Иллюстративное фото: @belwarriors
On Freedom Day, the head of the Rada of the Belarusian People’s Republic, Ivonka Survilla, signed decrees awarding distinctions of the Rada of the BNR.
Medals of the Order of the Pahonia were awarded to Valiantsina Andreyeva, editor-in-chief of the European Belarusian publishing house Gutenberg Publisher, and Tatsiana Niadbai, chair of the Belarusian PEN Center. In its statement, the Rada of the BNR noted that “under conditions of total pressure on national culture and the Belarusian language, when dozens of people of the word are behind bars, free publishing and defending the right to freedom of speech become one of the conditions for the survival of Belarusians as an ethnic group.”
The Order of the Pahonia medal was also awarded to publicist Vitali Tsyhankou. The authors note that he stood “at the origins of Belarusian independent journalism” and that his “publications were a notable phenomenon even during the struggle for the restoration of independence” in the early 1990s.
In a separate decree, medals “For Military Merit” of the first and second degree were awarded to 19 Belarusian volunteers serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This recognized their personal heroism in the fight against the Russian aggressor.
“This recognizes their personal heroism in the fight against the Russian aggressor, armed resistance to whom by Ukraine also serves the cause of Belarusian national interests and the attainment of an independent and free future for Belarus,” the statement said.