you intend to do to make holidays in Turkey even more attractive for our citizens? — Of course, both culture and tourism are also our priority areas for cooperation. I attach particular importance to tourism. After all, thanks to this sphere, both Turks and Belarusians interact directly, and at the same time they get to know each other better… — And they even create families… — (smiles) Yes, there are mixed Turk‑ ish-Belarusian marriages. We are very pleased that Belarusians have so many multifaceted interests in Turkey! At the same time, our cooperation in the tourism sector can be even more effective. I already see that the situation can be improved due to the cheaper air connections directly be‑ tween Belarus and Turkey. So far, many flights from Belarus are made through the airports of neighboring countries, they беларусь. belarus 2020

Cooperation diplomacy are more attractive in price. And many complaints have already been received during my stay here about the high price of air tickets. Moreover, both Belarusians and Turks complained. They give exam‑ ples that through Kiev, Warsaw, Vilnius it is cheaper to fly to and from Turkey. So cheaper tickets could have a positive im‑ pact on inbound tourism to Belarus from Turkey. The flight lasts 2–2.5 hours, and many Turkish citizens could plan an inter‑ esting, exploratory trip just for the week‑ end. And someone will definitely come back for a longer stay. Turkey has an inter‑ est in Belarus, but there should be more. Because such a beautiful country, in which there is order and cleanliness, which is safe and has unique features cannot but interest foreign tourists. Interest in it will increase in Turkey. As an ambassador, I will do my best: I will try to work out this issue with professionals from the tourism sector, with other interested parties to decrease prices on airline tickets. Yes, Turkey has beautiful coasts — the Mediterranean, Aegean, as well as the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea with famous resorts. But Turkey is also a country with a rich history, with a large number of other attractive places for tour‑ ists. I have managed to see a small part of its of its sights. — And how attractive your mountains are! So beckoning! But we only passed them by… — No doubt, the mountains are beau‑ tiful: they are charming on the Black Sea coast, on the Aegean, Mediterranean coasts. Undoubtedly, Ağrı (Ararat) is also characterized by its unique beauty. But, I note, although the territory of Belarus is smaller than Turkey, it offers tourists a lot of interesting things to see, get fresh emo‑ tions, impressions. To better get to know them, I plan to visit different places in Belarus, including the smallest villages. I think it will be very interesting for my family as well. — We hope you all get a lasting impression from such trips. — Everything that needs to be done so far has been restrained by the spread of the coronavirus. Because of this, we will have to wait a bit. But I set myself the

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task: in the field of tourism to realize the priorities we’ve mentioned. As you know, in Turkey there are more than 80 million inhabitants. Belarus is a friendly country for us, and it is important to give Turkish tourists the opportunity to get to know it better. There is another important area of co‑ operation: medical tourism. A significant development of this industry has recently taken place in Turkey. People from Euro‑ pean countries, from America come to Turkey to get the necessary treatment, and maybe to have surgery. As well s to have a rest. At the same time, Turks who would like to improve their health will find it use‑

The economies of our countries are complementary. And for each other, they have a number of interesting possibilities. The Ministry of Commerce of Turkey is now carrying out extensive work in order to ensure the further development of economic ties with Belarus. And we soon expect the results of the research work that this ministry is carrying out. ful and even necessary to come to Belarus. Since Belarus is the lungs of Europe, there are many rivers and lakes with clear wa‑ ter, clean air. People, having changed their usual environment, can be filled with en‑ ergy, renewed. Your country just needs to be better promoted in Turkey, to be intro‑ duced to my compatriots more deeply. — We know that Turkish companies have reconstructed some hotels in Minsk, including a hotel near Dinamo National Olympic Stadium, as well as the famous five-star President Hotel. Do you think Turkish investments can be expected in further development of the tourism sector in Belarus? Or other areas are more attractive to your investors? — Time will show. In the meantime, I know for sure that Turkish enterprises are interested in investing in such areas

as energy, construction of roads, and waste treatment facilities. That is, in the implementation of infrastructure pro‑ jects. Turkish construction contractors are well known in the world, they take the second place after the Chinese. If you look through the reports of the World Bank, the European Bank for Recon‑ struction and Development, you will see that Turkish companies in international markets and facilities constantly confirm their competence. As you know, the Turk‑ ish business invested in one of the mobile operators in Belarus — Life company. In Belarus works one of the pharmaceuti‑ cal companies of Turkey — Nobel. There are two companies that I visited during a trip to Mogilev. True, they should rather be called Turkish-Belarusian. These are BelEmsa company — manufacturer of diapers under the brand “Senso Baby” and personal care products, as well as Seçil Kauçuk company, which produces a variety of rubber seals. I also visited “Mogilevkhimvolokno” enterprise and I am sure that this company can have an excellent cooperation with colleagues from Turkey, which are engaged in the production of similar products. I have no doubt at all that, traveling around Bela‑ rus, visiting its cities, I will also see those objects that will benefit from coopera‑ tion with Turkish partners. I have already talked about the example of the assembly production in the city of Kırıkkale as a successful investment project of Belaru‑ sians in Turkey. I’ll also add that in Sinop, on the Black Sea coast, a joint investment project was implemented to produce children’s toys Polesie. Of course, the number of such successful joint projects will grow. And, as my father used to say, where trade develops, there are also some disagreements. And we also have some difficulties associated with the activities of these firms and companies. But I am convinced that it is through dialogue and thanks to a constructive approach and a desire to understand each other that we can resolve all these issues. — We hope that successful work of the existing enterprises will contribute to the emergence of new joint projects…

Cooperation diplomacy — Undoubtedly, it is so. After all, in‑ vestors around the world are quite cau‑ tious, even fearful. And seeing success stories in Belarus — both with Life and others — Turkish investors will more eas‑ ily enter the Belarusian market with their projects. — What steps have you taken to develop cooperation in the field of culture? — One of my first contacts in Belarus was actually contacts regarding the devel‑ opment of cooperation in the field of cul‑ ture and art. We have plans and projects for the future related to the presentation of Turkish documentaries in Belarus. We have already begun working on the is‑ sue — we are in contact with interested departments. I am also convinced that it is necessary to acquaint Turkish viewers with Belarusian film works. Especially with films that were shot in Belarus about Belarus, including films regarding the events of the Second World War. I already managed to watch some of these films. I want to see others. They also need to be shown in Turkey. — Does the embassy plan to establish “literary bridges” between Turkey and Belarus, contacts with Belarusian publishers, translators? — Personally, I attach great impor‑ tance to literature. I like books, reading very much. And although in our time so‑ cial networks come to the fore, I still want to believe that the book is important, will not lose its value but will retain it. Soon af‑ ter my arrival in Belarus, the Minsk Inter‑ national Fair and Exhibition was held here. We took part in it. And in the future we want to expand, to improve the content of our work in this direction. That is why one of my first meetings here was to meet and communicate with the Information Min‑ ister, distinguished Alexander Karlyuke‑ vich. In my opinion, the peoples of the two countries are not yet sufficiently informed about each other’s literature. Few transla‑ tions of books have been published. In 2021, we intend to participate in a big exhi‑ bition fair with a bigger stand, as well as to invite poets and prose writers from Turkey. In 2022, we would like to participate in the exhibition as an honored guest. The work

Mr. Mustafa Ozcan and his family

has already begun in this direction. Of course, the role of publishers, translators, writers is very important in this field of ac‑ tivity, the doors of my Embassy are always open to them. We are open to dialogue to implement joint projects. — Is there a large Turkish diaspora in Belarus? Does the embassy and its representatives have joint cultural and educational projects? — Previously, I worked at a consulate in the German city of Hamburg. There, the number of Turkish citizens in the country is 120 thousand. Here according to our records it is about 625 people. But there are more and more Turks here, and this is especially promoted by mixed marriages, as well as children who are born in such families. So life pushes us to develop in‑ teraction in the cultural sphere and in the sphere of education. There is a pre-school institution in Minsk — a preprimary school, on the basis of one of the groups children are taught Turkish. But we see that one group is not enough. It is neces‑ sary to open more. And we already need a class in an elementary school, where edu‑ cation will be conducted in Turkish and Russian. — Do you plan to create language courses at the Embassy? — A project to teach the Turkish lan‑ guage on the basis of one of the private

schools is currently being implemented. The Embassy is partly involved in this matter. And perhaps we will enlarge this project. There are a number of teachers who have been sent here from Turkey. They teach Turkish at a number of uni‑ versities. Perhaps over time there will be more. — What do your local compatriots say about life in Belarus? — The diaspora is not numerous here. Our people are well integrated into the Be‑ larusian society, respect and like it — and in return they enjoy love and respect. And I, as Ambassador, am lucky, because there are no difficulties, issues related to the life of the diaspora, which would require my involvement. And if I recall all the diffi‑ culties, issues that I had to solve in other countries, it would take a lot of time. Here the diaspora is involved in cultural activi‑ ties. Not so long ago, a commemorative event dedicated to important events in the Republic of Turkey was held at the Minsk State Linguistic University. The diaspora also actively participated in it. A num‑ ber of other projects have been planned, the purpose of which is to introduce our country to Belarusians. I take this oppor‑ tunity to invite you to these events in ad‑ vance, I will be glad to see you. Thank you for an interesting interview. By Ivan and Valentina Zhdanovich

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mtdata.ru

Children of war

On the fine line of being In the life of a positive person there is always room for miracles, that’s what Arnold Smeyanovich, a talented neurosurgeon is convinced of. His great life experience allows him to say so. It’s a miracle that he, a child of the Great Patriotic War, stayed alive.

e began our conversa‑ tion with his memories of his father, a front-line soldier, guards major, about everyday life un‑ der occupation, about family roots and small motherland. It was a natural con‑ tinuation of a meaningful conversation about the mysteries of the brain, about the role of psychosomatics in our lives (No. 11–2018). This time we will deepen our acquaintance with this unique person, who is a practicing physician at the age of 82. In addition, Arnold Fyodorovich man‑ ages the neurosurgery department of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Neurology and Neurosurgery. He has a clear mind and is amazingly friendly in communication. It’s a great pleasure to talk to him. After all, everything he talks about is colored positive. Isn’t it a miracle?

About father, about the war and small motherland ✓ My father Fyodor Smeyanovich was a paratrooper during the war. He com‑ manded the 31st airborne regiment. He landed on the Small Land and later, when landing in the battle of the Dnieper, near

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Kanev, died in September 1943. He was the chief of staff of the brigade. A picture of my father is on my desk under glass — every day it is before my eyes. I was 5 years old when he was gone. And the photo was taken a month before his death. The pho‑ to shows my father in the centre, and his comrades, his aides. They survived. I met them 15–20 years ago. ✓ Did I go to my father’s grave? Yes, I did. It’s a common grave. After our ser‑ vicemen died, that place stayed invaded by the Germans for another month. Their defense wasn’t broken through. Our guys were parachuted, but the landing failed: it was too high. So they couldn’t land quick‑ ly. The parachutists were raised even high‑ er by the air flow and they were shot down. Dad landed. He had a Mauser with him: since Khalkhin Gol, where he had fought. So the aides heard my father shooting. And then there was silence. The Germans were shooting machine guns. And then the only shot was fired, and silence came again. Those who survived were captured there. They said the paratroopers would all be shot out. One of my father’s regi‑ mental comrades, who had landed with him, thought: I’d better die here. He got

under a snag and disguised himself there. His comrades were taken away, and he lay there for a day. Then crawled out at night and saw my father’s corpse. That’s what he told my mother. Unfortunately, I can’t re‑ member his name. ✓ According to my mother, I know that my father studied at the Frunze Acad‑ emy before the war. And in the summer of 1941 we came to Pukhovichi to visit his grandparents on vacation. And 10–15 days

Children of war before the war my father was urgently called back to the academy. He then said: “Galya, stay here because there will be war.” ✓ I remember how my mother was arrested. The Germans gathered all of us just before the attack of our troops in 1944, when Belarus was being liberated. The men were kept inside. The women stayed outside, behind the wire. The children were let to go. Bought them out somehow. My grandfather came for me, so they let my sister and me go. ✓ Our troops were attacking from the side of Osipovichi, Lapichi. The Germans, as they say, had disappeared, and we were guarded by policemen. Experienced old policemen went to take their families out. And the young ones stayed, they didn’t know how to escape. There was a wise woman who said: let’s run. What are we waiting for? She and 10 other people ran away — there was a rye field nearby, and they hid themselves there. Including my mother and my aunt — the wife of my mother’s brother. And those who stayed were killed by the policemen. At first a police brigade arrived. They made men and women walk 2–3 kilometers to Lubin, drove them into a barn and burned them. My uncle was among them. ✓ Of course, my mother knew nothing about the fate of my father: it was a Ger‑ man occupied territory. And in 1947, she received a notice that my father had died, missed in action. Mom went to Maryina

Gorka. And on the way she met two offic‑ ers. She asked them: do you know this unit? They said to her: “How do you know it?” As it turned out, the officers were just from the unit, which that strange woman was asking about! They must have thought the Lord knows what! But it just so happens that for a while a unit of my father was sta‑ tioning in Maryina Gorka. And my father’s friends were already heroes. A general even came to us, to my grandmother. They also brought a soldier, who told us what he had seen. I tried to find my father’s grave then, but how could I find it? For a month, while the Germans were there, they buried dead bodies and made a common grave. And soldiers, officers, apparently, were not iden‑ tified. I put flowers at the monument. ✓ I often dreamed about my father. And I woke up with the feeling that he was happy: his son had became a doctor, managed to achieve a lot. I don’t remem‑ ber much about my father: I was too small. The only thing I remember clearly is the way we were seeing him off to Maryina Gorka. It seems to me that it was already dark, evening. And my mother told me that it was a sunny day. Perhaps different memories overlapped. I wouldn’t let my father go, held him so tightly. So one of our neighbors hit me with nettle, so they took me away from him. And he and mom walked together a little. He took the train, and was gone forever. ✓ I remember the war in fragments. One of them: In 1941, the Jews were driven down the street. And the Jews were all fa‑ miliar. Pukhovichi was a shtetl before the war: a lot of them lived there. My grand‑ mother and I went outside to see. So the Germans pushed us into this column too. And the neighbors screamed: not juden, not juden! Grandma was hit on her back with a buttstock and kicked out of the col‑ umn. And we stayed. As people say, we were within an inch of life. And in that column among others there were grand‑ parents and an aunt, maybe an uncle, I do not know exactly, of Mikhail Turetsky. The one who is the head of “Turetsky Choir”.

Fyodor Smeyanovich in the photo — in the center. July, 1943

And a hole was dug 300–400 meters away. All of them were shot down there. ✓ My grandmother had brothers — we were friends with them. I had an elder sister, she is gone. After the war my moth‑ er married a local man Pyotr Fyodorovich Linsky, a front-line soldier… And I have a brother, he’s 10 years younger than me, lives in Pukhovichi. Pyotr Fyodorovich’s first wife was Jewish. During the war, their neighbor became a policeman — and Pyotr Fyodorovich’s children were shot dead. ✓ My connection with my small moth‑ erland is strong, although I was not born in Pukhovichi. My father was a military man, my mother used to go to towns with him. But I see Pukhovichi as my motherland. My relatives are all from there. My maternal grandmother Olga Ivanovna and grandfa‑ ther Luka Semyonovich Dunay participat‑ ed in my upbringing. And, of course, I was punished with a rod. My father’s parents died early. Even before my mother married my father. Mom had never seen them.

The monument to the victims of the Holocaust in Pukhovichi, erected by the Simon Lazarus Foundation near the village council building in 2018. Photo by L. Smilovitsky. August 6, 2019.

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Children of war ✓ My mother, Galina Lukinichna, had secondary education. She worked as a communications operator in the post of‑ fice. And during the war she, wife of a com‑ munist and Red Army officer, was a parti‑ san communication agent. I remember a young teacher from the village of Glushka came to our house. She was also a commu‑ nication agent of the partisan detachment. Once we talked to Academician Vladimir Kulchitsky about life, so he said: his moth‑ er was a teacher, and lived in the village of Glushka. I couldn’t ask my mother about it anymore, but most likely it was Kulchit‑ sky’s mother. The Germans were conduct‑ ing a raid and we hid her at our place. So, my and Kulchitsky’s life-paths crossed.. ✓ I was lucky to have good teach‑ ers. Galina Feofanovna taught German, Lev Ivanovich Pilotovich — the Belarusian language. I remember Yakub Kolas driving through our village — he had a summer house in Balachanka. His chauffeur was driving “Pobeda”. The classic used to go mushroom-picking. He came to us, spoke the native language with us. Yes, and my school friends are also the best. Everyone got a higher education. They’re pensioners today. Our goal in life was to learn. I read a lot since school. Everything I could bor‑ row from the school library. By the way, we were taught in the Belarusian language at school. Here, in Minsk, I had to tbrush up Russian: even then, in the 50s, every‑ one spoke Russian. And I still like to read. I also like the statements of great people. Under the glass, next to my father’s photo, there are some I like most. ✓ I wanted to be like my father: a pilot or paratrooper. I thought dad was a pi‑ lot. Mom didn’t really know. She said, he was flying a plane. In the 8th form I had to start wearing glasses. How could I be‑ come a pilot. And my grandmother used to say since my childhood: you’ll be a physician, a physician. The guys went to polytechnic, and I went to medical univer‑ sity: my grandmother recommended it. My goal was to become a surgeon. When we graduated from the institute, we were general practitioners, including sanitation physicians. No specialization! My fellowstudent from Dribin had a vacancy of a

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surgeon. Tamara and I got married in the 6th course, and at the placement of graduates I asked to send me to Mogilev regional health department. And there, in Dribin, we worked for 3 years. ✓ There is still a house in Pukhovichi. I gave it to my sister. By the way, there is an interesting life situation. One of her sons is serving in Lvov — he’s a colonel of foreign intelligence. And the other was a general here, now retired, he was incharge of intelligence of MID. And because of the current political situation, let’s say, the brothers can not meet. If the one from Lvov comes, the Russians will arrest him. And if ours goes there — so he’s also con‑ nected with foreign intelligence. ✓ My house is 20 meters from my sister’s house. When my mother was still alive, she used to say: build a house, Petya will help you choose good wood. Well, this is my classmate, he was the director of a cardboard factory. Petya responded to my request. The guys organized arranged every‑ thing, dug a hole for the foundation. That’s how we put the house together. And next door, there lived a neighbor alone, in a poor house. When she was gone, my mother said: buy a plot of land for the cottage. So, we did and built a cot‑ tage there too: it’s my daughter’s place today. And it’s all ours. This is our small homeland! And my brother and nephew have their own house and land. My wife loves to grow flow‑ ers. We, I joke sometimes, come to Minsk from Pukhovich to rest. Because there is so much work in the village! When there are many apples, I sometimes take 20 barrows full of apples to the swamp. Far too many. If they are not taken away, the soil will get sour. So my small homeland is always with me. And I’m in contact with my family all the time. ✓ My mother was from the village of Puhovichi, and my father was from the next village of Turin. Our last name used to be Semyanovich. And in the 1920s her father and cousin changed their surname to Smeyanovich. Why? After the revolu‑ tion in the USSR the upper class people were persecuted — they were consid‑

ered to be “class enemies”. In the 20s they were exiled “because of their origin” and thus some people, having left for another area, avoided the persecution by chang‑ ing their last names. There lived a Kazi‑ mir Semyanovich. Have you heard of this military engineer? He wrote a book “The Martial Arts of Artillery”. So, there is in‑ formation that Kazimir Semyanovich was from an impoverished princely family from Vitebsk region. And my father told mother that his family, our family came from there. ✓ On the mother’s side, my family is Ukrainian. Mom’s father, my grand‑

father Luka, was Ukrainian. He was from Sumy region. Grandmother was from Belarus, from the bourgeois class, as they used to say. My grandfather was cap‑ tured by the Germans during the First World War in 1914. He was a junior officer. One can say that grandfather was lucky to be a prisoner before the revolution. He told me a lot about his life. How he worked for his German master. He said, the German was a decent man. He suggested to my grandfa‑ ther: you, Luka, go, take your family — and bring them here. I’ll give you a piece of land. You will live in Germany. So, grandfather went, and here there were either the Ger‑ mans or the Poles. Anyway, the invaders. So he had to hide away. And soon the Soviets came. Already in Soviet times, he was de‑

Children of war prived of some civil rights. But fortunately, he wasn’t deprived of his life. ✓ I found my family roots in Sum‑ shchina. Grandfather’s brother came. My mother’s cousins, brothers. Over the years, unfortunately, these ties do not strengthen but weak‑ en.

If you’ve become a doctor, serve the people. Follow up conversation. — Have you, Arnold Fyodorovich, ever had a chance to watch a man’s character and habits change after his illness?

— Diseases have an impact on a per‑ son’s character. Everybody knows about it. But there’s still a lot we don’t know about brain diseases. We can only say that we know the hidden causes that lead to such diseases. But this is not the knowledge that will help solve problems in the near future. Because there are so many varie‑ ties of brain tumors! From benign to ma‑ lignant. A long line of varieties: about 200. We have one institute that deals with such problems, and in the United States, for example, there are about 20. There is a huge army of specialists working all over the world, but so far there are a lot of ques‑ tions in this area. When I was a student, we were told: by the end of the twentieth century, the problem of treating malignant

tumors will have been completely solved. And now it’s the 21st century, and soon it will be a quarter of a century… Reading the works, research of col‑ leagues, we arrived at an interesting idea. A great research work was done by my dissertator Tatiana Zhukova. As a result she defended her doctorate thesis. She is a neuromorphologist. And while studying malignant tumors of the brain, she no‑ ticed that they contain a virus of herpes simplex. You know, the one we have on our lips sometimes. She noticed that

where there is a virus, the vessels grow especially fast. And if they do, so does a tumor behind them. And we, reasoning over these relationships, came to the con‑ clusion: if you oppress, press this virus, which is usually every person has, and al‑ most everyone who has a malignant brain tumor, as a result the growth of blood ves‑ sels will stop. So the tumor does not in‑ crease: this process slows down. We have started to treat such patients with antiviral drugs — and we see good results. Before, after the removal of the malignant tumor, patients receded after 7–8 months, well, a year at the most. And today it’s been a few years and there’s no relapse. This, of course, is not a global solution to the problem, but one of the promising op‑ tions.

— Let me give you a little consideration on the topic. In St. Petersburg there is the firm “Allofarm”, its founders are Doctor of Biological Sciences Sergey Chernysh and his daughter, biologist

Natalya Chernysh, our compatriots: her maternal grandfather Egor was born in Belarus. http://allopharm.ru/We read on the site: “The company is engaged in search, development and commercialization of new medicines, the prototypes of which are active components of the immune system of insects, with antiviral, antitumor and antibacterial effect”. In addition, Sergey Ivanovich is the head of the laboratory of biopharmacology and immunology of insects of St. Petersburg State University, he has long studied insects. He has also studied the so-called effect of “surgical larvae”, which is known, as the company says on its website, since the Crimean War, Napoleon and N. I. Pirogov. As it turned out, in the treatment of complex wounds “surgical larvae” can do without antibiotics at all. In the era of superbacteria, it is difficult to overestimate this feature of the larvae. And in 2011, the French biologist Jules Hoffmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for “work on the study of the activation of innate immunity”. His research was based on the study of the insect immune system. And now in St. Petersburg they’re making unique, patented drugs. There, scientists managed to decipher the antimicrobial complex of “surgical larvae” and develop the technology for its production. However, other researchers are inclined to see the relationship between cancer and weakened immunity. One can even imagine: some place, or an organ in the body is weakened energetically — and chaos breakes out… It’s like a house where the owners don’t keep order…

— Thank you, interesting informa‑ tion. Apparently, you’ve been talking to oncologists about these issues. And they know that malignant cells are cells of the body itself. And we always have them. What are they? Let’s imagine: there’s a young, unshaped cell that can begin to reproduce. When a cell has served its in‑ tended time, others take its place. But sometimes this mechanism is broken, which in young years used to work in our body without failure. And the young беларусь. belarus 2020

medvestnik.by

Children of war

Arnold Smeyanovich, while working in Dybin with ambulance aircraft, visited many parts of Belarus, rescuing patients. September 1966.

cell begins to reproduce uncontrollably, and its offsprings grow like a snowball…

— …A kind of anarchy. Growing without taking into account external circumstances, without looking at the needs of the organism as a whole — it’s vigilanteism. Some kind of selfishness on the cellular level…

— It’s true. Sometimes the body turns on some of its mechanisms and destroys these unnecessary foreign cells. That’s how we rid ourselves of malignant tumors. We also have benign tumors, so they develop a little differently. All of this has to be studied. There are peculiarities in the structure and functioning of the nervous system in each of us. And for the people of different psy‑ chological types they are different. Howev‑ er, this is more a question for physiologists than for neurosurgeons. I once said: looking at the open brain, if the rest of the human body is covered, it is impossible to conclude who is lying before you: smart or stupid. Of course, you can tell the difference between races by the skin-color. But not by the brain.

— What do you think most often causes the problems you deal with? Inheritance? The environment? Upbringing? Ecology? What exactly leads to them?

— It’s hard to say. Different diseases. There are hereditary problems, too. I’m go‑ ing to do surgery right now, there’s a vas‑ cular tumor. It’s in the cerebellum. Her dad and her sister had it, too. There are cases

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when father or mother has a tumor and it appears in their children with time.

— Are there any areas with “pathogenic zones”, the most unfavorable?

— I’ll tell you the truth: even after Chernobyl, we haven’t noticed it. I mean, that after Chernobyl in some Chernobyl areas there was a localization, the most frequent occurrence of the problems we deal with. It had happened before. But now we have a different diagnosis. There are more resources to identify the prob‑ lem today. Say, CT scans are a big help. And a nuclear tomograph — almost every clinic has one. We have two. Naturally, the bad environment affects our health — but that’s not the main reason, I think. Nei‑ ther is a certain social environment…

— So both the son of an academician and the son of a poorly educated homeless person are equally at risk of getting a brain tumor?

— Yes, kinship with the academician does not give their offspring any advantag‑ es in this respect. Yeah, someone’s lucky. Somebody’s not…

— By the way, since when have you been an academic? — Since 2006.

— How do negative emotions affect human health?

— Based on the people’s wisdom and my life experience, I can say without sci‑ entific experiments: pride, anger, resent‑ fulness are definitely bad qualities. For

everyone. I think that in any case it is due to a disorder, inadequate, ineffective func‑ tioning of the nervous system, which has a very negative impact on our entire body. It endangers both physical health and life. All the negative attitude that we carry in‑ side us, and spill out, reduces our chances of survival. The one who is full of these qualities is more susceptible to different diseases. A good person is less susceptible to disease than an evil one., dissatisfied with everything, who always lacks some‑ thing and takes offence. You can only take offence at yourself — and not for long. It’s better not to take offence at yourself.

— What is the soul? Sometimes they say: the soul hurts… — It’s hard to understand. I don’t think it is located in a definite place, and certainly not in the brain. It may have some‑ thing to do with the heart… Although the heart is more of a pump pumping blood…

— Do your patients share what they have seen in the other world?

— Yes, sometimes they do, there have been cases. They describe a flight through a black tunnel. And then after a while a person comes back, and feels very easy. And I, by the way, experienced this feeling to some extent when I was sick. It was as early as in my childhood: as if I was flying high. True, at that time I did not under‑ stand anything, only later, over the years. I had a high fever, it was as if I had got out of my body and saw myself lying down. And was flying. I remember this feeling. I didn’t understand it. I told my mom about it, I asked her why I had been flying. She told me: your had high temperature.

— Is there room for miracles in your practice?

— Yes, there is! I have even heard such an optimistic expression: there is always room for a miracle in the life of every posi‑ tive person. Of course, we have had some hard cases. You can’t help a person, and it seems that everything has been already done, but he or she comes out of this state. And when you are sure that everything is okay, you see that the process doesn’t go the way it should, as you want it to be. I also noticed that when the patient says “I will not undergo surgery”, we should respond

Children of war to it. Of course, I encourage such a per‑ son, it’s okay to say it’s not a big deal, you have a small surgery. And they still do not respond to my positive message. And it’s true… Either they feel their destiny, or set themselves against. The operation seemed to go well, but the patient is falling away to nothing… And leaves. And sometimes the patient comforts me: don’t worry, doc‑ tor, I’ll live. But this s a very difficult case. You remove the tumor and think it’s all for nothing. And then you watch him recio‑ vering. And he lives!

staff liked her. Another one was about to be appointed — but the will of the people won.

— Absolutely, that’s right. It’s much easier for an optimistic person to go through the ordeals of life. It’s easier for the optimist to endure all severe situ‑ ations, diseases, complications. People learn from mistakes. But it’s better, really, to learn from others.

— Yes, an operating module was built here five years ago, and the equipment was the most modern at that time. Foreign guests came, they felt jealous. The MRI scanner is not far — it’s always possible to use it. For example, you’re going into surgery, and the tumor is not visible. A patient is transported on a trolley there — and you can use it. There is navigation. During the surgery, you can examine in which direction the tumor lies. It’s possible to televise: you can consult from a distance. There is endovascular surgery — it’s when hrough the femoral artery we enter the an‑ eurysm without opening the skull. There’s no need for open surgery. Students can see on the screen how it’s done. We used to put a plastic plate after the surgery, now it’s titanium. We model it with 3D. And the plate is printed on a 3D printer…

— So a lot depends on psychosomatics, too?

— We know that your son Vitaly works here, too. And how did that happen? Children don’t always follow their father’s footsteps…

— Yes. Tamara Ivanovna was an oto‑ laryngologist. She and I are studentmates. I’m joking with my grandson now: I’m your grandmother’s husband.

— What is the situation in your RSPC with equipment? — You know, absolutely everything has changed here. I once told the Presi‑ dent: I want to work in a new clinic where all the equipment is modern.

— Has the most modern equipment been installed?

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— And my son wasn’t going to do it. Although he studied at medical unversity. After graduation he was sent to hospital N 5. And I was also in the same hospital, so we got closer. And my grandson is also here: Stanislav Smeyanovich. My elder daughter, Olga, is also a physician, a dentist. She is the director of the dental clinic on Zakharova Street. She worked there for 20 years. The

— Is your wife a physician too?

— What else is new in Belarusian surgery?

— A lot of things! You see the re‑ ports on TV. My colleagues do the most complicated surgeries And not only my colleagues! Let’s say, a robot-surgeon ap‑ peared in the building of the State institu‑ tion “Republican clinical medical center” of Administration President of Belarus (Lechkomissiya) in Zhdanovichi. It removed the gallbladder. It’s doing in‑ testinal surgery. The machine works, and the surgeon watches over its work. Beyond our western border, they already have it. But I’d like to be in demand for now. But we can’t stop the progress. In about 10 years, I think robots will perform operations. But these are expensive technologies.

— Do you cooperate with the Institute of Physiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus?

— Yes, and with Kulchitsky’s stu‑ dent — Yury Shanko. We have the fol‑ lowing topic: brain protection against is‑ chemia. That is, treatment with stem cells of ischemic brain damage. On all parts of the brain, which suffered during the clog‑ ging of blood vessels — ischemia, heart at‑ tack — cells die. We need to restore those functions. Yury Shanko has developed a methodology, he is our deputy director for scientific work. This is my pupil, too. And my son is the head of the 1st department, I am the curator in the 2nd. On Fridays we do general, joint rounds, we examine all th patients of the 1st and 2nd departments.

— Do your fellow — countryman come to you for help?

— Always, if anyone needs help. Be‑ cause everybody knows: I don’t say no to anyone. And I think it’s the right thing to do. As long as you’ve become a doctor, you’ve chosen this path in life, you’ve got to do it.

— Do you treat overseas patients, too?

— Of course I do. We are open to such contacts, ready to accept more. We are ap‑ proached by citizens of Russia, Kazakh‑ stan — all CIS and Baltic countries. They look through a pricelist, choose medical services, as they say, affordable. Before starting surgery

Interviewed by Ivan and Valentina Zhdanovich

беларусь. belarus 2020

To the 75th anniversary of the Victory: Personal

Mother and war

About Mariya Cherkashina, a participant of the Great Patriotic War, one of those who is gone Mom, participant of the Great Patriotic War, who lived with us in Minsk for more than ten years, died nine years ago. When I think about her, images pop up on the inner vision screen. Some of them are formed on the basis of my mother’s stories about herself. Mariya, a teenage girl, enjoys herself sitting on a cart in a white butter-cloth dress made by her mother, wearing blue-

The fate of my mommy, like hundreds of thousands of Soviet women, fell on the wartime. She was lucky to survive, to enjoy life in her native Ukraine together with her husband, Mikhail Cherkashin, veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Also under the peaceful skies of Belarus among children and grandchildren.

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hemmed socks. She’s 12 or 13 years old. And they call her MashaManechka-Marusya and Mariyka. And the cart is moving and moving into her misty future… Ukraine, Kharkiv region… Beginning of the hungry thir‑ ties… The Falchenkos, the spouses Pyotr and Agraphena with their daughters and son, had already moved from the village Blagodatnoye to Rubezhnoye: father of Marusya, Vanya and the youngest Zinochka was appointed chairman of the local village council. And soon repressive actions were taken against them for “wrong administration of public wheat”. In general, for neg‑ ligence. And how it was in reality, alas, there is no one to tell about it today. Cherished memory to all my departed relatives. And the cart is moving and moving… Marusya, swinging her legs, admires her canvas shoes. They’re washed and whitened with tooth powder. And she doesn’t know yet that when she is 15, she will go by train alone to faraway Karelia to visit her father, from whom she has’t heard for a long time. As well as the fact that he will be released later, and Pyotr Vlasovich will again work as a collective farm driver. And in the meantime, she doesn’t know that in the future she will get acquainted with the kindest woman with a grand name — Vera Nikolayevna, a noblewoman by birth. She will not only teach the girl the wisdom of banking, but also good manners, develop her taste and a sense of beauty. Marusya does not know yet that she, a 17‑year-old girl, will marry my twenty-five year old father Mikhail Cherkashin. Having returned after his four-year service in the Marines in the Pacific Fleet in the Far East, he will meet a brown-eyed slim-waisted girl at the Volchansky House of Culture, where he will come to work at the local brass band. And the waist of the young ac‑ tress of the amateur folk theatre is just the size of his palms’ girth.. Yes, my mother can not anticipate that soon in 1938 she will give birth to their son Yury, my elder brother. And she can’t even im‑ agine that terrible day when the war will break out.. Neither can my father, who, as a military musician, will be called to arms dur‑ ing the Great Patriotic War. And will pull 450 wounded soldiers and officers from the battlefield. I can’t help but cite the words on the award sheet of my father’s Medal “For Courage”: “Dur‑ ing the period of the HSB (health support battalion — Auth.) deployment, he was staying in the front group. He worked day and night, without sleep and rest, to help the sick and wound‑ ed as soon as possible. Only during the combat operation from

To the 75th anniversary of the Victory: Personal 20:06 1944. Cherkashin transported to the clearing platoon 450 wounded. During his work in the HSB, as well as during the transportation of the wounded by the HSB was fully involved in the evacuation of wounded soldiers and officers. He enjoys authority with the wounded. Comrade Cherkashin is worthy of being awarded the Medal “For Courage”. He does not know that he will return home after a serious injury with the “Or‑ der of the Patriotic War, second grade” on the service shirt. He doesn’t know either about his long decent postwar life with my mother (Read more about it in the article “Dad’s War” No. 5–2015). …My grandmother Agraphena was taking her daughter to Volchansk, a dis‑ trict center in the Kharkov region, from the village of Rubezhnoye to study for a bank clerk. She was glad that it would be easier to survive, because there would be one mouth less to feed in the family. Fam‑ ine in Ukraine was terrible. Now there is a monument to the victims of forced fam‑ ine in Volchansky Central Park. I remem‑ ber my mother and grandmother telling me about people’s death… Agraphena herself and her children survived thanks to pieces of dough that could be taken out of the village bakery: clean a container, where it was mixed, and that’s the salva‑ tion for hungry mouths. They managed to hide the dough under the clothes so that they could pass by the guards unnoticed. Coming home after the shift, my grand‑ mother used to say, her godmother would stay at the open window, as if they were talking, and would scrape the dough off her body under the jacket and pass it to the grandmother discreetly. And it also hap‑ pened that while walking past the house she threw a piece of dough right onto the ground. Grandma lifted the dough, cleaned it from the weeds, and cooked soup with dumplings. And even with the dough the family was hungry. That’s why they sent my mom to town. Not long be‑ fore being sent to the camp, Pyotr man‑ aged to arrange with his friend, who worked in the bank as a manager, about taking Marusya as a trainee. That’s how my

mother became an accountant later. And was promoted to a chief accountant. I’ve never seen my grandfather Pyotr Vlasovich, not even a photo. From the beginning of the war he was called into the army, then, they said, he was a parti‑ san in the dense forests of the Seversky Donets, and later, when the offensive of our troops in Donbass began, he joined the army and perished at the front on March 21, 1942. In the generalized database of OBD “Memorial” there is information about the place of burial of my grandfa‑ ther: Ukrainian SSR, Stalin region, Yam‑ sky district, village of Nikiforovka, 1 km by the side of the road. Nowadays it is Donetsk region, Bakhmut district. My cousin Lyudmila's mother aunt Zina told me that her father’s grave was there. So we have a goal — to worship my grandfather, put flowers on his grave. And also, knowing the worth of hard rural labor, Agraphena Timofeyevna, of course, wanted all her children — three daughters and a son, who were born be‑ fore the war, to become educated, and, as they say, to make their way in life. And that exactly how it happened later. My mother and aunt Zina had a special secondary education, Sveta had a higher education. Uncle Vanya, born in 1922, became a mili‑ tary pilot, fought as well as my father did. It was he who became my link with Bela‑

Fifteen-year-old Mariya Cherkashina (left), along with her colleagues at Volchansky State Bank, 1935

rus, where he was living with his family. I remember well when he came to visit us and brought a large box of chocolates with the word “Gomel” on it. I couldn’t under‑ stand and kept asking him whether that was the name of the sweets. No, my uncle pilot laughed, this is a city in the country of Belarus… Our Gomel is a beautiful city, which I have visited more than once. As for

My mother’s work record shows that she risked her life every day while working in a war zone

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To the 75th anniversary of the Victory: Personal Novopolotsk, where uncle Vanya’s son and my cousin Igor, sisters Natasha and Sveta live, I have not managed to visit yet. However, I will return to Rubezhnoye. I remember very well a huge poplar with swings in the yard of my grandmother’s small house, where my cousins, un‑ cle Vanya’s daughters, and I used to run about in summer. Grandmother treated us to lush Ukrainian dumplings with cher‑ ries and cottage cheese, and we cheerfully competed, who will eat most of them. I’ll never forget a terrible thunderstorm with lightning. It was so bright that it made the night windows look white. And the rolls of thunder that made the glass clink. And it was impossible to sleep: it seemed that my grandmother’s house would col‑ lapse. “It’s all right, kids, don’t be afraid, I’ll pray and the storm will bypass us,” said grandma. And she added: “That is not terrible, do not be afraid, children, thunder from the Germans is more terrible.” And she would pray quietly. We also used to run to the village outskirts where there were German bunkers, the so-called dots. In March 1942 there were fierce battles in those places for the village of Rubezhnoye. Almost 10,000 soldiers and officers were killed in them. Today, at the place where the remains of heroes who gave their lives for the liberation of the village are buried, there is a memorial sign to the Unknown Soldier. It was unveiled on the occasion of the 75th anniversary since Rubezhnoye’s liberation from Nazism. And the remains of the dead were found by searchers in the local forests. The Memo‑ rial of Glory in the village of Rubezhnoye, Volchansky district, is one of the most re‑ vered places. In 2018 Vasiliy Mamonenko, the only front-line soldier in the village at the time, told about those terrible times of war (there is a video on the Internet). For everyone, he is a man of the era, because he went through all the war. As my mother said, she liked it in the bank. Although it was difficult, she felt hungry, and dreamed about figures, she liked communicating with friendly peo‑ ple. They also gave food to a skinny girl, keen on studying: some people used to

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give her a piece of bread, others a pan‑ cake or a lump of sugar. Mom often recol‑ lected it with tears in her eyes. And with humor once told about Vera Nikolayevna who invited her to lunch at the weekend. She remembered sitting at the round table with a white tablecloth. There were spar‑ kling forks and spoons on the table lying next to the plates with golden edging, next to them there were starchy white napkins. First, bean soup was served, which was poured out of a tureen, and then small thin pancakes. My mother watched Vera Nikolayevna twist the pan‑

Mother with a five-year-old son, Yury. The photo was taken immediately after Kharkiv was liberated from the Nazis in February 1943, and sent to the front to her husband. On the back one can barely read: To our beloved husband and father from his wife and son. With this picture, Daddy returned home in April 1945.

cake with a fork and dip it into honey. And she tried to do the same. But the pancake did not obey, moreover, it was spreading out on a plate as if it was alive. And Vera Nikolayevna’s brother watched her and said: “Baby, take it into your hand and eat with pleasure. And do not worry.” My mother remembered that dinner for life.

One day, she and I made pancakes and tried to fork them. It didn’t work! Oh, my mommy, how much you went through, how much you endured… “ Ev e r y b o d y g r i e v e d a n d e n ‑ dured…” — my mom used to say when it came to war. Volchansk was ruthlessly struck down by war, as well as other cities of the USSR. My mom had just turned 21. Her words sound in my memory: “We, like every‑ one else, have become numb: what to do, where to run, how to survive…”. Father was called to the colours im‑ mediately, on the third day of the war, and sent to the airfield service battalion, i. e. 690th airfield service battalion, 100 km from Volchansk, near Valuyki, district center of Belgorod region. And he was made in charge of a grocery storehouse. And when in the winter of 1942 he was driving through Volchansk, he managed to… take his young wife with their 3‑yearold son and bring her to the battalion. But, of course, he wasn’t allowed to live with his family… Still, my mother didn’t go back: she started to work at the airfield service battalion as a bookkeeper. And my brother Yury was looked after by a village woman, who hosted civilian Mariya Cherkashina. “It was terrible time, in February, cold was unbearable, and so many pilots died — said my mother — day after day…”. Ac‑ cording to her, many wives and children followed their men to Valuyki: everyone thought the war would soon be over… But, as we know, the war lasted for a long time. My father fought for three and a half years, was wounded twice. More than a thousand three hundred days and nights my mother, like most wives of those who had gone to war, was without him. When in February 1942 my father was transferred from the airfield service battalion to the 51st guards rifle division and enlisted in a musical platoon, she, hav‑ ing stayed enough at strangers’, returned to Volchansk. After having been in the territory of military operations, mother, as she confessed, was no longer afraid of anything. Our town was occupied twice: from October 31, 1941 to November 12 of the same year. And from June 10, 1942 to

To the 75th anniversary of the Victory: Personal February 9, 1943. And during the Khark‑ ov offensive operation it was liberated by the Soviet troops of the Voronezh Front. So my mother lived under occupation for more than six months. Many Volchansk women, and those who lived on our street Podgornaya, outskirts of the town, worked wherever they could, sold something. To find a job was a big luck. Young people, like my mother, were taken to clean the dining room, paid with expired products, or the left-overs from the Germans’ plates. And the more she managed to collect, the hap‑ pier Mom came home. After all, she was waited for by her mother-in-law and my brother Yury. It is difficult for me to imag‑ ine not only the fact that they didn’t have enough to eat in those days, but also how they managed to find room in a tiny mudwalled hut with a straw roof. Because there was only one room and a kitchen. Appar‑ ently, for this reason, one of the top-rank Germans, as my mother said, stayed only a couple of days. But he managed to scare her to death. Mom was just hanging out her laundry, and through the holes in the fence, she saw a fat man who had dined heartily, go out into the yard and head towards her. She ran into the garden, which stretched under the mountain. When she saw with her side vision that the German was quick‑ ening his pace, mother rushed up a steep slope of a ravine overgrown with ground cherry. She had no idea that he would find the path and climb the mountain. Just twenty meters from the edge of the ravine there was a field of corn which was quite tall. It saved my mother. First, she hid herself there, ran a little, and then spread out between the stalks, and pressed to the ground. The heart, she said, was jumping out of her chest, it seemed that the German could hear its beats. But he stopped in front of the field and turned back. She stayed in the corn-field till dark, and when she re‑ turned home, the grandmother said: the German had packed his things and left on the motorcycle. After him, a tank crew arrived to stay in the house, or maybe it was some other armoured vehicle. Those three were young Hungarians, or Roma‑ nians, as my mother said — the Magyars. And they didn’t hurt anybody. They didn’t

even mind it when my little brother had stolen a couple of pressed cocoa and sugar bars from them, chewed them up behind the barn and came home with his mouth smeared. In gestures, laughing, the guests said, “The Germans would have shot him immediately”. And sometimes they gave him cookies and plain biscuits. When our troops began their offensive, they left and warned the whole family to stay in the cellar. I remember well that cold ground cellar. It remained there when our big bright house was built in place of the hatka (peasant house). Mom’s war under occupation was primarily for survival. In summer it was easier: apples and apricots were ripe in the garden. It’s true, they made people want to eat even more. Bread was rare. In Au‑ gust they dug up potatoes, carrots. They made borsch from beet tops with potatoes and carrots. There was corn on the moun‑ tain. Although it was forbidden to take it, people still managed to take at least some corn-cobs for themselves. Kids chewed it raw. Their growing bodies needed food badly. My mother told me that even after the war Yura used to run to his father’s cousin, stopped at the door and waited for something to be given to him. And if the pause was too long, he began to whim‑ per diplomatically: bunjka, grandmother,

How beautiful the bank employees were after the war. Mom (right) and her friend, 1946.

has not yet stroked a fire, bunjka, has not cooked yet… When after the liberation of Kharkiv region the bank returned from the evacua‑ tion, my mother went to work there again. Employees, she said, greeted each other as if they were relatives… So bread ap‑ peared in the house, which was rationed. My father’s sister Olga came back from the evacuation with her two children — Alik and Valya. That’s what my cousin recol‑ lected: “I remember walking around the city, skinny, exhausted… But alive! And in the

In the orchestra of the Volchansky House of Culture almost all its members were combat veterans. Dad in a white shirt with baritone singer (left), 1946. беларусь. belarus 2020

To the 75th anniversary of THE Victory: Personal center we met aunt Marusya, who was running to the bank to work. We came to Podgornaya Street and started liv‑ ing there. All five in one small room: me and my sister with our mother and aunt Marusya with my cousin Yurka. And grandma Katya slept in the kitchen… With Yurka we ran to the ravine, which was adjoining the Cherkashins’ garden, there were two trench shelters, where we found all sorts of things left by the Germans. We even found grenades and an automatic pistol that uncle Misha (my father — Auth.) handed over to the police. At the time people lived poorly, halfstarving. In 1946, in Volchansk, the hun‑ ger was terrible: the birds didn’t even chirp. I remember feeling hungry all the time. And when uncle Misha started working at the oil-mill, he loaded oil cake (a product derived from sunflower seeds after isolating oil by pressure — Auth.), we all felt more cheerful. Oil cake tasted better than chocolate for me. And Yurka said it was even sweeter than the bars of cocoa he once had stolen from a tank and chewed up behind the barn.” My father came back in April 1945. In a hospital in Ekaterinburg, then Sverdlovsk, he had been treated for over three months. Dad’s war began on June 24, 1941 and end‑ ed in April, 1945. I found these dates in his Red Army book and military registration card after he passed away in 1993. And that my father was treated in hospital 414, I found out from his documents. There, in Yekaterinburg, at 145 Mamin-Sibiryak Street, on the building of the House of In‑ dustry, there is now a memorial plaque made of grey marble in memory of hospital 414 … Dad fought on the Kursk Bulge and near Stalingrad. He also lib‑ erated Belarusian cities. I heard about Operation Bagration, as well as Polotsk and Vitsebsk… As part of the 49th special communications regiment, which, by the way, had the honorary title of Polotsk, fought through the north-western regions of Belarus

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towards Daugavpils. I know all this from his short stories about the war, which he did not like to talk about, no matter how much we tried to make him talk. And, of course, from the Red Army book, I know about all the awards my father won. They were carefully kept by my mother. She was the one who made my father wear a jacket with the orders and medals and take pic‑ tures. As a keepsake for the children and grandchildren. Thanks to mom, this pic‑ ture is kept in the family archive. And she made him go to the Kursk Bulge on the occasion of one of the Victory Anniversa‑ ry dates. The Volchansky district military committee took the veterans of the Great Patriotic War to the famous memorial complex, which was opened on August 3, 1973 in honor of the heroes of the Battle of Kursk. I remember my mother telling me: father was very pleased. And how happy he was when I, already living in Minsk, gave birth to his a grandson Bogdan! And only then, after years since the war, his heart seemed to soften. I will never forget my Daddy’s smile when he was holding

Father’s fishing lantern — a family relic

Bogdanchik, a three-year-old, in his lap. And how proud he was of his grandson when he went to study “to be a doctor”. He said he would become a true man! By the way, grandmother Agraphena, Zina and Sveta also survived during the war years. Before the battles for Rubezh‑ noye Pyotr Vlasovich managed to trans‑ port them to his parents in Blagodat‑ noe. And later grandmother returned to Rubezhnoye again, her house on the out‑ skirts of the village survived. My aunts got education, got married. Sveta with time took the grandmother to the city of Yel‑ low Waters, which is in Dnipropetrovsk region. Chronologically Mom’s war ended with the return of the father, as well as in any other family, where the breadwinner returned after the war. There was hope that it would soon be easier. There was new experience of post-war life in which I didn’t exist yet… But that damn war was invisibly still present. When my husband and I invited my mother to stay with us, surrounded her by attention and care, the memory of war and famine showed itself in her care for food. She said we should always have salt, sugar, cereal in the house. How she re‑ joiced when the refrigerator was full. And she didn’t like it when there wasn’t a slice of bread in the house. And how gently she was holding it in her fingers. She used to re‑ member that there was no bread under the occupation and, immediately after the war. I remember well a large bag of bread‑ crusts, which was hung on a nail in the pantry, and was replenished from time to time. It hung in both the old house and the new house. The breadcrusts were drying in the oven. I also remember well that aroma and spicy taste of them. Sometimes mom and dad would break them to pieces and throw them into the soup… And how proud she was when in 2002, at the Minsk Mili‑ tary Committee of the Soviet District, she was presented

To the 75th anniversary of the Victory with a certificate of participation in the Great Patriotic War based on her per‑ sonal file, confirming that Mariya Petro‑ vna Cherkashina had participated in hostilities. Before that, when we went on holiday to our homeland, we requested a notice from the Volchansky district mili‑ tary registration and enlistment office. I remember how skeptical the employee was about our request, wondering: why your grandmother needed it, what kind of a participant of the war she was… They treated our actions in Minsk with respect. It’s right that people like your mother are marked out, not forgotten, said one of the women who gave her a certificate, because at any moment the combat airfield where she was working could have been bombed. As a result of the status of a Great Pa‑ triotic War participant, mother’s pension got higher. And how happy she was when every year on the Victory Day she received triangle greeting cards signed by the Presi‑ dent of Belarus. And proudly listening to Alexander Lukashenko’s speech, she sat in the hall of the Palace of the Republic where she was invited to a concert dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Victory. It was also unforgettable for my moth‑ er that she received an unusual congratu‑ latory message on her 90th birthday. On April 25, 2010, a real military band was playing melodies of the war years on a green lawn under the windows of the house on Logoysky Trakt in Minsk. My mommy, sat in a wheelchair, with flow‑ ers in her hands, crying. She probably re‑ membered her husband, a military musi‑ cian. And her war. We’ll celebrate 75 years since the Vic‑ tory without mom, she is one of those who are gone. According to the tradition estab‑ lished by my parents back in Volchansk, the Minsk part of our family will get to‑ gether. Men will raise 100‑gram daily ra‑ tion of vodka. We will certainly remember that my father never drank more. Because he was sure: it’s manly. We’ll also buy bright red tulips, put them near the portraits of our dear peo‑ ple. And we’ll light a candle in my dad’s old fishing lantern. By Valentina Cherkashina-Zhdanovich

As recorded — believe it A BSU student has collected over a hundred recollections of war participants

n the house of a Great Patriotic War veteran, fate brought me to‑ gether with Roman Zinchenko, a freshman of the History Depart‑ ment of the BSU. He has been working as a volunteer with veterans for four years, and has recorded recol‑ lections of 120 war veterans who are living in Minsk and Minsk region. For Roman it is priceless in itself. — In my family, the veteran is my great-grandmother Chupris Mariya Fyodorovna. She was born in the vil‑ lage of Boriski, Minsk region. At the age of 15 she left for the city, and at the beginning of the war she was al‑ ready working as surgeon assistant in Klumov’s hospital. The famous Evg‑ eny Klumov, who was sent to the gas chamber by the Nazis in March 1944… Hero of the Soviet Union. From 1942 to 1944, the greatgrandmother participated in the par‑ tisan movement, was a liaison in the detachments “Dima” and “Gromyko”. In our family the following episode is often recollected. Mariya Fyodorovna was walking around the Komarovsky market in Minsk in a beautiful fox-fur collar coat. It was winter. It was cold. She was in a hurry to carry out the task, i. e. to deliver leaflets and a report from one secret address to another. Sud‑ denly armed patrol appeared. They noticed her and signaled to come. The great-grandmother came up to them, her legs giving way. It was cold for the Germans, too, the winter was severe. They wanted to tear the foxfur collar off the great-grandmother’s coat in order to use it for themselves, to protect themselves from frost. The collar wouldn’t come off. The greatgrandmother was more dead than alive as the leaflets were hidden un‑

der the collar. The fox fur was so close to coming off… But suddenly, a hot patty cake seller appeared nearby, be‑ gan to loudly tout for customers, and the Germans forgot about Mariya Fy‑ odorovna for a while. While they were eating the patty cakes, she managed to run away. I keep her medals, certifi‑ cates, photographs, award documents and the Order. My great-grandmother had an el‑ der brother Chupris Dmitry Fyodor‑ ovich, a career military man born in 1910. He participated in the Polish campaign of the Red Army, in the war with Finland, in the Patriotic War, de‑ fended Moscow. And in 1942 he was parachuted on the territory of Be‑ larus to become the chief of staff in the subversive detachment “Dima”. I know that Dmitry Fyodorovich took part in the preparation of the assassi‑ nation attempt on gauleiter Wilhelm Kube. He liberated Belarus, Poland, fought at Koenigsberg, and celebrated the victory on the Elbe… I couldn’t help but ask: “Why do you need to know all this today?” — I’m interested in people’s fates, how they survived, how they fought the enemy under extreme conditions. In our family we used to talk a lot and often about the war, but I did not see my family war veterans alive. Perhaps, this made me do volunteer work with the veterans, record their recollec‑ tions… Roman Zinchenko carefully col‑ lected from the table old photos with portraits of war participants, shabby documents, awards of his greatgrandfathers. He was in a hurry, the veterans were waiting for him in the hospital. By Vladimir Stepanenko

беларусь. belarus 2020

Heritage of Belarus

Rich culture takes over the world

спадчына.бел

The art project “Spadchyna of Belarus” is submitted for the State Prize

n an attempt to solve the code of Belarus many researchers and art‑ ists tirelessly write about our coun‑ try, glorifying it in the works of art. Alexander Alekseyev and Oleg Lu‑ kashevich have created one of the most prominent and significant art pro‑ jects in the history of modern Belarusian culture — “Spadchyna of Belarus”. With the help of three components (presenta‑ tional books-albums, documentaries and photo exhibitions) the authors managed to create a recognizable brand “Spadchy‑ na of Belarus” and rediscover the country not only for the Belarusians themselves, but also for the foreign public. Developing the concept of their project in 2001, Alekseyev and Luka‑ shevich, in many ways, were ahead of time: they were the first art photogra‑ phers to persistently destroy the stereo‑ type of “peasant” Belarus:

беларусь. belarus 2020

— We didn’t even suppose that our album “Spadchyna of Belarus” would be so demanded, — admits Oleg Luka‑ shevich. — Nevertheless, since 2004 the book has been republished 18 times, 46,500 copies have already been issued, and journalists called it a bestseller about the Motherland. And at the begin‑ ning of our journey we were led by love for our country, the feeling that such a book is necessary for Belarus, that we can’t always exploit the theme of folklore and nature while talking about it. When a person comes to a strange country for the first time, he pays attention first of all to the material heritage: architecture, works of art, what was created by previ‑ ous generations. It was very important for us to gather our national wealth un‑ der one cover to show that Belarus did not appear yesterday, the country has a thousand-year history, there were many

enlightened people, scientists, masters, artists, patrons of arts. Since 2004, books-albums “Spad‑ chyna of Belarus” have been in the gift collections of most heads of state and government, in the largest libraries of the world, in prestigious universities, cultur‑ al and diplomatic institutions, in private collections of famous people — from the Queen of Great Britain to the Pope. Thanks to the painstaking and tal‑ ented work of Lukashevich and Alek‑ seyev, on the pages of their publications we discover a dazzlingly beautiful re‑ gion with a rich history. — Now there is a good wave of reviv‑ al; many Belarusians, especially young people, are interested in their native language and history, they are eager to travel around the country,” Alexander Alekseyev said. — I think our project has contributed to it in many ways. After all, when we started, famous at present architectural monuments and tourist routes were in the sidelines. But we man‑ aged to present them in a favorable light.

First in everything In the books-albums “Spadchyna of Belarus” the authors were the first (in the presentational edition) to purpose‑ fully create the concept of artistic rep‑ resentation of the historical grandeur,

Heritage of Belarus uniqueness and diversity of architectur‑ al monuments and items of decorative and applied art of the 19th — early 20th centuries in all regions of the country. In each republication the data on the na‑ tional heritage are updated. And if we compare the editions of 2004 and 2017, one can see a long way of Belarus on way of restoration of historical monuments. Thanks to the project, the Bela‑ rusian heritage and culture were pre‑ sented at prestigious exhibition ven‑ ues of the world: from the UNESCO headquarters to the British Museum. In Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Rome, Warsaw, Beijing, New York, Washington and other cities peo‑ ple learned about the rich history of Be‑ larus. In Paris, the project “Spadchyna of Belarus” was exhibited for more than two years (the works over 2 meters in size were purpose-made). And in Minsk, for five years, the photos from the bookalbum were admired by everyone who was walking past Chelyuskintsev Park, where breathtaking landscapes were placed. It was the largest exhibition in history: almost one kilometer of exhibi‑ tion space, 150 three-meter works. And today the permanent exhibition of the project “Spadclosehyna of Belarus” dec‑ orates the Independence Palace. Since 2003, the authors have held 30 largescale national and international photo exhibitions. Perhaps the success was facilitated by the fact that the art project, again for the first time in history, received the blessing of two major confessions of Be‑ larus, Orthodox and Catholic. The first book was published in Sep‑ tember 2004, and the edition of threethousand copies was sold within 29 days. The rest, as they say, is already his‑ tory. The authors of the album were a tremen‑ dous success, there were numerous reis‑ sue of the album with its unique representative function, which was noted at the high‑

est level: on January 7, 2005, President Alexander Lukashenko presented Alex‑ ander Alekseyev and Oleg Lukashevich with the award “For Spiritual Revival”. — Such a high appraisal was very supportive of us at the beginning of our journey, we understood that we should move forward,” the authors note. Each book-album “Spadchyna of Belarus” consists of 320 pages, more than 400 art photographs, which rep‑ resent each region of the country and provide important information about the most significant facts in history in three languages: Belarusian, Russian and English.

The book is a true value The letter from Buckingham Palace, sent by order of Elizabeth II, contained the following lines: “Her Majesty noted: this edition is a wonderful voice of Be‑ larus. The book is a true value, which will immediately enlarge the Royal Li‑ brary”. Lukashevich and Alekseev had the honor to donate the album “Spadchyna of Belarus” in 2004 to Pope John Paul II. In a letter of gratitude from the Vatican State Secretariat it was noted: “I thank you for the noble gesture of present‑ ing to the Holy Father an interesting book “Spadchyna of Belarus”, which contains information about historical, artistic and religious monuments in different regions of Belarus, illustrated with beautiful photographs. A series of documentary films “The Epoch”, “Artists of the Paris School. Na‑ tives of Belarus”, “Contemporary Art of Belarus” (31 films in total) blended in

with the project “Spadchyna of Belarus”. The authors were the first in documen‑ taries to investigate in detail and on a large scale the biographies of Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk, Mark Chagall, Ignacy Domeyko, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Adam Mickiewicz, etc. Research materials, photographs and documents of the project “Spad‑ chyna of Belarus” are constantly used for educational purposes in various educational institutions, museums, spe‑ cialized organizations, in the framework of state programs for putting historical landmarks of Belarus on the UNESCO World Heritage List. For the Belarusians themselves, this project does not only reveal the origin, uniqueness and richness of the national history and culture, but also awakens a sense of pride in their country, makes them think about careful treatment of their property, revival of the lost, future effective development. ◆◆◆ Pavel Sapotko, director of the Na‑ tional Museum of History: — There is no other presentational book-album in the national book edi‑ tion that has been such a success and has had such a circulation. The value of the project is that the authors have taken the research aspect as the basis for their work. This is what allowed the project to reach the international level. Sergey Klimov, Director of the Na‑ tional Historical and Cultural MuseumReserve “Nesvizh”: — The project has taken its rightful place in the national culture. The au‑ thors, Alexander Alekseyev and Oleg Lukashevich, managed to create not only their own concept to promote and popularize Belarus’ historical and cultural heritage, but also to com‑ bine modern approaches in pub‑ lishing, exhibition and video production. This project opens wide opportunities to present the historical heritage of Belarus in the international arena. By Viktoriya Popova

беларусь. belarus 2020

Hobbies

Tatyana Kostuseva is a software engineer by profession. She works in one of the successful companies which manufactures plastic products. She doesn’t have much free time, but if she does get a few minutes, she thinks about… dolls. The young craftswoman has been creating beautiful toys for herself and others for two years and thinks it’s an activity for life.

беларусь. belarus 2020

Dolls with software

— Creativity has been going along with me since early childhood in all its various forms, but most of all I liked to do something with my own hands. However, one cannot say that my parents supported me in this. On the contrary, they believed that the artist was doomed to poverty, it was better to fo‑ cus on something else. That is why I entered the Belarusian Trade and Economic Univer‑ sity of Consumer Cooperation in Gomel and got a good speciality, which I am now work‑ ing in. Once, when I was browsing through the Internet, I found some information about dolls — and they touched some depths of my soul. Something woke up inside me, started moving, and I realized: my creative energy, potential had been accumulating for many years, and the time had come to realize them. Tatyana thinks that she inherited her abil‑ ities from her relatives — her uncle was an artist, his whole village house looked like an art gallery. And dad was a jack of all trades. — I got the necessary information from the Internet or learned from those interested. I read about making dolls without leaving the house, and got enthusiastic about the idea to create them. The main thing is that the rela‑ tives are not against experiments, including the use of various chemicals. The whole pro‑

cess begins with the choice of material. For boudoir dolls I chose polymer clay — it suits well, because its properties are similar to plas‑ ticine. This clay needs to be baked in an oven. Sometimes my husband comes home and says, “Oh, something delicious is being prepared… Ah, these are your heads” (laughs). When the parts are made, they are polished, then prepared for painting, coated with a special polyurethane varnish, and then body parts are painted: sometimes with acrylic, sometimes with watercolor. And again, they are coated with varnish. When everything is ready, I start assembling the doll. There are flexible fasten‑ ers (splint) in the legs and the torso. Thanks to them the products are very plastic, as if they were alive. On the dolls there are all human features: moles, freckles or small wrinkles. That’s what makes them attractive. What’s interesting, the hair of the dolls is goat hair sent from Russia, where a friend is engaged in breeding these animals and sells unusual raw materials to the doll-makers. Tatyana puts it in necessary condition, i. e.combs, cuts and dyes, fastens it to the head with a magnet. — It takes a month or two to create a boudoir doll. Most likely, in the beginning I’ll have to waste a lot of material: I keep at home

Hobbies

This is how dolls are born

a package with unnecessary details — this is my memory and experience. The concept of a “doll-maker” brings together many skills from different pro‑ fessions. They are an artist (the interloc‑ utor makes henna-painting, mehendi, on some dolls), a hairdresser, a designer (she creates fashionable clothes only by herself), and a mechanic. And also… a doctor. To properly calculate the pro‑ portions of the body, you need to know human anatomy. The most popular dolls in the collec‑ tion are the ball-jointed ones. They can take any human position. — It can take about a year to cre‑ ate one of these, they are very gentle. A master model is made, from which moulds are produced for castings by means of various technologies. Within a month, moulds for different parts are also created. One has to work a lot with them too — to remake, to adjust. Sev‑ eral pre-assemblings have to be carried out before they all fit in perfectly. Next is coloring. This is the moment when the doll “comes to life” and already looks at you with its little eyes. The final stage is assembling, dressing and fixing the wig. Every creator knows the torments of the soul: today everything went well — you feel talented, the next day everything goes wrong — I am a third-rater, — says the interlocutor. She is grateful to her dolls for open‑ ing up a new world for her full of inter‑ esting people: “When we get together,

those present usually remember us, as all the tables quickly turn into an exhi‑ bition of our works. And from time to time we organize them in the city”. Tanya says that it is much easier for her to work on dolls at night. The only rule that should be followed is not to get down to work without a good mood. — It’s a magical time when the whole family is asleep, no one prevents me from enjoying the process to the full. If there is a desire to create something, I can do it 24 hours a day. But after that, you definitely need a week or month break. Creating toys can be compared to the birth of a child: you will never guess what character he or she will have, but you know for sure that you will love them. Each doll has certain emotions, some have a name. Sometimes dolls don’t like the dresses I made for them, hair color and so on. I look at them and understand: they need something dif‑ ferent, so I try to “please” my toys –Taty‑ ana says half-jokingly. — All of them are created in a unique copy, the creation of some of them was inspired by a book or a film. There are babies, princesses, ma‑ ture ladies, but no boys yet. The craftswoman confesses: at the beginning of her hobby, she did not make any plans regarding her earnings, as the primary goal was to create, not to sell. But now she can’t give beauty, even for good hands, cheaply — the buyer must understand its value, how much effort and time was invested.

— In the depth of my heart, I would like a hobby to be my main job, but so far it’s just a dream. Now it’s mainly work for my own pleasure. It’s nice to see that my dolls are of interest to differ‑ ent people. The plans are to start mak‑ ing toys out of porcelain. It is difficult and expensive, but at the same time very beautiful. By the way, I have a positive attitude to criticism regarding my hob‑ by, because the main thing is when crea‑ tivity causes emotions in a person. By Darya Shlapakova. Photo from personal archive of Tatyana Kostuseva.

беларусь. belarus 2020

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Marc Chagall as a book illustrator

Marc Chagall’s works in book graphics are also known. Just now, the Moscow publishing house AST in the series “Collection Book” gave the reader a unique opportunity to look at the brilliant creator Marc Chagall from a different angle. This book is a reedition of “Dead Souls” by Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol illustrated by the great artist. The book has a cir‑ culation of 2000 copies. Prehistory, as explained in the annotation, is as follows: “At the beginning of the 20th century, the patron of art and collector Ambroise Vollard had an idea of pub‑ lishing highly artistic books, illustrat‑ ed by painters, not book illustrators. This is how “Livre d’artiste” trend ap‑ peared, which means in French “book of the artist”. The result of this approach is Nikolay Gogol’s poem “The Adven‑ tures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls” with 96 etchings by Marc Chagall, which was published in 1948 as a limited edition. Printed on handmade paper with wa‑ termarks in the amount of 368 copies, these books were personally signed by

The creative work of our famous countryman Marc Chagall (1887–1985) is primarily known as the work of a brilliant painter. Although he was engaged in both graphics and scenography. The legendary creator also wrote poems, articles and essays in Yiddish. In 1964, Marc Chagall painted a plafond in the audience hall of one of the buildings of the Paris Opera — Opera Garnier. The artist worked on this project for about a year. the great painter and were intended for a narrow circle of selected persons. To‑ day, almost 70 years after the publica‑ tion of this unique book, you have the opportunity to personally see the vivid‑ ly depicted commentary. Gogol’s satiri‑

cal story, which is close to the painter, finds its expression in black and white etchings, unexpected for the artist’s typical oil and bright colors: “I think I would have missed something if I hadn’t done engraving and lithogra

Marc Chagall. Entrance of Chichikov to the city N. Etching, 1927.

беларусь. belarus 2020

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Each of the illustrations discreetly makes the reader a philosopher. And sometimes it seems that Gogol and Marc Chagall are contemporaries. And not only in connection with the 19th century. But also contemporaries, in relation to our 21st century… phing at a certain point in my life, leav‑ ing the color aside”. This edition changes the sequence of etchings established by Marc Chagall and Eugene Teriad. The layout design of the AST book was made by Anna Yakunina. The leading editor of the project is Margarita Gumskaya. The etchings are signed, which is also in‑ teresting and catches the eye. Certainly, in the illustrations of Marc Chagall the main character is immortal Chichikov. His image is presented multi-facetedly, full of details, which undoubtedly ex‑ pands the reader’s idea of events that seem to be known in every detail, in eve‑ ry feature. The etchings encourage the reader to reread the classic work. Each of the illustrations discreetly makes the reader a philosopher. And sometimes it seems that Gogol and Marc Chagall are contemporaries. And not only in con‑ nection with the 19th century. But also contemporaries, in relation to our 21st century… Back in 1999, a small study by A. S. Shatskikh “Gogol’s world through the eyes of Mark Chagall” (27 pages in total) was published in Vitebsk. In 2002 — from July 7 to September 7 — an exhibition “Mark Chagall — Illustrator of Books” was held in Vitebsk. There is

a collection of graphic works compris‑ ing several hundred graphic sheets at the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk. The main treasure is the original color lithography “Towards a New World”, which the author made shortly before his death in March 1985… It is worth reminding that the first experience in the technique of engrav‑ ing Marc Chagall acquired in 1922, il‑ lustrating his book “My Life”. In 1925, a book of poems by Claire and Ivan Gaulle was published with Mark Chagall’s illustrations. In 1927, the artist illustrated Gustav Kokio’s “Provincial Suite”. Art historians claim that Mark Chagall can be recognized in some drawings. The year 1934 re‑ mained in the fate of the artist as the year of making 34 images in ink in a three-volume “Verses and Poems” by Abraham Valta. The book was pub‑ lished in New York. In 1956, color lithographs for the Bible were made by Marc Chagall. They were printed in the magazine “Verve”. The artist also il‑ lustrated A. Sutzkever’s book “Siberia”. Abraham Sutzkever (1913–2010) was a Jewish poet, our countryman, born in Smorgon. He wrote in Polish and Yid‑ dish. He published his first poetry col‑ lection in 1927. He survived the Vilna ghetto, where he continued to write po‑ etry. He took part in the underground movement. He saved valuable manu‑ scripts in Vilnius, i. e. letters of Lev Tol‑ stoy, Maxim Gorky and manuscripts of Sholem Aleichem, other valuable archive materials. In September 1943, on the eve of the extermination of the ghetto, Sutzkever, together with the Resistance Detachment, escaped from captivity and reached the Narochanski forests. On March 12, 1944 the poet was taken by military plane to Moscow. On February 27, 1946 Abraham Sutzkever testified as a witness at the Nuremberg Trials. “Siberia” is one of the early po‑ etic works of our compatriot. In 1975–1976, Marc Chagall makes a series of etchings for his friend Louis Aragon’s book of poems.

Illustrations for Nikolay Gogol's book "Dead Souls"

Marc Chagall. The doorman won't let Chichikov see the governor. Etching, 1927.

By Nikolay Berlezh

беларусь. belarus 2020

Return of the maitre Balet24.ru

“The Creation of the World” by Valentin Elizariev is again on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre!

BRAVO, elizariev!

hey say about this m a n t h at h e w a s born under a happy star. Probably, it is right.. But without talent and incred‑ ibly hard work would he have been able to do so much for himself, and for the Bolshoi Theatre, and for the whole country? People’s Artist of the USSR, People’s Artist of Belarus, choreogra‑ pher Valentin Elizariev again struck far from indifferent audience: in De‑ cember, he returned the ballet “The Creation of the World” onto the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. Four years ago, the famous performance disappeared from the theatre guide, but with the return of Valentin Nikolayevich to the

беларусь. belarus 2020

Bolshoi Theatre as artistic director, his legendary performances come back to life again. “The Creation of the World” is a multi-layered ballet. First of all, we see a biblical theme, the story of Adam and Eve. Behind their history is the eternal struggle of the divine and the devil. But besides the biblical theme, love pul‑ sates on the stage: sometimes reverent, sometimes sacrificial. Another theme is the endless need for choice, where each step sometimes has irreversible conse‑ quences. The breath of close and distant wars is very sharply felt in the images of ballet. Indeed, for almost half a century (43 years) since the premiere on the stage of the Belarusian Ballet, the world has changed, but still the global sense of danger does not leave contemporaries.

Interest in the work of Elizariev has never ceased in the cultural environ‑ ment. Even during a forced downtime, he staged ballets abroad, was a member of the panel of international competi‑ tions and received awards, continued to train young ballet dancers at the Bela‑ rusian State Academy of Music. Valentin Elizariev was born in Baku, but he dedicated his professional life to Belarus. At the age of 26, he became the chief choreographer of the Belarusian Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. He created the modern Belarusian ballet, staying at the head of the ballet troupe for 30 years. He formed a new type of ballet dramaturgy based on continuityt of the action, on the metaphor and va‑ riety of the plastic movements, on the subtle interaction of choreography and

Cultural news and Juliet” (1988) was the image of Enmity. Perhaps this is the timeless meaning and anticipation of those acute ethnic conflicts that began to shake the USSR. — Now the ballet is moving by leaps and bounds in mastering new topics and technical skills, — said Val‑ entin Elizariev. — A modern dancer can do the things a ballet dancer could not even dream of about 20 years ago. There is an explosion of new forms, techniques and ideas in modern world ballet. What is characteristic, all this is not connected with the honored cho‑ reographic groups and state theatres. Today they do not say: “Bolshoi” or “Mariinsky” performers are dancing. They say: the ballet of Yury Grigor‑ ovich, Boris Eifman, Alexander Rat‑ mansky, Radu Poklitaru… The chore‑ ographer defines everything: success, interest, movement in art, prestige of the country he represents. Valentin Elizariev, of course, is a legend. No matter how many titles he has, he does not stop, but strides confidently towards the achievement of his goals. Now, with the direct par‑ ticipation of Valentin Nikolayevich many surprises are being prepared, which the theatre will soon tell the audience about.

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The Days of Belarusian Culture were held in Oman The opening ceremony was held on March 4 on the stage of the House of Musical Arts of the Royal Opera House in Muscat. Spectators saw the perfor‑ mances from the golden portfolio of the Belarusian State Academic Chore‑ ographic Ensemble “Khoroshki”, based on rich folklore traditions and Belaru‑ sian history. The program of the Days of Culture also included the exhibition project “Patterns and symbols: the her‑ itage of Belarusian ornament” from the collections of the National Historical Museum. The exposition will be on till May 31. ◆◆◆

The premiere of the shot in Belarus film “Persian Lessons” took place at the Berlin International Film Festival newsgomel.by

music with scenography. His very first ballet “Carmen Suite” became a breakthrough to associative and philosophical choreography. The bal‑ lets “The Creation of the World”, “Til Uhlenshpigel”, “Spartak”, “The Nut‑ cracker”, “Carmina Burana”, “Bolero”, “Holy Spring”, “Passion (Rogneda)”, “The Firebird” became events in the cultural life of Belarus and brought the national ballet to the European level. In 1996, Valentin Nikolayevich was awarded the title of the Best Cho‑ reographer of the Year and the Benois de la Danse Prize, founded by the In‑ ternational Dance Association, for the choreography of the ballet “Passion (Rogneda).” Today he is a member of the panel of international ballet com‑ petitions in Russia, Japan, Ukraine, USA, China, Bulgaria, a member of the Council of Europe on Culture, an academician of the International Slav‑ ic Academy and the Petrovsky Acad‑ emy of Sciences and Arts, collaborates with leading theatres in Europe, Japan, China, and the Middle East. Year after year Elizariev turned the Soviet ballet Minsk into a free, creative city. His performances have told and are telling the audience about the things that concern the so‑ ciety. This is the language of modern dance. For example, one of the most powerful images of the ballet “Romeo

By Viktoriya Askero

Belta

Scene from the movie "Persian Lessons"

The film is an international project of three countries: Russia, Germany and Belarus. The film presents a story of a Belgian Jew Gilles Cremieux who passes himself off as a Persian to save himself from being shot in the concen‑ tration camp. The film was directed by Vadim Perelman, screenwriter is Ilya Zofin. The film is based on the story “Language Invention” by German film‑ maker Wolfgang Kohlhaase. The main shooting took place in Belarus and at the Belarusfilm film set. Two main roles were played by famous actors Lars Eidinger and Nahuel Perez Biscayart, while extra artists were Belarusians.

Scene from the ballet "The Creation of the World" беларусь. belarus 2020

Art knows no boundaries

беларусь. belarus 2020

Beginnings are in the Belarusian town of Smilovichi

It should be said at once that this is the first personal exhibition of FaïbichSchraga Zarfin in Belarus. And it was timed to the 120th anniversary of the artist (1899–1975). The exhibition ac‑ quainted the viewer with Zarfin’s works, which belong to the Group of Compa‑ nies A‑100, as well as presented the au‑ thor’s paintings from private collections, told about his artistic and spiritual quest. So, plain biographical lines tell about the following. Faïbich-Schraga Zarfin was born January 7, 1899 in Smilovichi, near Minsk. He started painting in his early childhood. In the 1900s he befriended Chaïm Soutine, also a native of Smi‑ lovichi, thirty years later the friends met again in Paris. In 1913, Zarfin, follow‑ ing in the footsteps of Soutine, entered the Vilna Drawing School, but a year later went to Palestine. There he studied

at the Bezalel School of Arts, worked in a kibbutz. In 1918–1920 he served in the British Army, fought for the liberation of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire. After the end of the First World War, Zarfin returned to Bezalel, and partici‑ pated in a number of exhibitions. Wish‑ ing to continue his education, he left for Berlin, and a year later moved to Paris. Here he was learning on his own, began to cooperate with publishing houses and fashion houses, exhibited his paintings. In 1929 Zarfin got married, two years later the spouses got French citizenship. In the 30s Zarfin worked a lot as a tex‑ tile artist. Critics called him “a virtuoso of sketches for textiles”. During the Second World War, almost all of Faïbich-Schraga’s works of the previous years disappeared without a trace, only sketches for fabrics miraculously survived in a number of pri‑ vate archives. At the exhibition in Minsk several of such sketches were presented. During the Second World War Zarfin first served in the French army,

Art knows no boundaries then took discharge and participated in the Resistance Movement. Even at this difficult time, three of his personal ex‑ hibitions were held — one in Grenoble and two in Lyon. It was then that Zarfin developed a technique that later became his “individual style”, i. e. he managed to mix gouache and oil paints. In 1945, Zarfin returned to Paris. But soon — two years later — they moved to Rosny-sous-Bois, a small town near the French capital. Life in postwar France, destroyed and looted by the Nazis, was very difficult, but it was at that time that Zarfin decided to follow the advice of his oldest friend Chaïm Soutine and fully devoted himself to painting. His crea‑ tive works started to increasingly bear the impress of the artist’s intense inner life, especially after he learned of his par‑ ents’ death in the Smilovichi ghetto. It was only in the 1960s that the artist managed to overcome his inner crisis. A beautiful blue colour appears in his works, they are filled with peace and tranquillity. One of the leading themes in the work of Schraga Zarfin are landscapes of France, which became his second homeland. The artist was a wonderful colorist, he used a peculiar individual palette, developed a recognizable tech‑ nique, was always in search of new ex‑ pressive means. His works are in many museums in France, in the collections of the Rothschild Barons and in the Char‑ lie Chaplin family. All of Zarfin’s friends and relatives noted his mysticism and desire for intel‑ lectual communication. The artist read a lot, tried to travel, got acquainted with new lands and people. Schraga Zarfinn died in 1975 after a long illness and was buried in the cem‑ etery of Rosny-sous-Bois.

ings, a collection of works which belong to the Group of Companies A‑100, was purchased from the heirs of the artist two years ago, but it was presented to the Be‑ larusian public for the first time. According to the curator of the ex‑ hibition, Yury Abdurakhmanov, the daughter of the artist did not want to sell her father’s works, but Belarusian businessmen persuaded her that the works of Zarfin should be presented in the historical homeland. It is also inter‑ esting that the idea to “return” the artist to Belarus belonged to Pavel Latushko, the current general director of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre, in the years when he was Ambassador of Belarus to France. By the way, the opening of the exhi‑ bition in Minsk was attended not only by art historians, representatives of the business community and collectors, but also by the artist’s relatives, i. e. his neph‑ ews with children, grandson and greatgrandson. They came to the vernissage from France, Russia and Israel. — Our family is very grateful to the Belarusians for the way they treat my grandfather’s art. We are very proud of it, — said Iv Dyulak, the artist’s grandson. — It is important for our family that representatives of different branches of the Zarfins — from Russia, Israel, and France — met for the first time in the grandfather’s homeland. It is a great happiness for us. This is my third visit to Belarus, and Smilovichi has become my native place. This time I’ve come with my daughter. My Russian relatives have also

The exhibition in Minsk presented more than 50 works by the author. Among them there were three paintings from the funds of the National Art Museum, the rest was from the private collections. In particular, 15 paintings were purchased by a Belarusian private company from the artist’s daughter. brought their children to introduce them to their historical homeland. — Faïbich-Schraga had three brothers and two sisters, but they all left Smilovichi for different reasons. Our family is scattered all over the world. We are very grateful to Belarus, the National Art Museum, which brought us all together, — said the artist’s granddaughter Ella Zarfin. Creativity of Schraga Zarfin and his biography are still being studied by art historians. In his paintings he tried to convey the spiritual and philosophical problems that were of concern to him. Although he mostly painted French land‑ scapes. The paintings that were presented at the current Minsk exhibition, say the least, were mesmerizing. Landscapes made in blue-green tones, got you in‑ volved, as if inviting the viewers to walk in the fields and mountains of France, walk under the vaults of temples, admire the sea. Some works depicted rural life, there

Exhibition as learning the talent At the exhibition “Schraga Zarfin. Leading to the Light” in Minsk there were 52 works of the artist, created in different years, which reflected most diverse facets of his talent. The largest number of paint‑ беларусь. belarus 2020

Art knows no boundaries were still-lives. Sketches of fabrics were also of interest, because it is not without reason that the artist in the 1930s became one of the most successful designers in the textile industry. It is known that he made a number of sketches for Coco Chanel who was beginning her career. The exhibition also featured the master’s personal belongings: a note pad, a palette and a paint box, fam‑ ily photos, documents, recollections of Chaïm Soutine. Yes, he had known this artist since childhood, because they grew up in the same town and were on friendly terms in Paris. — The exhibition is very diverse. Zarfin is a fascinating, charming, mysterious artist. His work is interpreted in many different ways. I like the statements of French researchers who say that his paintings are designed to bring harmony to the soul. Indeed, they have a strong emotional impact on the public. The artist attracts attention, he causes interest, although in 2012 nobody knew about him yet. We are very pleased that the personal exhibition of Zarfin was held in our museum, — said leading researcher of the National Art Museum of Belarus Nadezhda Usova. The exhibition included original tours, lectures from art historians, which helped to get better acquainted with the work of one of the artists of the Paris school. Zoya Kotovich’s film about Schra‑ ga Zarfin was shown daily. As part of the exhibition project, the first artist’s cata‑ logue in Russian has also been published. — Zarfin’s art has always aroused keen interest among the Belarusian public at all exhibitions dedicated to the Paris School. His often mysterious paintings reflect the long and difficult way of spiritual quest the artist has covered and which he leads his viewer to, — said Yury Abdura‑ khmanov, chief curator of the project. — Schraga Zarfin, as a multicultural and multi-national figure, is a wonderful embodiment of the openness to the world that we want to promote here and now, relying upon the national cultural heritage, — added Alexander Tsenter, Chair‑ man of the A‑100 Supervisory Board. —

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Born in Belarus and having lived most of his life outside the country, Zarfin has become a citizen of the world, so his creative work is the embodiment of cultural ties that exist between Belarusian and foreign art. We hope that our acquisition of Zarfin’s works and their display in Belarus will become a new stage in the development of these contacts, — he said. …Today a reference to the Belaru‑ sian town of Smilovichi can be found in any more or less self-respecting encyclo‑ pedia — the famous artist Chaïm Sou‑ tine was born there. Several years ago, thanks to the enthusiasm of museum workers and the support of UNESCO, a small exposition dedicated to Soutine was opened in Smilovichi. Another native of Smilovichi and Soutine’s friend, Faïbich-Schraga Zarfin, who was also a representative of the ar‑ tistic movement known as the “Paris School”, did not become so famous. And almost nobody knew about him in Be‑ larus until recently. Fortunately, thanks to the “Belgazprombank” project to create a collection of artists of the Paris School — natives of Belarus, canvases of Chagall, Soutine, Kikoin have returned to the country. And Zarfin’s!

Biography with different color shades Schraga Zarfin was born to a wealthy Jewish family. His father owned a leather workshop and was a very educated man, who used to read Turgenev and Tolstoy.

Throughout his life Zarfin lovingly re‑ membered his childhood years spent in Smilovichi. According to friends and rel‑ atives, he could spend hours telling about the place, about the forests surround‑ ing it, about the Volma, in its waters he used to bathe as a boy in summer and to skate on the frozen river in winter… One day the boy fell into an ice-hole and hit his head hard on its edge. Fortunately, he was rescued. Telling about it many years later, the artist, not without pride. showed a big scar on the back of his head. In his early childhood, Schraga used to draw with enthusiasm, covered the pages of his father’s office books with his drawings. Despite the difference in so‑ cial status, Soutine’s and Zarfin’s fathers were friendly. Perhaps because of this,

Art knows no boundaries

The artist achieved an amazing light of the paintings by using gouache and oil

Soutine, who had already been studying at Vilna Art School, allowed little Schra‑ ga to watch him work. The delighted boy started painting with even more enthu‑ siasm. There are reports that he was allowed to draw a figure of an angel to decorate the Summer Theatre in Smi‑ lovichi. Apparently, after that Zarfin’s father gave in and told him: “Well, try to become an artist, like a young Soutine. In 1913, Schraga Zarfin entered Vilna Art School. His further life reminds of an adventure novel. In 1914, he went to Pal‑ estine, which at that time was part of the Ottoman Empire. For about two years young Schraga lived and worked in a kibbutz: in the fields, doing march drain‑ age, hungry and suffering from heat and cold. Then he entered the Bezalel School of Arts in Jerusalem. In 1918, Palestine became a British protectorate. Zarfin was drafted into the British army. Later, the artist recalled with humor that it saved him from starvation, because for the pre‑ vious two years his only food was figs. In September 1920, Zarfin was dis‑ charged. He wouldn’t stop painting. Al‑ most immediately after he came back, he participated in an exhibition organized by the new Jerusalem authorities and critics specified his paintings. The young artist had many friends in Jerusalem, some of whom later became major po‑

litical figures in Israel or famous artists. When in 1923 Zarfin decided to go to Germany to take painting lessons from the famous Max Liebermann, they per‑ suaded Schraga to stay. However, he did go to Europe — first to Berlin, where, among other things, he participated in the exhibition “Berliner Sezession”, and then to Paris. In the capital of world art, he got closer to artists, many of whom came from the Russian Empire. Accord‑ ing to Zarfin, at that time he understood that he still had a lot to learn. Schraga ru‑ ined most of his early works and started to tirelessly visit museums, galleries and exhibitions. In Montmartre, he met Sou‑ tine. Chaïm was simply obsessed with painting, but lived so poorly that Zarfin decided to work anywhere and to do any‑ thing to avoid such a fate. The two fellow countrymen went different ways again. All that time Zarfin did not forget about painting. He wanted to partici‑ pate in the exhibitions at the Salon of the Independent. Soutine, whom Zarfin found in Paris in the 1930s at the request of his family (“We have no information about Chaïm” — wrote the parents of Soutine to Zarfin), in every way encour‑ aged Zarfin to do painting and gave him some valuable advice. According to the memoirs of Lilian, Zarfin’s daughter, Soutine visited their home quite often. In 1939, the Second World War broke out. Zarfin was called up for military service. Fearing Nazi repression, his wife and their little daughter walk to the south of France. However, quite soon, the Vi‑

chy regime signed a truce agreement with Hitler and France was divided into two zones. The French army was disbanded. Demobilized Zarfin managed to find his family. Together they hide away first in the town of Brive and then in Lyon. The owner of the house on Rue Street in the 14th quarter of Paris, where the Zarfins used to live before the war, seized the opportunity to get hold of their apartment. The entire fam‑ ily archive, all the property and Zarfin’s paintings, created before 1940, went missing. According to the artist himself, there were about 300 of his works, i. e. paintings, watercolors, sketches, in the apartment. In addition, Zarfin had a small collection of works of his friendsartists, perhaps, Soutine. The persecution of Jews forced the Zarfins to move to the outskirts of Gre‑ noble. However, even at that time Zarfin managed to exhibit: in November 1941 in the gallery Notre Dame in Grenoble, in March 1942 in the “Artists’ Shelter” in Lyon and in July of the same year — in the Lyon gallery “Folklore”. At that time he experimented a lot with gouache, of‑ ten mixing it with oil paints. His painting became more stable and at the same time more disturbing, more expressive. The small apartment of the Zar‑ fins in Grenoble was one of the secret addresses of the Resistance, and when the danger of falling into the hands of the Gestapo increased, the Zarfins moved to a small village in the Alps, where they quickly made friends with the lo‑ cal peasants. The painter continued to work hard. In 1945 Zarfin presented to the public a personal exhibition of works created during the war. The spouses took their daughter away from the monastery and returned to Paris. However, having been deprived of their apartment and all their property, they found it difficult to make both ends meet. Fortunately, the relatives from America helped with money, and his friends — artists shared the paints and canvases with Zarfin. In war-torn France there was almost no work, but the artist didn’t get discour‑ беларусь. belarus 2020

Art knows no boundaries aged — and kept on painting… And almost stopped exhibiting. Critics and the public started to gradually forget about him. His daughter Lilian said that Zarfin was very reluctant to part with his works and sold them only to a very narrow circle of collectors. Sometimes, when they had no money to buy even bread, his wife sneaked away one or two paintings for sale. The fate of many of them is unknown today.

Paintings that stun with their music… In the 1950s, the artist often came to Normandy, particularly to the town of Honfleur, which is depicted in several of his paintings, many drawings and sketches. It was at that time that Zarfin created a number of works figuring churches and cathedrals in Paris and its suburbs. Critics noted those works, and pointed out that “Zarfin has found un‑ known so far colors and shades. The art‑ ist has climbed to the top of art”. At that time Zarfin cozied up to a number of artists of the Paris school, i. e. Aberdam, Ancher, Pressman, Gar‑ finkel, brushed up his acquaintance with fellow countrymen Kikoin and Kremen. Since the second half of the 1950s, the interest in Zarfin’s paintings was steadily growing. In November 1954, the General Directorate of Fine Arts and Literature of France bought one of the

landscapes of Zarfin for state museums. The famous philosopher and art historian Étienne Souriau, who was teaching at that time at the Sorbonne, dedicated one of his university lectures to Zarfin and wrote several articles about him, he called his work “one of the highest achievements of modern art.” And art critic Emmanuelle Re wrote about the artist the following: “Zarfin reminds me of the great Russian poet F. Tyutchev, for whom the outside world was only a fleeting and shortlived vision, briefly arising from the chaos and immediately disappearing in it…” In 1958, about 30 works by Zarfin were presented to the public at the exhi‑ bition in the “House of Intellectuals” in Paris. Several famous French collectors bought them. Today, the largest number of Zarfin’s paintings and gouaches is in the collection of Paul Rampeno — about 90 works! Rampeno stressed some spe‑ cial musicality of works by Schraga Zarfin: “In Zarfin’s painting… one can feel the same grandeur that shocks us when we listen to Bach”. In 2012, Zarfin’s grandson Iv Dy‑ ulak visited Belarus. According to him, he was happy to visit his grandfather’s homeland, and especially Smilovichi. At the opening of the exhibition “Art‑ ists of the Paris School from Belarus” in the National Art Museum of Belarus, Iv Dyulak gave a gift from his family to the museum, i. e. two paintings by Schraga Zarfin, which can be seen today in the museum collection.

Portrait against a backdrop of war a coat, a hat, a subtle smile in the cor‑ ners of the mouth. In the photographs Zarfin is a typical Frenchman, one would never recognize him as a native of the town of Smilovichi near Minsk. Meanwhile, the favorite with the Paris‑ ian public recollected for the rest of his life his parents’ house, the Volma River and barefoot childhood to the long folk songs in the Belarusian language. Zarfin was one of those creators who never gave up practical affairs for the sake of high art. For example, he managed to be in the army twice. In his youth he served in the British army, and in 1939 — in the French one. Amaz‑ ingly, but it did not interfere with his creativity: the artist painted always and everywhere. Later, an album of draw‑ ings made by him at the beginning of World War II, was purchased by the French government. Schraga didn’t give up painting when he was hiding away during the Nazi occupation, and his apartment became one of the secret addresses of the French Resistance. That’s a fact that Zarfin’s personal exhibitions were suc‑ cessfully held in 1941, 1942 and 1944 in different cities of France. It was in the war years when critics recognized him as a serious artist. The painter had his own recognizable style. The press enthusiastically wrote: “…landscapes, flowers and human fig‑ ures… are transformed by a lyrical im‑ pulse, which as if takes them out of na‑ ture and moves into the world of fantasy, often severe and fierce. In this world, the contours of objects are transformed into crazy arabesques, and paints become signs of some matter resulting from a subtle and skilful alchemy”.

Too much oil makes gouache better Zarfin painted quickly. Bright fas‑ cinating paintings were created within one morning. But this was preceded by long preparatory work. At first, the art‑ ist photographed the places that had in‑

беларусь. belarus 2020

Art knows no boundaries spired him. Then he would make many small sketches. And only after it he would start to make the “final draft”. He got up very early, waxed the parquet, then poured tea and started painting. By the way, not always with a brush — often he did it with his fingers. A unique feature of Zarfin’s writing is in the mixture of paints. His personal discovery was the combination of oil and gouache. Due to this, сolors on the canvases acquired a special depth and even glow, which is so often noted by critics. — During his travels, he visited all the churches. All religions were good for him. Temples gave him harmony and joy, especially if there was an organ. Father was very fond of Bach’s music. He needed an accompaniment to draw, — the painter’s daughter Lilian shared her memories

To Picasso — in a neighbourly way For a long time Soutine stayed as a guiding personality for Zarfin. Schraga followed his friend to Vilno, and then to Paris. However, their creative paths went quite differently. Chaïm remained an unrecognized penniless genius, and his countryman got fame and money as the author of sketches for fabrics. In the 1930s, the best fashion houses in Paris were on the waiting list for the opportu‑ nity to work with him. — It’s not true to say that in those years Zarfin was wasting his talent. What he was doing, influenced his future paintings — said Nadin Neshaver, an expert on the Paris school 1905– 1939. — When you look at his paintings, you get the impression that the picture and print are superimposed. The colours shine on them. It seemed that the artist had reached his ultimate dreams: his beloved wife and mite of a daughter, good income, a beautiful apartment near the Parc de Monsoûry in the fashionable for those

times 14th district of Paris. His neigh‑ bors are Picasso, Dali and Hemingway. But noisy parties, at which all the crea‑ tive elite of the French capital gathered, were alien to Zarfin who was not much of a companion. Only his childhood friend Chaïm Soutine knew that to feel happy he lacked one thing, i. e.painting. When they met again in 1936, the fellow countryman reminded about the true purpose of an artist and advised to start everything from scratch. Schraga took the words of his elder comrade literally: he destroyed all his works.

The mysterious Zarfin revealed himself in the movie We are talking, of course, about the film “Wandering Star from Smilovichi” by Zoya Kotovich and Yury Abdura‑ khmanov. If the films about Chagall most often tell about already known facts, the film about Zarfin is a research in the form of documentary filmmaking. The film is watched in the same breath and presents unique facts collected by the authors during a two-year filming expedition to France, Hungary, Lithuania, Israel and Belarus. It was worth seeing at least to get acquainted with Zarfin’s work, about which even the ubiquitous Internet has a very modest idea. The fact is that most of the artist’s paintings are kept in pri‑ vate collections. A friend of Zarfin, who collects his works, lives in Hungary

but it was not easy to video them. The creators of the film agreed to do the shootings in a certain light and not to touch the paintings. So the images of winter landscapes, bunches of flowers, human figures which we see in the film have been collected throughout Europe like grains of gold. One can’t see them anywhere else. And it’s really worth seeing. Even in his lifetime Zarfin was written about as the painter who “found unknown to this day colors and shades”, “has become a real phenomenon in the world of art.” His landscapes were used by a Swiss doctor for treatment of neurosis and depres‑ sive disorders. And collectors say that there is a musicality in Zarfin’s works, which places him alongside with Bach. Apparently, this is not only a talent, but also achieved through suffering creativity, which is can be comforting. As a teenager, he flew his parents’ nest and settled in Paris years later. He went through two wars. His parents died in the Smilovichi ghetto. And he himself continued to paint, even hiding away from the Nazis, during the war he par‑ ticipated in exhibitions. There are unique film frames of fam‑ ily chronicles in the film. Recordings of Schraga’s voice, who is reading poetry and singing a lullaby in Russian and Belarusian. He never visited Smilovichi again, although he loved his village and often talked about it. Zarfin also wrote memoirs about Soutine. He was the only one who described his father and brother. According to his memoirs, re‑ searchers from different countries, who came to “Soutine Readings” in 2015, were able to find the exact place where the artist’s house used to be situated. In short, Zarfin is a significant figure, and it is amazing that his name is only now beginning to sound anew. That’s him, the most Belarusian of Parisian artists. Time puts every‑ thing in its place. The place of Zarfin is in Belarus. By Vengiamin Mikheyev

беларусь. belarus 2020

Auditorium

Long-awaited premiere

беларусь. belarus 2020

as the author, the most pleasant thing is that many people start looking up infor‑ mation about my main characters in en‑ cyclopedias. Then they ask: “Mrs. Lyud‑ mila, where can I find more information about Butramey Lyodnik?” I’m even embarrassed to disappoint them that I invented him myself. And in the film, by the way, we show the famous Library of Polotsk. The one that Wacław Łastowski describes in his “Labyrinths”. In the film you will see it in the beautiful embodi‑ ment of our artist Vladimir Tsarikovich. The creators have almost com‑ pletely abandoned computer graphics. Nevertheless, the picture turned out to be bright and dynamic. Shooting took place in Lida, Nesvizh, Mir castles, in Minsk and Bobruisk.

— It took almost a year to shoot the film. We made a lot of amendments, often had to shoot at night, — said Ale xander Anisimov. — We walked along the corridors of the Nesvizh and Mir castles listening, sniffing. There was a feeling that something mystical was taking place next to us. The direction of the film was difficult, but we had a good team, so we were able to make, in my opinion, an interesting film. Such actors as Ivan Trus, Georgy Petrenko, Veronika Pleshkevich, Ser‑ gey Yuryevich, Vyacheslav Pavlyut, Yevgeniya Anikey, Viktor Manayev, Sergey Savenkov, Konstantin Mikha‑ lenko, Dmitry Yesenevich took part in the film. By Viktoriya Askero

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The film studio “Belarusfilm” pre‑ sented a trailer for the film “The Ad‑ ventures of Prantish Vyrvich”, which is based on the novel by Lyudmila Rublevskaya. This is one of the rare do‑ mestic film projects, which involves only Belarusian actors. General Director of the film stu‑ dio Vladimir Karachevsky, who also acted as general producer of the project, called this historical-adventure film “Belarusian garde-marines”. Alexander Anisimov directed the film. The film itself tells about the adven‑ tures of the Belarusian nobleman and his friends. This is the only historical and fan‑ tasy picture of domestic production and the first after “Anastasiya Slutskaya” film on a historical subject. The main actors came to the presentation, includ‑ ing Lyudmila Rublevskaya. — It was very important for me to show my version of Belarus from a his‑ torical point of view and my character, an iconic Belarusian, and in this way to destroy the stereotypes that still exist, — said Lyudmila Rublevskaya. — Frankly speaking, I did not really believe that the project would come true. But I be‑ lieved it, apparently, when I saw with my own eyes a steam-powered tank de‑ signed by Leonardo da Vinci and made by the masters of Belarusfilm. For me

The film “The Adventures of Prantish Vyrvich” based on the book by Lyudmila Rublevskaya was released in Minsk

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Articles inside

The most Belarusian of all Parisian artists

Line of personal protection

Mother and war

Marc Chagall as a bookillustrator

Innovations are coming to the fore

When cooperation is reinforced by friendship

Electro looks attractive