The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided that from now on they will call Belarus Belarus.
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– We do it in solidarity with the Belarusian democracy movement. They will not be an extension of Russia, says Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt to VG.
Both Huitfeldt and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre have met the leader of the democracy movement, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has spoken out in favor of the international community changing its name from Belarus to Belarus.
Tsikhanouskaya was the presidential candidate during the Belarusian election in 2020, which was followed by large demonstrations and accusations of electoral fraud.
Now she is working for a democratic Belarus / Belarus from exile in Lithuania.
–Belarus is the Norwegian translation of Belarus. Both Sweden and Denmark have switched to using Belarus instead of Belarus. Now Norway is following suit.
The name change takes place on the same day as the International Day of Solidarity with Belarus.
– I am pleased that we can announce the name change on this day and show our solidarity with the democratic forces in Belarus, says Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt in a press release.
The Foreign Minister himself called Tsikhanouskaya and told her about the name change. Huitfeldt tells VG that Tsikhanouskaya was happy with the name change.
– This is something we have been working on for a while. We are concerned that there is a separate country called Belarus.
–Belarus became independent in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Today, Belarus has close ties with Russia, both economically and militarily.
It is important to mention the country with its real name, the foreign minister believes and create a clear separation between Russia and Belarus.
– This distance is important for the democracy movement, says Huitfeldt.
Since 1994, the country has been ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko, who is referred to as “Europe’s last dictator”. In 2020, he declared himself the election winner once again.
Tsikhanouskaya for his part claims she won the election.
According to the Electoral Commission, Lukashenko received 80 percent of the vote. According to Tikhanovskaya, it was she who received 80 percent support
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